Hungry Eyes

"Hungry Eyes"
Single by Eric Carmen
from the album Dirty Dancing
B-side	"Where Are You Tonight"
Released	November 7, 1987
Recorded	1987, Beachwood Studios, Beachwood, Ohio
Genre	Pop rock, soft rock, new wave
Length	4:06 3:49 (single version)
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	John DeNicola, Franke Previte
Producer(s)	Eric Carmen
Eric Carmen singles chronology
"The Rock Stops Here" (1986) "Hungry Eyes" (1987) "Make Me Lose Control" (1988)

"Hungry Eyes" is a song performed by American artist Eric Carmen, a former member of the band Raspberries, and was featured in the film Dirty Dancing.^[1] The song was recorded at Beachwood Studios in Beachwood, Ohio in 1987. "Hungry Eyes" peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #3 on the Cash Box Top 100 in 1988. The song was not released commercially in the UK, but it managed to peak at #82 in January 1988, having charted purely on import sales.

Songwriters Franke Previte and John DeNicola, wrote the song, as well as another hit from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life".^[2]

Cover versions

The song was covered by Swedish singer Anders Fernette and by New Found Glory, and features as a bonus track on the Japanese/UK version of their covers album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II.

A parody version of Hungry Eyes was used in a series of 1989 commercials for NY Pizza in Hanford, California.

Performer

Eric Carmen, the performer of "Hungry Eyes", had been the vocalist of the Raspberries. Carmen released his first solo album Eric Carmen, which contained the worldwide hit with "All By Myself" .

"Hungry Eyes" was his biggest hit and was written for the film Dirty Dancing, in 1987.^[3]

Jimmy Ienner, the producer of Carmen's band from his early career, The Raspberries, asked him to sing this song for the Dirty Dancing album because he was familiar with Carmen's musical style. Carmen was hesitant to produce a song for another film sound track because he believed that sound track music had "horrible deaths", but Carmen recorded an extremely popular song that can still be heard on radio stations and TV commercials.^[3]

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (1987–88) Peak position Australia[4] 4 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] 9 Canadian Adult Contemporary (RPM) 6 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 2 Germany (Official German Charts)[6] 17 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[7] 12 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[8] 18 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[9] 6 UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) 82 US Billboard Hot 100 4 US Billboard Adult Contemporary Tracks 2 Chart (2016) Peak position Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)[10] 64

Year-end charts Chart (1988) Rank Australia[11] 39 Canada[12] 58 US Billboard Hot 100[13] 25

References

1. Dennis Hunt (December 24, 1987). "Carmen Re-Sees Success With 'Hungry Eyes'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
2. "Hungry Eyes", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved February 3, 2014)
3. "Welcome to EricCarmen.com." Welcome to EricCarmen.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
5. "Ultratop.be – Eric Carmen – Hungry Eyes" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
6. "Musicline.de – Eric Carmen Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
7. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Eric Carmen search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
8. "Charts.org.nz – Eric Carmen – Hungry Eyes". Top 40 Singles.
9. "Swedishcharts.com – Eric Carmen – Hungry Eyes". Singles Top 100.
10. "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved January 18, 2016.
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 4, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
12. Carolyn Hope. "Barry's Hits of All Decades Pop rock n roll Music Chart Hits". hitsofalldecades.com.
13. "Top 100 Hits of 1988/Top 100 Songs of 1988". musicoutfitters.com.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics