Great American Songbook Saturday

Today we enter the month of August. Did you know that August is National Eye Exam Month? Every year the month is observed to highlight the importance of routine comprehensive eye checkups, catch hidden vision problems, and detect early signs of major health conditions like diabetes and glaucoma. With that in mind, I began a search of the Great American Songbook for an appropriate song.

I Only Have Eyes For You was written by composer Henry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin. It was written for the Busby Berkeley movie musical Dames in 1934, where it was introduced by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Ben Selvin recorded it that same year and landed at #2 on the charts.

The Flamingos recorded it in 1959, and it is probably the best known version of the song. Songfacts.com offers up the story of their version:

The Flamingos’ version was arranged and co-produced by Terry “Buzzy” Johnson, a Baltimore native who joined the group as a first tenor in 1956. Fellow Flamingo Nate Nelson encouraged him to go crazy with the song, but he couldn’t figure out what to do with it. All he knew was the other versions were way too vanilla for his taste. The answer finally came to him in a dream. He told Sound on Sound:

“I was laying down in my room with the guitar on my chest, playing around with the chords, but no matter what I tried it just didn’t fit. Finally, it was about 12 or one in the morning, and I was so tired that I fell asleep, and in my dream I heard ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ just the way it came out on our record. I heard the ‘doo-bop sh-bop’ [backing vocals], I heard the way the harmony would sound – I heard the harmony so clear, and I heard the structure of the chords. As soon as I woke up, I grabbed the guitar off my chest and it was like God put my fingers just where they were supposed to be. I played those chords and I heard the harmonies, and so I called the guys. I woke them all up and I said, ‘Come over to my room right now! I’ve got ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’!’

They were like, ‘Are you crazy? It’s almost four o’clock!’ and I said, ‘I need you all now, otherwise I may not be able to remember.’ So they came to my room, all of them grumbling, and when they heard me do it they looked at me like, ‘What the hell is this?’ They laughed at me: ‘What’s ‘doo-bop sh-bop, goo-bop sh-bop, boo-bop sh-bop, loo-bop sh-bop, shoo-bop sh-bop”?’ You see, although in my dream it was ‘doo-bop sh-bop’, I had everybody doing a different thing, changing things around to make sure no one could really pick out what we were saying.”

The Letterman recorded a version of the song in 1966, while Jerry Butler recorded his version in 1972. The next best known version was recorded by Art Garfunkel in 1975.

In June 2026, CBS News included the song in its list of the 250 essential American songs of the past 250 years. It is certainly a great song, no matter which version you like best.

I Only Have Eyes For You

My love must be a kind of blind love
I can’t see anyone but you

Are the stars out tonight?
I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright
I only have eyes for you, dear

The moon may be high
But I can’t see a thing in the sky
‘Cause I only have eyes for you

I don’t know if we’re in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue

You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you

The moon may be high
But I can’t see a thing in the sky
‘Cause I only have eyes for you

You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view

I don’t know if we’re in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue

You are here, so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you