Dark Eyes

"Dark Eyes" is a folk song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the 10th and final track on his 1985 album Empire Burlesque. The song features a spare arrangement in which Dylan's vocal is only accompanied by his own acoustic guitar and a harmonica played in a rack, and is thus devoid of the "80s style" aesthetic for which the rest of the album is known. As a result, many critics and fans consider it a high point of the album. It was anthologized on the compilation albums Dylan in 2007 and The Essential Bob Dylan (2009 reissue). Composition and themes According to his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan wrote the song specifically to close the album at the suggestion of engineer Arthur Baker. Dylan claims that inspiration for the song came from seeing a prostitute in a hallway at the Plaza Hotel on 59th Street in New York City: "As I stepped out of the elevator, a call girl was coming toward me in the hallway—pale yellow hair wearing a fox coat—high heeled shoes that could pierce your heart. She had blue circles around her eyes, black eyeliner, dark eyes. She looked like she'd been beaten up and was afraid that she'd get beat up again. In her hand, crimson purple wine in a glass. 'I'm just dying for a drink', she said as she passed me in the hall. She had a beautifulness, but not for this kind of world. Poor wretch, doomed to walk this hallway for a thousand years". Dylan scholar Tony Atwood sees the song as similar to "Restless Farewell", which Dylan had written specifically to close his album [[The Times They Are a-Changin' (Bob Dylan album)|The Times They Are a-Changin''']] over 20 years earlier. According to Atwood, both songs are about "being trapped inside what you are, unable to change, unable to be anything other than what you are". The song is performed in the key of G major.