Kim Carnes

Kim Carnes's most famous song was not written by her. "Bette Davis Eyes" was signed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, and had existed since 1974. That takes nothing away from Carnes; on the contrary, it is what makes her story interesting, because what she did with that song was a piece of interpretation and arrangement, not of authorship. The problem is that the usual account ends up confusing the two things and hands the performer an award that the writers won. That award exists and has a name, and it is worth leaving it where it belongs.

Years of craft

Kim Carnes was born in Los Angeles on 20 July 1945. Before the breakthrough there was a lot of quiet work: she passed through the folk group the New Christy Minstrels, wrote for other artists for years and recorded albums of her own that worked without making her famous. She often wrote with her husband, Dave Ellingson.

She was, in short, a respected professional of the kind who hold up the industry without appearing on the cover. And she had a rasping, broken voice that earned her comparisons with Rod Stewart's. In a woman, at that time, a voice like that was no obvious advantage: it was something most executives would have tried to correct.

A song from 1974

The original version of "Bette Davis Eyes", recorded by Jackie DeShannon in 1974, sounds nothing at all like the one everybody knows. It is a light R&B, with piano, pedal steel and horns: a track of its time, pleasant and without mystery. Nobody remembers it, and you can see why.

What Carnes and her producer, Val Garay, did in 1981 was take it apart and put it back together with the tools of the moment. Cold synthesisers, a rhythm that advances unhurriedly, almost no ornament, and on top that voice dragging itself across the bar. It is not a cover: it is another song made from the same material. That decision about the arrangement is Carnes's real contribution, and it is considerably harder than it looks.

The result was enormous. Nine weeks at number one on the Hot 100, though it is worth being precise that they were not consecutive: five, an interruption, and four more. It was the most successful single of 1981 in the United States. A song written seven years earlier, discarded by the public once, became the sound of a whole year.

The two awards, and who got each one

At the Grammy ceremony in 1982, "Bette Davis Eyes" took the two major categories, and each one went to different hands. Kim Carnes won Record of the Year, which rewards the recording: the performance, the production, the sonic object. Song of the Year, which rewards the composition, went to Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon. Saying that Carnes won both is exactly the error this article is trying to undo.

Bette Davis, for her part, behaved better than the industry. She wrote to all three — Carnes, Weiss and DeShannon — thanking them for having made her part of modern times and telling them that her grandson now admired her. After the Grammys she sent them roses. The actress understood, without anyone having to explain it, that the song was the work of three people.

Carnes went on afterwards with a long career and no fuss. "What About Me?", from 1984, is usually described as a duet with James Ingram, and it isn't: it is a trio, with Kenny Rogers. In January 1985 she was one of the voices on "We Are the World", where she sings the last line of the bridge alongside Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper. And she went on writing for others for decades, above all in country, which is where the industry ended up valuing her for what she had always been.

What to remember

With "Bette Davis Eyes" Kim Carnes did something that popular music rewards little and is very grateful for: she recognised somebody else's song that nobody had known how to hear and found the exact way to make it sound. That sandpaper voice, which at another moment she would have been asked to soften, was precisely the instrument that made her unmistakable.

And the irony of her story is not that the song was not hers, but what came afterwards. For forty years the account went on crediting her with the authorship too, to the point of giving her a songwriting Grammy that two other women won. Carnes was, for almost all her life, a songwriter who wrote for others. She ended up as a performer credited with what others wrote. Returning each thing to its owner takes nothing away from any of the three.

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Sources

Kim Carnes, born on 20 July 1945 in Los Angeles, is an American singer and songwriter, known for her husky voice. Before her greatest success she was a member of the folk group the New Christy Minstrels and worked as a songwriter for other artists, frequently alongside her husband, Dave Ellingson. "Bette Davis Eyes" was written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon and originally recorded by DeShannon in 1974, in a light R&B version with piano, pedal steel and horn section. Carnes's version, produced by Val Garay and released in 1981, spent nine non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 — five weeks, an interruption and four weeks more — and was the most successful single of 1981 in the United States. At the corresponding Grammy Awards ceremony, the song won the award for Record of the Year, which was received by Kim Carnes, and that for Song of the Year, which went to its writers, Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon. The actress Bette Davis wrote to all three thanking them for having made her part of modern times and mentioning the admiration expressed to her by her grandson; after the ceremony she sent them roses. "What About Me?" (1984) is a trio alongside Kenny Rogers and James Ingram, not a duet. In January 1985 Carnes took part in the recording of "We Are the World" (USA for Africa), where she performs the final line of the bridge alongside Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper. She continued her career as a performer and songwriter, with notable activity in the field of country. Profile compiled for Rebobinados with fact-checking; interpretations of the meaning of the work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Billboard, Grammy.com, Los Angeles Times, American Songwriter, Wikipedia and other coverage.