Brown Eyed Handsome Man

{{Infobox song

| name = Brown Eyed Handsome Man

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| released = {{Start date|1956|09}}{{cite web |url=http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/chessupto1966.html |title=A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry: The Chess Era (1955–1966) |last=Rudolph |first=Dietmar |access-date=December 4, 2010}}

| recorded = April 16, 1956{{cite AV media notes |title=Gold |title-link=Anthology (Chuck Berry album) |others=Chuck Berry |year=2005 |pages=20, 27 |type=CD liner notes |publisher=Geffen Records/Chess Records |id=0602498805589 |location=United States }}

| studio = Universal Recording Corp. (Chicago){{cite web |title=The Chuck Berry Database Details For Recording Session: 19. 4. 1956|url=http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/cbdb/session/8-1956-04-19%2000:00:00.html |website=A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry |publisher=Dietmar Rudolph |access-date=28 September 2021}}

| venue =

| genre = Rock and roll, rhythm and blues

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=19}}

| label = Chess 1635

| writer = Chuck Berry

| producer = Leonard Chess, Phil Chess

| prev_title = Maybellene

| prev_year = 1955

| next_title = Roll Over Beethoven

| next_year = 1956

}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Brown Eyed Handsome Man

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Buddy Holly

| album = Reminiscing

| B-side = Rock-a-Bye Rock

| released = {{Start date|1963}}

| recorded = 1957

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Rock and roll

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=07}}

| label = Coral 93 352

| writer = Chuck Berry

| producer = Norman Petty

| prev_title = Reminiscing

| prev_year = 1962

| next_title = Bo Diddley

| next_year = 1963

}}

"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" is a rock and roll song written and recorded by Chuck Berry, originally released by Chess Records in September 1956 as the B-side of "Too Much Monkey Business." It was also included on Berry's 1957 debut album, After School Session. The song title was also used as the title of a biography of Berry.{{cite book|author=Pegg, Bruce|date=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zJlmPLVoVgC|title=Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry: An Unauthorized Biography|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415937481}}

Background and recording

"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" was written after Berry visited several African-American and Hispanic areas in California. During his time there, he saw a Hispanic man being arrested by a policeman when "some woman came up shouting for the policeman to let him go."{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596219/brown_eyed_handsome_man |title=Brown Eyed Handsome Man by Chuck Berry |magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016130025/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596219/brown_eyed_handsome_man |archive-date=October 16, 2007 |url-status=dead }}

"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" was recorded at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago, Illinois on April 16, 1956. The session was produced by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil. Backing Berry were Johnnie Johnson on piano, L. C. Davis on tenor saxophone, Willie Dixon on bass, and Fred Below on drums.

The song was released in September 1956 and reached number 5 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart later that year.{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=chuck-berry-p3664/charts-awards/billboard-singles|pure_url=yes}} |title=Chuck Berry: Billboard Singles |work=Allmusic |publisher=Rovi |access-date=December 3, 2010 }}

Relevance in race relations

Glenn C. Altschuler, in a caption to photo of Berry, states that the lyrics of the song "played slyly with racial attitudes and even fears."{{cite book|author=Altschuler, Glenn C.|date=2003|title=All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lMyC2FndXwkC&q=%22Brown+Eyed+Handsome+Man%22&pg=PA64|page=64|isbn=9780198031918}} Martha Bayles noted that "Berry's penchant for bragging about his 'Brown Eyed Handsome Man{{'}}'s appeal for white females outraged a lot of people."{{cite book|author=Bayles, Martha|date=1996|title=Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmcaVNZNF-cC&q=%22Brown+Eyed+Handsome+Man%22&pg=PA149|pages=149–150|isbn=9780226039596}}

Cover versions

The song has been covered by many artists, including Buddy Holly, whose recording was a posthumous hit in the United Kingdom in 1963, where it peaked at number three, and was released on the album Reminiscing, which reached number two on the UK Albums Chart.{{cite book|author=McAleer, Dave|date=2004|title=Hit Singles: Top 20 Charts From 1954 to the Present Day|publisher=Hal Leonard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejjQUZr2iPcC&q=%22Brown+Eyed+Handsome+Man%22&pg=RA3-PA84|page=84|isbn=9780879308087}} Holly's version also peaked at number three in Ireland.{{Cite web|url=http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement|title=The Irish Charts - All there is to know}} Johnny Rivers also covered the song on his first album, At the Whisky à Go Go, in 1964, as did Nina Simone on her 1967 album High Priestess of Soul and Waylon Jennings on a single from his 1970 album Waylon. It was also covered by Robert Cray on the 1987 live tribute album to Berry, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll and by Paul McCartney on his 1999 album Run Devil Run and on a double A-side single with "No Other Baby".

The song was also performed by the so-called "Million Dollar Quartet": Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley in a jam session on December 4, 1956.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-million-dollar-quartet-mw0000213604|title=The Million Dollar Quartet - The Million Dollar Quartet, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash - Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=AllMusic|access-date=18 February 2019}} Lewis also released a solo version on his 1970 album She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/she-even-woke-me-up-to-say-goodbye-mw0000838334|title=She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye - Jerry Lee Lewis - Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=AllMusic|access-date=18 February 2019}} Cash recorded it with Perkins on his posthumous 2003 album Unearthed. "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" was performed in the Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet, which opened in New York in April 2010,{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Coverage-MDQ-CurtainParty-20000101|title=Photo Coverage: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET Opens on Broadway|first=Peter James|last=Zielinski|website=BroadwayWorld.com|access-date=18 February 2019}} and was included in the album Million Dollar Quartet, recorded by the original Broadway cast, with Lance Guest as Johnny Cash, Robert Britton Lyons as Carl Perkins, Levi Kreis as Jerry Lee Lewis, and Eddie Clendening as Elvis Presley."Song List" and "Performing Credits". Million Dollar Quartet (2010). CD booklet. p. 5. New York: Avatar Studios; Chicago: Chicago Recording Company.