TS: In Your Eyes vs. Rosanna

i vote 'in your eyes' (although i'd never heard 'it's for rosanna' before, the only 'story behind the song' i'd heard was that it was some daft metaphor about satan or something)

Was he the one who died from lawn chemicals or something? He was a good drummer, those guys were all session-slick.

I'd give this to Gabriel on the merits, but at the moment I'd kind of rather hear Toto...

The finger-snaps in "Rosanna" alone make it classic.

gypsy mothra OTM

Seventeen syllables just in the first line alone, delivered as smooth as creekwater. I reluctantly give Toto their props.

Seriously. It has suddenly occurred to me that I have no fucking clue as to what, precisely, this meeting you all the way describes.

I just watched "Say Anything" for the first time earlier this week, and now I am hooked on that song. If you would have asked me one year ago when I found Toto IV on vinyl at a yard sale which song I liked better, I would have gone with "Rosanna". Even though "Africa" is undoubtedly the best song on the album.

The real question is: Peter Gabriel solo or Phil Collins solo? I am posting a new thread on this.

PETER GABRIEL LYRICS

"In Your Eyes"

love I get so lost, sometimes
days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
when I want to run away
I drive off in my car
but whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are

all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside

in your eyes
the light the heat
in your eyes
I am complete
in your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
in your eyes
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
in your eyes
I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
the heat I see in your eyes

love, I don't like to see so much pain
so much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired of working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive

and all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside

in your eyes
the light the heat
in your eyes
I am complete
in your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
in your eyes
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
in your eyes
I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light,
the heat I see in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes

No, he just plays bass on the track.

I have now listened to both, and am prepared to render judgment. ::ahem::

Both tracks are irrefutably classic. So it's neck-and-neck through the first couple of exchanges, with both tracks uncoiling restrained verses into soaring refrains.

Point to "In Your Eyes": Jeff Porcaro's tense polyrhythms and Mike Porcaro's tight funk aren't nearly enough to top two-headed Marotta/Katché monster, not with Yahweh's own liquid fretwork on the chorus.

Point to "Rosanna": "In Your Eyes" brings the cool christians on backing vox (Steve Kerr and Michael Been), but one of the "Rosanna" Grammys was for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vox.

And then "Rosanna" hits that boogie-woogie bridge, and the wheels come off, and "In Your Eyes" pwns.

Whereas Tony Levin gives my ears a hard-on.

Ergo, "In Your Eyes," a song that I doubt will ever end up on a cheesy "Best of the '80s" comp. Not least because it's a rare universal classic that wasn't a hit.

Just listened to both tonight. A mash-up waiting to happen.

PS - God, I love "Cry."

The boogie part is fucking terrible though. Pretty well redeemed by the solo. This thread makes me think I should give "In Your Eyes" another chance, I've always disdained it as a sappy ballad but I don't think I've ever really sat down and listened to it not in the context of dopes fawning over its sappy John Cusack-themed classicness.

amen

I still stand by what I wrote last year. If it was "Africa" versus any of Gabriel's African experiments he might have more competition...

more like lengthy youssou n'dourance test amirite?

(on Peter Gabriel)"beware of middlebrows bearing electric guitars"

Yeah, that's the one, where the "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" guy pops in on backup vox. I've got the 12", but vinyl is so inconvenient these days (meaning I've got too many CDs piled on top of the turntable).

-- Doctor Casino (agode...), September 10th, 2006.

Also, those big chords change the key, down a whole step from G to F, but rather than go down, the vocal goes up a (not quite) octave. Totally brilliant.

I unapologetically love Rosanna. I love the horn parts, I love the somewhat silly vocal exhortations near the end, and I think the 2 guitar solos are about as good as "80's guitar solos" get.

Rosanna playing now
In your eyes is major lam

E

lol @ Susan Douglas

Wait a second...did Daniel Lanois post to ilx in 2005?