Lyrics to
Behind Blue Eyes

Released by The Who in 1971
From the Album: Who's Next |

This version of Behind Blue Eyes was released by The Who in 1971.

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No one knows what it’s like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes

No one knows what it’s like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies

But my dreams
They aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free

No one knows what it’s like
To feel these feelings
Like I do
And I blame you

No one bites back as hard
On their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through

But my dreams
They aren’t as empty
As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That’s never free

When my fist clenches, crack it open
Before I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool

If I swallow anything evil
Put your finger down my throat
If I shiver, please give me a blanket
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

No one knows what it’s like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes


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The Who has released many songs over the years besides Behind Blue Eyes. The Who released songs from 1965 to 1982 spanning across albums like The Who Sings My Generation, A Quick One / Happy Jack, The Who Sell Out, Tommy, Who's Next, Quadrophenia, The Who By Numbers, Who Are You, Face Dances, and It's Hard. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by The Who.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Behind Blue Eyes by The Who

The lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by The Who in 1971. Elements of the lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by The Who and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Behind Blue Eyes back when it was created.

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Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes by The Who in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes" means the words set to the music of Behind Blue Eyes, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by The Who. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Behind Blue Eyes and the lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of The Who who came here looking just for the lyrics to Behind Blue Eyes, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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