About the song
Background
- Released in 1956 as the B-side to “Too Much Monkey Business,” “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” was also included on Chuck Berry’s debut album, “After School Session,” in 1957.
- The song’s inspiration came from Berry’s visit to African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods in California. There, he witnessed a Hispanic man being arrested and a woman intervening on his behalf.
Theme
- The song doesn’t delve into a deep storyline. It’s a celebratory rock and roll tune about a charismatic “brown eyed handsome man” who catches everyone’s attention.
- Lyrics mention his charm extending to women (“The girls all scream and shout”) and even influencing the outcome of a baseball game (“It was a brown-eyed handsome man won the game”).
Lyrics
Here’s a short excerpt to capture the essence of the song:
Well, I was walkin’ down the street the other day Saw a brown-eyed handsome man comin’ my way Had a silk suit on and a diamond ring Looked like he just stepped out for a walk with a king
The song continues with more playful verses about the handsome man’s magnetism.
Video
Lyrics
A-a-arrested on charges of unemployment
He was sitting in the witness stand
The judges wife called up the district attorney
She said, “Free that brown-eyed man.
If you want your job, you better free that brown-eyed man.”
Flying across the desert in a TWA,
I saw a woman walkin’ ‘cross the sand.
She’d been walking thirty miles en route to Bombay
To meet a brown-eyed handsome man,
Her destination was a brown-eyed handsome man.
Way back in history, three thousand years,
In fact ever since the world began,
There’s been a whole lotta good women shedding tears
All for a brown-eyed handsome man,
(It)’sa lot of trouble with a brown-eyed handsome man.
Beautiful daughter couldn’t make up her mind
Between a doctor and a lawyer man.
Her mother told her, “Darling go out and find yourself
A brown-eyed handsome man,
Just like your daddy He’s a brown-eyed handsome man.”
Marlo Venus was a beautiful lass,
She had the world in the palm of her hand
She lost both her arms in a wrestling match
To meet a brown-eyed handsome man,
She fought and won herself a brown-eyed handsome man.
2-3 the count with nobody on
He hit a high fly into the stands
Roundin’ third, he was headed for home
It was a brown-eyed handsome man that won the game
It was a brown-eyed handsome man.