The Moody Blues: The Story In Your Eyes

Probably one of my favorite songs by The Moody Blues is “The Story in Your Eyes.” Released in 1971 as single from their album “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour,” it charted on the Hot 100 at #23. The album, by the way, did much better by peaking at #2.

Incidentally, the album’s title was named from the British mnemonic to remember the lines on the treble staff in musical notation. In America, the popular version of the mnemonic was Every Good Boy Does Fine – at least that is how I learned it during three and half years of piano lessons.

The song features the fantastic guitar work from Justin Hayward who plays both the acoustic and electric guitars. Hayward, who penned the tune, also sings lead and is joined on backup vocals by Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas, and John Lodge. The vocals are also accentuated by orchestral and choir voicings on the Mellotron at the hands of Pinder – who also plays the rollicking piano part.

Lodge provides the driving bass line – and you don’t hear someone say this too often, but I think his bass runs are absolutely beautiful. Graeme Edge handles the drums and percussion and Thomas adds the tambourine. I would imagine that Hayward is playing one of his Gibson ES335 electrics on this song, but I cannot find anything to corroborate this. Every live cut I’ve seen of this song, however, has him playing his red 335.

Original Version

Here’s a longer alternative version that was not released until the remastered edition of “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” was issued in 2008. The vocals and the overall mix are different as well.