I Don't See Me in Your Eyes Anymore

Infobox Single
Name = I Don't See Me in Your Eyes Anymore


Artist = Charlie Rich
from Album =
Released = April 1974 (U.S.)
Format = 7"
Recorded = c. mid-1960s
Genre = Country
Length = 2:14
Label = RCA Records
Writer = Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss
Producer = Chet Atkins
Certification =
Chart position =

• #1 (Billboard Hot Country Singles)
  Last single = "A Very Special Love Song"
  (1974)
  This single = "I Don't See Me in Your Eyes Anymore"
  (1974)
  Next single = "I Love My Friend"
  (1974)

  "I Don't See Me in Your Eyes Anymore" is a popular song, written by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss and published in 1949. The song was popularized that year by Gordon Jenkins and the Stardusters and by Perry Como.

  The song received renewed popularity in 1974, when country singer Charlie Rich released a cover version he had recorded during the mid-1960s. Rich's rendition reached No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles chart in June 1974.

  Chart performances

  Gordon Jenkins

  The recording by Gordon Jenkins was released by Decca Records as catalog number 24576 and first reached the Billboard magazine charts on March 25, 1949 and lasted 21 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 6. cite book
  last = Whitburn
  first = Joel
  authorlink = Joel Whitburn
  title = Top Pop Records 1940-1955
  publisher = Record Research
  year = 1973 ]

  Perry Como

  The recording by Perry Como was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog numbers 20-3347 (78 rpm) and 47-2892 (45 rpm). It was the flip side of "Forever and Ever." It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on May 6, 1949 and lasted 15 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 11.

  Charlie Rich

  Rich's version came about during his stint at RCA's rhythm and blues subsidiary, Groove Records, and association with producer Chet Atkins, one of the architects of the Nashville Sound. Like many of Atkins-produced songs of the era, "I Don't See Me ..." featured choral backing and strings, a style prominent on other Rich recordings of the time. Allmusic reviewer Stephen Cook said that Rich's musical style "landed somewhere between the raw sound of his Sun hits ... and the pop crossover tone of his Epic smashes." [Cook, Stephen, "Big Boss Man: The Groove Sessions" by Charlie Rich, review at Allmusic.]

  Although recorded in the mid-1960s, "I Don't See Me ..." was never released as a single. Then, in 1973, Rich had million-selling hits with "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl," and it wasn't long before several of his older recordings made during his tenures at RCA, Mercury and Sun records — "I Don't See Me ..." included — were released as singles to country radio.

  Released in April — around the time his Epic single "A Very Special Love Song" was wrapping up its run in popularity — "I Don't See Me ..." quickly became Rich's fifth No. 1 song overall, and third in the first six months of 1974 alone.

  Other cover versions

  Other recordings were made by Helen Forrest (on January 24, 1949, released by MGM Records as catalog number 10373), by Buddy Clark (on January 4, 1949, released by Columbia Records as catalog number 38408), and (in the United Kingdom) by Vera Lynn and Sam Browne (on February 5, 1949, released by British Decca Records as catalog number F 9127).

  uccession (Charlie Rich version)

  References