I used to do a classic rock radio show. This one guy used to call me once a week to request this song for his wife. I got annoyed (inside) after a while but still played it. One week he called me and told me she passed away and he thanked me for playing her favorite song every week. I played it for him in honor of her memory. He never called again after that last play. It put my emotions in check. The power of music is a wonderful thing.
Beautiful heartbreaking story... to realize a simple act of you playing that song each week for a dying wife... to bring a smile if just for a minute. You're my new hero God Bless You
@@RJTheBikeGuy Well in that case an article I read on the subject must have made an error on his age at the time maybe he was 19 when he went to work at Abbey Road anyway that makes him 36 days younger than me
I had a girlfriend that cheated on me when this song came out. It wasn't a good break up. I think I played this 50 times, before I realized I couldn't read her mind. We got back together again, but she did it again. She broke my heart. It wasn't fun . Thankfully I met a woman. she and I spent 28 years together. She never effed with my head she and I were on the same page just about every day. She passed away 5 years ago. I miss her everyday
@@musicsansnotes Thank you and to others who have sent me " good vibes" I wish I could say more about her. she was truly amazing. Please take a listen to this song. I played many, many times during that first breakup. I wanted to leave , just go anywhere away. This is Jerry Jeff
In an interview, Alan Parsons said that he learned that casino security cameras were called "eye in the sky", he realized the traffic copter to a local station was called "eye in the sky", and he saw a giant Horus eye mural on the side of a building -- all on the same day. He took it as a sign that he should write a song called "Eye In the Sky".
Very interesting story. Concerning the 'eye of Horus' , in ancient times, in North Africa and parts of the Middle East, the eye symbol was often used as a warning along trading routes. A carved eye on a boulder was a warning for travelers and traders to be '' watchful and awake '' and keep an eye out for bandits and marauders..........
The Chicago Bulls intro music is actually "Sirius", the song just before "Eye in the Sky". They should ALWAYS be played together though, it's a classic rock law.
This is one of the best examples of why the streaming services should let you "lock" songs together. So when you throw on shuffle, you don't get Sirius without Eye in the Sky
I'm a 66 year old Londoner with thousands of records and although I had glimpsed at the name once in a while I onlyfirst heard him play 3 weeks ago and heard the Live version of this. What A Discovery !
Andrew Petik and Will Thomas agreed. This album was a great one and the first I listened to...hooked. Should definitely do more Alan Parsons songs. I have been posting he should listen to them since he started Pink Floyd.
Alan Parsons was an up and coming young studio engineer who never was given credit for Abby Road (The Beatles), or Dark Side Of The Moon (Pink Floyd). Credit was given for Year Of The Cat (Al Stewart), Time Passages (Al Stewart). Years later he established his own band 'The Alan Parsons Project. Listen to all these albums mentioned, and you'll hear their similarities in production and orchestrations. GENIUS.
Well, I can tell you a young child's perspective of the deeper meaning. This song was getting a lot of radio play when I was about kindergarten age, and I was terrified of it. I thought it was sung by ghosts and that the ghosts were threatening to read and control my mind. I still have vivid memories of being a paranoid 5-year-old with an overactive imagination, riding in my mother's 1979 Buick and crawling onto the floor of the back seat to hide from the ghosts when this song came on. (This was way before seatbelt laws, kids.) Forty-ish years later, I enjoy it much more now.
Same thing happened with me and "Thriller". My sister and brother would play it on the turntable in the basement but I would sit on the stairs because I thought the song made ghosts come out.
i'd say its a very creepy song, the lyrics are creepy, although they dont directly appear to be. If you add the theme of George Orwell's 1984 to this song, about the Thought Police, claiming to be able to read your mind, and just the general idea of constantly being watched/observed by government and such...
He did studio work on some Rolling Stones and Beatles albums too. He finally got tired of making others rich, so he formed The Alan Parsons Project. He was the only constant in the Project, as he used many different musicians on his songs.
Correction...He was nominated for that and a total of 13 Grammy's. Finally in 2018 he and PJ Olsson won the Grammy for the 35th anniversary digital remastering and re-release of Eye In The Sky. I got to see them play live shortly after and he was talking about it. These guys are mindblowing in concert.
