Go to main content

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

Rating:
3.8 / 5

Words & Music: Fred Rose

In the twilight glow I see her
Blue eyes crying in the rain
When we kissed goodbye and parted
I knew we'd never meet again

Love is like a dying ember
Only memories remain
Through the ages I remember
Blue eyes crying in the rain

Someday when we meet up yonder
We'll stroll hand in hand again
In a land that knows no parting
Blue eyes crying in the rain

Blue eyes crying in the rain
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Blue eyes crying in the rain

Recordingdate: 1976/02/07, first released on: From Elvis Presley Boulevard (album)

Musicians

Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain:

(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(piano)
(electric piano)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)

Availability

Find available albums with Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.

MJB63 wrote on May 01, 2009
Great song...Elvis does it well.One of my favorites.
My boy, my boy wrote on June 20, 2009
Nice song...Elvis sounds great although the arrangement should have been better !...I would have so loved to hear his version on the morning of August 16 '77.
JimmyCool wrote on June 20, 2009
Horrible, horrible version! I tende to like all Elvis' songs (soundtracks included), but this one is o my top 5 list of worst songs ever... The echo on the master track sucks (to much delay) and Elvis sounds like he's moaning or something... Horrible!
Deke Rivers 6 wrote on June 20, 2009
It's ok but not a fav of mine,this was the trend of album songs that were pretty dire,no excitment.
JerryNodak wrote on June 20, 2009
Generally speaking I like Elvis' cover versions. Not this one. I prefer the Willie Nelson version.
old shep wrote on June 20, 2009
Terrible! A complete dirge, an awful song that Elvis seemed to make even worse.
Steve V wrote on June 20, 2009
This from the great Willie Nelson LP, Red Headed Stranger, one of my all-time favorites. A nice simple acoustic song by Willie. Too bad Elvis covered it and almost made it unrecognizable with his dirge rendition. Awful job by Elvis.
elvis197475 wrote on June 20, 2009
good song not great but good .like it better then willie nelson's
theoldscudder wrote on June 20, 2009
Medicore version by Elvis.
GregMcGee wrote on June 20, 2009
The song is one of the better songs from Elvis' 1970'a. I always enjoy hearing his version of it off of "Moody Blue" CD.
derekd wrote on June 20, 2009
An alright album song, certainly not single material when recorded around 75 / 76. Moody Blue & Way Down were much more catchy.
Musicwizard wrote on June 20, 2009
A super rendition by Elvis, Elvis put all his heart into this one. By far the best rendition I have ever heard, beats Willie's rendition hands down.
dgirl wrote on June 20, 2009
This is one of the worst cover jobs of Elvis' career. I realize this is an Elvis fanatics website but to say it is better than Willie, come on. Willie's version is one of the all-time country classics with a perfect arrangement. Elvis slowed it to a funeral's pace with a bad arrangement & a bad production job to boot. I can only think jealousy or devout loyalty (no matter how bad the song in question) spurns such coimments at times.
NONE000000 wrote on June 20, 2009
Never liked this song, period. Elvis does what he can with it, but like most of his stuff during the later years, the production and arrangement is pretty awful. Much like "And I Love You So" (which is much much better) both songs would have been better if it was just Elvis, an acoustic guitar and maybe a very small string section, possible even just one violin or cello. Come to think of it, I am of a similar opinion regarding "Gentle On My Mind" as well. I like Elvis about 100000x more than Glen Campbell, Don McLean or Willie Nelson, but each of them had a better arrangement/producers when it came to those songs. "Early Morning Rain" is one of the few examples I can think of where Elvis basically has the right understated acoustic arrangement. That's what this song needed--in my opinion.
GEORGE (GK) wrote on June 21, 2009
Elvis sounds good, And the arrangement is a good too ! I love the Lead Guitair and backing vocal solos. it works, nicely.
Deano1 wrote on February 27, 2010
By far the worst track on the album "From Elvis Presley Boulevard". That said, it isn't bad and come on people... Willie Nelson's vocals better??? He was/is a great song writer, but a singer??? Those who criticize Elvis for not breathing properly during his '76 and '77 concerts are praising Willie Nelson who sang out of his nose on every song and never once tried to sing from the heart or the gut??? A very well written song, but Elvis gets lost in the arrangement and the track fails to rise above mediocrity. The pace is anything but a funeral pace and at times seems to fast, especially on the chorus. Was Willie's a better record? maybe? Better vocal? Elvis.
Marty_TCE wrote on June 10, 2011
This appears to be marmite with the fans (you love it or hate it). I love it, I think the mix suits the recording - it is haunting and moody which a song about 'blue' eyes should be... I absolutely adore the recordings from the Jungle Room and it's another 5 stars from me
GEORGE (GK) wrote on June 10, 2011
This is far, from the worst track, on the "Elvis Presley Blvd, album". I think that award goes to the song "Danny Boy". Elvis, and the band the and backup singers, do a real good job on this song. The song, builds nicely as it goes along. Elvis sounds good. Love the guitair solo, and the backing vocal solos (girls-guys) towards the end. My only complaint, I wish the sound production was a bit better. Would have sounded better, recorded, in a proper studio.
Great Dane wrote on June 10, 2011
