"Bette Davis Eyes" was originally recorded in a 1920s jazz style by Jackie DeShannon on her 1975 album New Arrangement. DeShannon wrote the song with the songwriter Donna Weiss. According to DeShannon, she got the idea after watching the 1942 Bette Davis movie Now Voyager. It was Donna Weiss who submitted the demo to Carnes, who along with her band and producer Val Garay, came up with the hit arrangement for the song.
This was a huge hit in the US, where it was #1 for nine weeks. It was not, however, the year's biggest hit. "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John was #1 for 10 weeks.
The producer of this song had an assistant go out and buy the cheapest (and cheapest-sounding) drum set for this particular song. Combined with the sound of an early synthesizer called a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, they found the sound they were looking for and the song was a hit. Carnes credits her keyboard player, Bill Cuomo, for making significant contributions to the chord changes and arrangement.
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