Alan Parsons “Eye in The Sky” is one of my all time favorites. Alan Parsons also convinced Al Stewart to add a saxophone solo in Stewart’s 1976 hit song, “The Year Of The Cat” which Stewart and Peter Wood wrote which Alan engineered, and produced. That is one of the best saxophone solos in any song. I’m glad that Al listened to Alan. Thank you Alan, Al, and Peter for writing some great songs!
“The sun in your eyes made some of the lies worth believing”. I heard that and did not try to get back together with the woman who cheated on me. She was drop dead beautiful and I almost feel for the beauty. Song saved me a lot of misery later in life.
You should research Alan Parsons to fully appreciate who he is and what he has done. Hint: Abbey Road and The Dark Side of the Moon Alan Parsons also did the soundtrack for the movie “Ladyhawke”. Great movie. Great soundtrack. I was fortunate enough to see the Alan Parsons Project live in South Florida back in the 90’s.
Yeah, but the soundtrack doesn't really fit the movie. I like both, but they are not exactly two great tastes that taste great together. A weird juxtaposition of medieval fantasy and 80s electronic music. But that's just my opinion, you don't have to go spreading it around or anything.
@@benrogers4296 lol, I got you! It is a great soundtrack, it would be interesting to see if there would be a better movie for it. I do love Ladyhawke, though.
I saw Alan Parsons in Chattanooga 10 to 12 years ago at an outdoor festival and me and my friends were 15 feet from the man himself and it was an incredible evening, one of the top 3 musical concerts I've ever seen (and I've been to over 750major shows, not counting the smaller shows) Pink Floyd "Division Bell/Pulse"tour was a little bit better (probably due to the visual aspects of the concert, and that is in my top 3 visual concerts)
Alan Parsons Project and Pink Floyd were my father’s most favorite bands he had like every single album of their’s and he would always blast the music every time he played the records. So when ever I hear their music it brings tears to my eyes in memory of my father.
RIP to your father.. I kinda know how you feel and what you mean. My dad has been gone for 5 years. He listened to about everything and now I listen to everything he did.. In some way, we grow up being a carbon copy of our father.. Our laugh, personality, character, etc, and mostly our love for great music..
One of the greatest songs of all time. Peter Gabriel, Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, and many others from the 80's, did timeless masterpieces like this. From the 90's on there has been lots of great music, but nothing comparable.
Alan Parsons was a recording engineer of another caliber. From wiki: He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including the Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, and the eponymous debut album by Ambrosia, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.
Absolutely! There's a great version of it on line that has both halves of the song put together. Otherwise, you really have to listen to the entire second half of the album to get the full effect.
Funny story (to maybe only me) regarding "Turn of a Friendly Card". I was driving home from a Pink Floyd concert in Washington DC (Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour, October 1989). I had to drive from the Capital Center just outside of DC, to Frostburg State University, which was about 3 hours away. We stopped for dinner in Frederick, MD at some truck stop, then proceeded west towards Frostburg (about another 2 hour drive). It was after 1 am and had been raining for hours. As we moved into the mountains, it also became very foggy. Back in 1989, the road west of Hancock was a 2 lane divided highway (one lane in either direction) and was very windy and narrow. Also, at 1 am, there are mostly big tractor-trailers on the road and few cars. Because of the fog, it was incredibly hard to see, although the trucks seemed to be having an easier time as they were flying. Mountains, rain, fog, narrow winding roads, big trucks... I thought I was going to die. About an hour out from Frostburg, I was trying to do something with the music, but accidentally hit the repeat song button on my CD player. So, long story longer, Turn of a Friendly Card was playing and continued to repeat over and over again for the entire last leg of the drive. The song ends similar to how it begins, so it was actually difficult to tell when it was restarting. I was too scared to look away from the road for even a second to figure out how to turn off repeat and the shoulders were narrow to pull over and I thought I would get hit by a flying truck. Fortunately, I love the song, and did not mind all that much that I had to listen to it for an hour. I had more important things to worry about at that moment. My passenger slept through it all. It was very late and I didn't want to wake her. Also of note, this was the 3rd Pink Floyd show that I went to that week. I think I had stayed down in Baltimore for the other 2 and the drive was not eventful.
