Black Eyed Boy Explained

Black Eyed Boy
Cover:	Texas Black Eyed Boy cover.png
Type:	single
Artist:	Texas
Album:	White on Blonde
Released:	^[1]
Genre:	Motown sound
Length:	3:16
Label:	Mercury
Producer:	Texas
Prev Title:	Halo
Prev Year:	1997
Next Title:	Put Your Arms Around Me
Next Year:	1997

"Black Eyed Boy" is the third single from Scottish rock band Texas's fourth studio album, White on Blonde (1997). The song was released on 28 July 1997 and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart. Elsewhere, the song reached the top 50 in Australia, Belgium, France, Ireland, Israel and Sweden.

Critical reception

A reviewer from Music Week rated the song four out of five, noting that "Texas immerse themselves in Motown on this thumpingly catchy Supremes-sounding groove, conjuring up a perfect summer gift for radio."^[2] A few weeks later, it was given five out of five and picked as Single of the Week. The magazine stated that "Sharleen plays Diana Ross on the stand-out track from White On Blonde, its Motownalike euphoria pumped up even further in this single version. Will send the album shooting back up the chart."^[3] David Sinclair from The Times wrote in his review of White on Blonde, that "Black Eyed Boy" is "little more than the Supremes-by-numbers."^[4]

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Black Eyed Boy", directed by Karen Lamond, is filmed in black-and-white and features the band performing the song whilst a man is shown washing his face, but leaves when he sees Sharleen Spiteri there with him. He is then seen in a nightclub where he sees Spiteri in the crowd and runs away. As he runs, he bumps into another version of Spiteri. At the end of the video, the man arrives in a tunnel which has many large pictures of Spiteri on each side. The pictures then burst into flames and the man runs down the tunnel.

Track listings

• UK CD single ^[5]

1. "Black Eyed Boy" (Summer Mix) – 3:16
2. "Sorry" – 4:33
3. "Black Eyed Disco" – 4:20
4. "Say What You Want" (Acoustic Mary Ann Hobbs Session) – 3:50

• UK limited-edition CD single—includes poster ^[6]

1. "Black Eyed Boy" (Summer Mix radio) – 3:16
2. "Black Eyed Boy" (Trailermen's Black Eyed Disco) – 8:45
3. "Black Eyed Boy" (Trailermen's Disco Boy Dub) – 7:40
4. "Black Eyed Boy" (Neo-Northern Bossa Nova) – 4:53
5. "Black Eyed Boy" (Stoppa & Nobby's Madeye) – 6:23
6. "Black Eyed Boy" (album version) – 3:10

• European CD single ^[7]

1. "Black Eyed Boy" (Summer Mix) – 3:16
2. "Fameless" – 4:21

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from The Greatest Hits album booklet.^[8]

• Texas – production
  • Johnny McElhone – writing, keyboards, programming, additional production and mix (as Johnny Mac)
  • Sharleen Spiteri – writing, backing vocals, guitars, programming
  • Ally McErlaine – guitars
  • Eddie Campbell – writing, backing vocals, keyboards, programming
  • Richard Hynd – writing, drums, programming
• Robert Hodgens – writing, backing vocals
• Kenny MacDonald – mix engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1997)	Peak position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)^[9]	29
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)^[10]	16

Year-end charts

Notes and References

1. Reviews – Records Out on July 28, 1997. Music Week. 21. 19 July 1997. 3 August 2021.
2. Reviews: Singles. Music Week. 28 June 1997. 20. 27 May 2022.
3. Reviews: Singles. Music Week. 19 July 1997. 21. 15 August 2022.
4. Sinclair, David (8 February 1997). "The week's top pop releases; Records". The Times.
5. Black Eyed Boy. Texas. 1997. UK CD single liner notes. Mercury Records. MERCD 490, 574 703-2.
6. Black Eyed Boy. Texas. 1997. UK limited CD single liner notes. Mercury Records. MERDD 490, 574 705-2.
7. Black Eyed Boy. Texas. 1997. European CD single liner notes. Mercury Records. 574 702-2.
8. The Greatest Hits. The Greatest Hits (Texas album). Texas. 2000. UK CD album booklet. Mercury Records. 548 264-2.
9. Eurochart Hot 100 Singles. Music & Media. 14. 33. 24. 16 August 1997. 17 December 2020.
10. News: Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (11.9. '97 – 19.8. '97). Dagblaðið Vísir. is. 22. 12 September 1997. 3 October 2019.
11. Web site: Najlepsze single na UK Top 40–1997. pl. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150604144848/http://hosting1642755.az.pl/sp%20uk%20best%201997.html. 4 June 2015. 3 October 2019.