It was on this day in 1965 that Ford Motor Company introduced factory installed 8-Track players in their Ford Mustang!
Back in the day, my dad had an 8-track recorder and he would record music for the car. He made my mom a tape of ballads. To this day there is a list of songs that always remind me of that red 8-track tape.
We would have a two hour drive to my grandparent’s place in Caseville. My mom would pop that ballad tape in and it would make me want to go to sleep. Of course, I couldn’t because she sang along to every song!
One of those songs was Sad Eyes by Robert John. Songfacts.com gives the following on
Sandwiched in music history between Elton John and Robert Johnson, Robert John is a singer from Brooklyn who had a minor hit way back in 1958 with a song called “White Bucks And Saddle Shoes,” which went to #74. At the time, he was using his real name: Bobby Pedrick, Jr. As Robert John, he charted again in 1968 when a song he co-wrote, “If You Don’t Want My Love,” went to #49. In 1972 he had a big hit with a cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” which went to #3. He had a few minor hits as a songwriter (“Can’t Help But Love You” for The Whispers, “I Can’t Move No Mountains” for Blood, Sweat & Tears), but was out of music by the late ’70s.
In 1978, the producer George Tobin, who had worked with Kim Carnes and Natalie Cole, called Robert to reboot his career. That’s when Robert John wrote “Sad Eyes.” Tobin produced the track, and it climbed to #1 in 1979, just ahead of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
In 2025, Robert John died at 79 following a stroke he suffered a few years earlier.
This song hit the airwaves when the soft rock genre was huge. Lite favorites by the likes of the Commodores, Barry Manilow and Linda Ronstadt were all over the radio, counterbalancing the disco hits. The red 8-track was loaded with those soft rock songs.
“Sad Eyes” entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #85 on May 19, 1979. It was #1 20 weeks later, tying the record set by Nick Gilder’s single “Hot Child in the City” for taking the longest time to reach the peak position.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 
My first little stereo had an 8-track player/recorder and I often had a blank tape in ready to grab a song off radio… usually with the DJ talking over the start.
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