They think it will make their lives easier, and God knows up till now it's been hard. But the game never ends when your whole world depends on the turn of a friendly card. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jT0cKjDACIY.html
... Dancing on a High Wire Prime Time I Robot Money Talks (The System Of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether Standing On Higher Ground The Tell-Tale Heart...
Omg. My gym class had to dance to "Games People Play" for a school fete/fun day/whatever. I completely forgot about. This whole thread is a time machine!
This is a multi-layer themed song, and one of the layers is servalence, just like you said, alongside a manipulative relationship. Top scores for picking up on that!
I remember the first time I heard this song...I was 12 yrs old sitting in the basement of my friends house when her older brother came in with a brand new album...I became an instant Alan Parsons fan and have loved this song ever since...brings me back every time!
He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including the Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, Ambrosia's debut album, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. and worked with other notables like Al Stewart, and The Hollies... just to mention a few.
ALAN PARSON PLAYED ***ALL*** OF THE INSTRUMENTS FOR THIS ALBUM !!! WONDER MAN !!! I IMAGINED HIM IN A CASTLE PLAYING ALL THESE AND CREATING AN ALBUM WHEN IT CAME OUT WHAT A ARTIST !!!!
Sirius and Eye in the sky are a complete package. Almost seamless and must be played together. Even more so than We will Rock You and We are the Champions.
The whole album is a reference to Egyptian mithology. This song in particular is kinda about the eye of Horus (portrayed in that album's cover) and a catchy but slightly creepy love song at the same time.
It's kind of about a lot of things at once. It's also about surveillance; the album sleeve also has a picture of a satellite with the Eye of Horus/Ra on it -- an electronic eye in the sky.
There is also a level of the song that is about a breaking love relation - "don't cry i ain't changing my mind" / "the sun in your eyes made some of the lies worth believing."
Another Great Song from Alan Parsons Project..Saw them with Yes at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati..Great Live Performance..I Robot..is another Great Album..Few groups are of this caliber..Just like Pink Floyd..all the cuts flow together to create a complete theme of sound and frame of mind..excellent isn't the best term to describe this brilliance!! This music never ages..only the Blessed that listen to it age. Few bands last 5 decades..Kentuckyrocker
Thank you dad and mom for playing this song every time we were on the car. Made me dream. Beautiful music. Love your reactions Jamal! Thanks for sharing this one. I recommend to you to listen to Mike Oldfield. Tubular Bells for instance
Excellent band 🙂 dig your reaction 🙂 super song 🙂 eye in the sky is a reference to the eye of Ra from Egyptian culture🙂 Many more traveling up their alley, "The Raven" comes to mind too.Great job Jamel 🙂☮️
My Dad played this for me back in 83 not long after this song came out, while he was a cleaner at a high school and it was epic ..........he was playing the drums too it after the second time of hearing it and it blew my mind......................I was 15 at the time................
Check out their Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Edgar Allen Poe album. Particularly A Dream Within A Dream/The Raven, The Tell Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, (The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether.
The great thing about youtube is that folks like you (young'uns) learn to appreciate the most beautiful songs of the past. Every era has great music. And Alan Parsons Project is legendary. My fave is "Old and Wise" which is one of the most chosen songs at funerals. You'll learn why. Thank you for the video.
"Eye in the sky" actually refers to the trend of surveillance cameras that started back in the 1980s and the overall accumulation of data by companies and governments. So the song still is up to date in 2020. "Looking at you, I can read your mind"… yep, Google, I know.
Another great band that my brother got me hooked on back when they first came out in '75. He had an album of them and I believe he still owned it when he passed over 3 years ago. I honestly don't know, but here's to you brother. I miss you every day.
I attended a 3-hour long concert he gave in May 2019, after having listened to him and Pink Floyd's DSOTM for 40 years. One of the most wonderful musical experiences in my entire life.
I hope you check out more! Met him & his wife about a year ago in Santa Monica... They were so nice... I have to admit... First time I've ever been "star struck"... I have at least 6 albums on vinyl! This guy is an absolute musical/ compositional GENIUS! RIP Chris Rainbow.
