Lion Eyes

[bnewman]

The Eagles' original has been crying out for this pun for a long time, and I'm certainly not the first to think of it or mention it, but I may be the first to expand it into a complete story-song. This is a shapeshifting huntress's tale in the vein of "Velvet" or "Golden Eyes".

lyrics by Benjamin Newman

ttto: "Lyin' Eyes" by Don Henley and Glenn Frey

 

listen to this song

/ G D Em - / Am - D - / 1st / Am C G - /

 

Country girls just seem to find out early

How to open doors with just a smile

A village chief and she won't have to worry

Where her next meal will come from for a while

 

But village fare's a little light on protein

I guess every form of refuge has its price

And it breaks her heart to think her love can only

Fill up her bowl with vegetables and rice

 

So she tells him she must go out for the evening

To see her kith and kin some leagues away

But he knows where she's going as she's leaving

She's headed for the bush to catch some prey

 

/ G C G - / Em Bm Am D / G F C A / Am D G - /

 

You can't hide your lion eyes

And your smile is filled with knives

Sane men would run to save their lives

There ain't no way to hide your lion eyes

 

In the bush outside of town her quarry's waiting

She picks up on the trail of some gazelle

She stalks on through the night, anticipating

The taste of meat she used to know so well

 

Then suddenly she thinks of chickpea curry

That's not the way she feasted in her pride

She misses him, and then she starts to worry

Does her lover know the beast she keeps inside?

 

You can't hide your lion eyes

And your smile is filled with knives

Sane men would run to save their lives

There ain't no way to hide your lion eyes

 

She knows that she can't live this way forever

She's nature's perfect huntress, fell and grim

But a family should hunt and feast together

Should she bring this bloody carcass home to him?

 

When she returns, her prize across her shoulders

He's standing at the entrance of the hut

In full array and flanked by all his soldiers

It seems he's finally realized what is what

 

He gestures to the soldiers to surround her

Did she think he was too smitten to beware?

But all he says is how he's glad he found her

But he thinks it's well past time she learned to share

 

You can't hide your lion eyes

And your smile is filled with knives

Sane men would run to save their lives

There ain't no way to hide your lion eyes

 

A year has gone and they're still going steady

And come the spring she'll wear a wedding dress

But he's still crazy if he thinks he's ready

To be the man who tamed a lioness