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Dinah Washington ft Quincy Jones & His Orchestra - I'll Close My Eyes (Mercury Records 1956)

4,472 views · Published 29 November 2018 · 3:01 · Indexed 29 September 2026

Channel: RoundMidnightTV · 2018 · Music

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I'll Close My Eyes is a song with words and music originally written by the English songwriter and bandleader Billy Reid and published in 1945. It is usually performed in a later version with different words by the American songwriter Buddy Kaye to Reid's original music. It has become a jazz standard.  The original version of the song had both music and lyrics written by Billy Reid.

In this original version, the song is a song of regret, with a verse introducing the theme in words which include: "Love was mine, you gave me a chance; But my heart was not content and I lost my romance.." The main song refrain then begins (as it does in the later version) "I'll close my eyes" but continues "and make believe it's you". The song then continues on the theme that the singer has foolishly lost his love and can now only close his eyes and imagine her in his loneliness. 

It was recorded with the original Billy Reid words by the English singer Dorothy Squires, who had a close association with Billy Reid.

Soon after its release, new words were written for the Billy Reid tune by the American songwriter Buddy Kaye. 

The new words make the song more upbeat. The initial phrase of the song remains "I'll close my eyes" but now it continues "...to everyone but you". The song then continues on the theme that the singer will always be faithful, will "lock my heart to any other caress" and will close his eyes to see his love "through the years" in "those moments when we're apart". It thus becomes, not a song of loss, but a commitment to fidelity in a relationship which is expected to last. 

In this form, it was taken up by a number of singers. It was broadcast by Frances Langford with the new words as early as 1947, in a Maxwell House Radio Show.

Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and gave herself the title of "Queen of the Blues". She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Dinah's accompanied by Don Costa and his Orchestra.  Recorded in 1956.

Heaven sends 
A song through its doors 
Just as if it seems to know 
I'm exclusively yours 
Knowing this 
I feel but one way 
You will understand too 
In these words that I say 
I'll close my eyes 
To everyone but you 
And when I do 
I'll see you standing there 
I'll lock my heart 
To any other caress 
I'll never say yes 
To a new love affair 
Then I'll close my eyes 
To everything that's gay 
If you are not there 
Oh, to share each lovely day 
And through the years 
In those moments 
When we're far apart 
Don't you know I'll close my eyes 
And I'll see you with my heart

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