This is the first time I've heard the intro. (Sirius) attached to a music group name. I always used to hear it as bumper music for TV shows on PBS, or background music for low-budget TV ads. I never heard Sirius played on the radio when I was growing up in the '80s, though I heard Eye in the Sky frequently as an Alan Parsons Project song.
Paying close attention to the lyrics, this is a break-up song. The singer is basically saying, "I'm on to you now. I see you for who you really are, and I'm not going to be fooled any more."
The instrumental track "Sirius" opens the album and leads into "Eye In The Sky," but unlike some of the Pink Floyd tracks that radio stations played together, "Sirius" was usually dropped when "Eye In The Sky" got airtime. "Sirius" later came into its own as a jock jam when the Chicago Bulls started using it as introduction music in Michael Jordan's rookie year. It became the soundtrack to the Bulls' six championships in that era, and was appropriated by a number of other teams in various sports.
This means a lot to me. My step-dad was a loving man who benefitted my life in such a fulsome way. He played this song for me after having an argument followed by a touching conversation. I lost him in '09, and each time I hear this song, it feels like a personal message.q
The "shorter" version is just the "Eye in the Sky" song without the instrumental "Sirius" intro. On the album, "Sirius" segues into "Eye in the Sky", which is how it was *meant* to be heard. So, yes, you did the right version. :-) If you want to dive down this rabbit hole, here's my list of must-hear tracks from APP: "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The System of Dr. Tarr & Professor Fether" (from "Tales of Mystery & Imagination", their 1st album) "I Robot / I Wouldn't Wanna Be Like You" (the one segues into the other, like "Sirius/Eye in the Sky" does), "Some Other Time", "Breakdown", "The Voice" (from their second album, "I Robot") "One More River", "Can't Take It With You", "Pyramania", "Shadow of a Lonely Man" (from "Pyramid") "Lucifer", "You Lie Down With Dogs", "Winding Me Up", "Damned if I Do" (from "Eve") "May Be A Price To Pay", "Games People Play", "Time", and of course, the entire 16-minute "Turn of a Friendly Card" suite (from "The Turn of a Friendly Card") "You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned", "Psychobabble", "Old and Wise" (from "Eye in the Sky") "Prime Time", "You Don't Believe" (from "Ammonia Avenue") "Let's Talk About Me", "Sooner or Later", "Vulture Culture" (from "Vulture Culture") "Stereotomy", "Beaujolais", "Limelight", "Where's the Walrus?" (from "Sterotomy") "La Sagrada Familia", "Standing on Higher Ground", "Money Talks" (from "Gaudi") Note that there are live performances of some of these out there -- but they are *not* performances by the original Alan Parsons Project, as such. APP was entirely a studio creation of Parsons and his creative partner, the late Eric Woolfson; they used session musicians on each album, and at the time, Parsons didn't even sing or play any instruments; he was solely a recording engineer and producer. After Parsons and Woolfson parted ways in 1990, Parsons continued on his own (dropping the "Project" part of the name), and eventually began touring with a group of musicians. Which is not to say they don't put on a good live show; just be aware that if you're looking to put faces to the music, Alan Parsons himself will be the only "original face", as it were, who actually had anything to do with the APP albums, and he didn't actually sing or play on any of them at the time. :-)
Alan Parsons is a great guy and musician I got the chance to get to know him after a show in Arlington Heights "Jim Peterik's World Stage" show. He bought some wine from a friend's wine shop and she loaned him a personal corkscrew that was her first owned at the store ........ forgot to get it back ....... she asked me if I knew how to reach him as I was involved with music in the Chicago area ........ I got ahold of his manager in the states and told him and He said he would do his best ......... A few weeks later my friend told me thanks ............. He had set it back personally to her , a autographed pic that said thanks ....... also a handwritten apology thanking her for getting in touch with him to get it returned
A young, 19-year-old, Alan Parsons first assignment was the final classic Beatles album, Abbey Road. He went for on to be the head engineer for Al Stewart’s, Year of the cat and Pink Floyd’s Dark side of the moon. He was responsible for all the voices and side effects on this album. He was so talented and the quality of the sound that he was able to create, allowed him to break out in his own, using studio musicians and his own music to develop the Alan Parsons Project, some of which you are familiar with. One of the great things about classic music is the idea of timbre; the use of a wide variety of instruments and sounds to create a piece of his music. The Alan Parsons Project uses this to great effect. Listen to this one from the album, Pyramid. It will transport you to another time and place. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-N2mX6arRMBw.html He produced some great instrumentals, including this one featuring David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, on the slide guitar. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-48igcc3OMSs.html
Alan Parsons Project. Every album build around a theme. Every album another sort of music genre. And all super. Listen to Live in Colombia, with a choir and symphonic orchestra, and incorporated in the performance the entire side 2 of the album ( if you can remember them) Turn of friendly card. Speaking of historical influences.
