In Your Eyes (Niamh Kavanagh song)

"In Your Eyes" is a ballad sung by Irish singer Niamh Kavanagh that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 for Ireland with 187 points. The song is a love song written and composed by Jimmy Walsh, where the singer tells how, after being lonely, she has found love and heaven in her lover's arms and how it had changed her.

"In Your Eyes"
Eurovision Song Contest 1993 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Niamh Kavanagh
Language
Composer(s)
Jimmy Walsh
Lyricist(s)
Jimmy Walsh
Conductor
Noel Kelehan
Finals performance
Final result
1st
Final points
187
Entry chronology
◄ "Why Me?" (1992)   
"Rock 'n' Roll Kids" (1994) ►

Overview

In 1992, the writer Walsh, who was based in New York, recorded a demo of the song in a studio there. One of the engineers suggested a girl singer that he knew, who could record it. A then-unknown Idina Menzel came in and listened to the song. She suggested a key change for the chorus as she found it rather flat.[1] Walsh was concerned that this would make the song too difficult to sing, but Menzel insisted she could do it. She duly recorded the demo and this was sent out to Niamh Kavanagh, who was recommended to Walsh as being a singer who could handle the difficult ranges within the song. Kavanagh loved the song, but was unsure of wanting to compete in the Eurovision. Eventually, Walsh said that he would withdraw the song if she didn't do it, so she agreed to enter with it.[1]

Kavanagh had a home win, since the contest took place in Ireland due to Linda Martin's win the previous year. It was the second of Ireland's three victories in a row in the early Nineties. The song was performed fourteenth on the night (following Sweden's Arvingarna with "Eloise" and preceding Luxembourg's Modern Times with "Donne-moi une chance"). At the close of voting, it had received 187 points, placing 1st in a field of 25.

Despite winning the Irish national song contest, Kavanagh found it difficult to find a record label willing to release the record due to its association with the contest. Eventually, she partly funded the recording of it herself and released it in limited numbers in Ireland under a made-up label name, Eureyes Music.[2] During the run up to the contest, she met with Simon Cowell, who was present with the UK entrant Sonia. He signed her up to Arista Records and the song was released internationally through them.[1] "In Your Eyes" became the best selling single in Ireland for 1993. It also reached No. 24 in the UK Singles Chart and became a minor hit in the Netherlands and Germany.

The song was succeeded as winner in 1994 by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan, also representing Ireland, singing "Rock 'n' Roll Kids". Niamh Kavanagh also returned to the Contest in 2010 with "It's for You", which came 23rd out of 25 countries, with 25 points in the final.

It wasn't until 2017, during a documentary on the Irish winners, that Kavanagh learned that the singer on the demo she had heard all those years ago was a young Idina Menzel, who was by then internationally famous.[1]

Track listing
  1. "In Your Eyes" (Walsh) - 3:10
  2. "In Your Eyes (instrumental)" (Walsh) - 3:09

Charts
Chart (1993) Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[3] 31
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[4] 27
Ireland (IRMA)[5] 1
Netherlands (Tipparade)[6] 2
Netherlands (Single Top 100) 42
Germany (GfK Entertainment Charts) 83
United Kingdom (UK Singles Chart)[7] 24

References
  1. Rokit Entertainment (12 December 2017). "Interviews with Jimmy Walsh and Niamh Kavanagh". Irish Eurovision Winners DVD.
  2. "Niamh Kavanagh - In Your Eyes". Discogs. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  3. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 1993-06-03. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  4. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (04.06.1993 - 10.06.1993)" (PDF) (in Icelandic). Dagblaðið Vísir - Tónlist. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  5. Irish Singles Chart Archived 2011-08-09 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Niamh Kavanagh - In Your Eyes" (in Dutch). top40.nl. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  7. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 297. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
Preceded by
"Why Me?" by Linda Martin		 Eurovision Song Contest winners
1993		 Succeeded by
"Rock 'n' Roll Kids" by Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan
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