I can't stand Willie Nelson's voice, so this one goes to Elvis, although it's not a strong cover of him.
Jesse Garon Presley wrote on June 11, 2011
Better than willie Nelson's version without any doubt, one of my favorite songs from the 76 sessions
Bestoftherest8301 wrote on September 30, 2011
Awful song, doesn't matter which version you listen to, Elvis' or Willie Nelson's they are both as bad as one another. A song that Elvis tried to do something with, not sure what, but I think he was trying to make it different, but ends up as a kind of slurred slow drawl. An immediate skip on the CD remote for me along with 'I love you because'
Viva Las Chris! wrote on September 30, 2011
This song, along with the Album, is so underrated. Poigancy and pathos, so sad and sorrowful - like he was at the time. Love it.
benny scott wrote on September 30, 2011
I like it. No, I love it !!! Like also the Slim Whitman version. Don't like the nasal sounding voice of Willy Nelson at all, though he's a very good songwriter.Always El.
TCB1974 wrote on September 30, 2011
This is reportedly the last song that Elvis sung during his lifetime in the early morning of 16 August 1977. Would he have been thinking of Priscilla? This song is one of the better performances from a depressing album leaving the impression that Elvis was really not happy anymore in 1976. Continue to be puzzled why no-one intervened, like Priscilla or Vernon or even The Colonel, as all the signs were clearly on red since Elvis his collapse in the Summer of 1975. Three stars for the song.
freedom101 wrote on September 30, 2011
Elvis' version beat Nelson's by a country mile.
Lefty wrote on September 30, 2011
No one could pour emotion into a song like Elvis did. You could feel the pain of his heart on every sad song he sang during the Jungle Room sessions. "Blue Eyes" is one of the best studio recordings Elvis made in the later years.
mypoint wrote on October 01, 2011
Well Done Love How It Ends With The Inspirations Then JD
Gorse wrote on December 14, 2012
I really like this song with the excellent guitar, and piano break. Melancholy, maybe like the singer's deepest thoughts at the time, does not distract from an all round great and entertaining performance.
sugartummy wrote on February 27, 2013
Elvis' version is faster then Nelson's. I think they both sound very good. Willie's verson has the better arrangment, with a great guitar solo by the man himself. But Elvis sounds great to me; I love the pain in his voice after 1972; that was no acting.
Rob Wanders wrote on March 01, 2013
a fantastic song though i do prefer Willie Nelson' version. The simpeler, the better. Elvis sound a bit tired here and the mix is a bit overdone, still our man finds the drama in the song.
marty wrote on March 02, 2013
I love Willie's well known version and I also like the original by Roy Acuff. Elvis does a good job but the arrangement doesn't suit the song as much as Willie's.
ElvisSacramento wrote on March 03, 2013
This is such a sensational song and my favorite rendition of it is Elvis' rendition by far.
Natha wrote on April 01, 2013
Really sensational how Elvis voices the emotion intented. The other day I heard Gene Vincent's version of it, among others too. But as usual Elvis puts so much in it that- whether you like the song or not - one has to admit his version hits the right string in one's heart.
JerryNodak wrote on March 13, 2016
Willie Nelson version-5 stars. Classic recording. Elvis version- 2 stars, Sometimes less is more. Skip button.
Cruiser621 wrote on March 13, 2016
I'd give Willie Nelson version 10-stars, Elvis version 1-star if that.... Very bad, depressing recording by Mr. Presley; not a surprise though when you consider his mind set in 1976.
TheMemphisFan wrote on March 14, 2016
Nothing enjoyable about this song for me. I give it 1 star.
Steve V wrote on March 23, 2019
Awful cover version. Drags. Its like its never going to end. Willie by a country mile.
Gorse wrote on September 23, 2020
Opinions cover all shades of expectation, and Willie Nelson is much vaunted here and apparently the absolute star in many quarters.. Went back and just played both, and the Elvis voice though slightly withdrawn and the so called overblown accompaniment still beats nasal Willie and his simple backing, but then again that is just my opinion, an average Joe.
Pinkie wrote on September 24, 2020
Firstly, to introduce my background and context: I studied cello and voice at the Royal Academy of Music - incidentally where I was introduced to Elvis as a singer as opposed to merely a recording star - by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Barbara Bonney, both of who who my visiting voice professors - and the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, and am a professional musician playing with the Vienna Philharmonic and The London Symphony Orchestra. Anyone who prefers any song performed by Willie Nelson to Elvis is either tone deaf or has absolutely no understanding of singing or music - Willie Nelson has a mediocre voice at best, lacking any technical capability whatsoever, albeit that ultimately singing is about communication not technical perfection. Elvis' version of this song is infinitely better than Nelson's, as indeed is every song they both recorded, especially Always On my Mind, but the challenge with BECITR, aside from it being a truly terrible song, isn't that Elvis is suffering from breathing problems - as he clearly is, probably a compressed diaphragm - it's that collectively the singer and the band seem to have envisioned something that they have failed to translate into the recorded performances, with the song going nowhere, indeed, in this sense, this recording is very much like Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall. both seem unfinished, perhaps experimental in nature.
Back to List