My Top 1000 Songs #862: The Story In Your Eyes

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

As a teenager who got very much into the Moody Blues early in high school, I had no illusions about their inherent uncoolness. (Especially at that moment in time, when they were pivoting from their old 60s & 70s classic rock & prog blend into the adult contemporary phase of their later years, though I thought 1981's Long Distance Voyager did a surprisingly effective job of balancing those tendencies.) The band's artier, trippier songs were a far cry from Pink Floyd; their harder rocking songs could veer into cheesy territory. Still, I loved the band (secretly, at home, not the sort of thing I'd crank up at parties or on mixtapes). And occasionally they could even pull off a pretty convincing rocker. 

"The Story In Your Eyes," from 1971's Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, retained a bit of their classically-trained art rock flourish, at least in the choral harmonies, but was mostly just an energetic riff-based rock & roll song, full of catchy sing-along hooks and a winning melody, one of the rare occasions where they didn't sound like sophisticated players with loftier ambitions slumming as a scrappy rock band. Plus, I loved riffing along on my guitar.

Live 1992:
Pretty faithful cover from Fountains of Wayne:

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