Elton John, "Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", is another good one. Oh yeah! And Iron Maiden, "The Ides Of March/Wrathchild", is excellent too!
Ian Bairnson has died. April 8, 2023 Lead guitar. In 1975, he began a fifteen-year association with "The Alan Parsons Project" where he was a member of their stable of musicians. During this period, he contributed to the hits "Games People Play" (1981), "Time" (1981), "Eye In The Sky" (1982, achieved a number 3 placing on the American Pop Charts) and "Don't Answer Me" (1985). Additionally, he is noted for his solo guitar effort on the 1978 single "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush. RIP ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ASGgn8bNQuA.html
New subscriber here; another Alan Parsons Project album to look into is Tales of Mystery and Imagination; dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe; particular favorite is The Raven; enjoy & love listening to your stuff; peace & love-I’m an older white lady reliving my youth with a lot of you choices; just finished a lot of Yes that you listened to, may I suggest City of Love-bass & harmony heavy
You were absolutely right about the camera in the ceiling of a casino in Las Vegas. According to Alan Parson, he though the term "eye in the sky" when referring to those cameras was an interesting term and it stuck in his head. So he eventually decided to write a song that incorporated this term. You were "spot on."
Here’s a link to a video where he goes over “Eye In The Sky” and “Old and Wise”. At around 2:28 mark is where he refers to the idea of Big Brother and “cameras everywhere”. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sHH0JAVkPBw.html
Totally! Like The Police "Every breath you take"... Gary Newman, "I dream of wires"... Men at Work, "Who can it be now?"... So many in the 80s while they were rolling out the New Order.
Listen to their "Shadow of a Lonely Man" and "Limelight". Most haunting, beautiful bittersweet songs ever. "he Eagle Will Rise Again" almost to that level too.
It's interesting that you mention gambling because they have an album called "Turn of a Friendly Card" that's all about gambling and games in life. Speaking of which, you should do "Games People Play", it's a classic.
From songfacts.com: "In some ways, this is an extension of The Alan Parsons Project's previous album The Turn of a Friendly Card, which deals with gambling. Woolfson [the lyricist and vocalist on this song] spent a lot of time in casinos and was fascinated with the hidden cameras watching his every move." www.songfacts.com/facts/the-alan-parsons-project/eye-in-the-sky
@@Steve_Stowers Woolfson later ended up rock opera called "Gambler" that built even more on the theme (and used a lot of songs from "Turn of a Friendly Card").
Alan Parsons wrote the biggest sports anthem on accident. The first song is Sirius, and then it blends into Eye In The Sky. Really love The Alan Parsons Project!!!!!!!!! I Robot is my favorite album by them.
I have searched and I don't believe you have done Breakdown by Alan Parsons Project. One of my all time favorites, I was fascinated by this song as a child in the 80's. It's one of the stranger songs I've ever heard but so amazing.
That's right Jemal. This album came out in 82. That's before MJ graduated from college. The Bulls definitely borrowed it. Used it in the 90s when the Bulls were on top. Alan Parsons used to work in a casino and the 'eye in the sky' was referring to the security camera system throughout the casino. The Alan Parsons Project is a group of studio musicians and singers Alan put together and recorded a few albums over the years with much success.
I’ve been listening to the A P Project since 1972! If you like that one try Time, Don’t Answer Me, I Wouldn’t Want To Be Like You, really any of their songs!
Thank you for doing Alan Parsons Project my favorite band of all time in that musical genre I was there from 1976 is “tales of mystery and imagination through to 1987’s “Gowdy“ and beyond with Alan by himself!! So thank you thank you more Alan Parsons
