Brown is the most common eye colour in the world, with about 79% of people across the globe having brown eyes. Although many brown-eyed people complain about having a more common and therefore ‘boring’ eye colour, the amount of brown eyes in the world has made for plenty of inspiration for some beautiful songs.
It stands to reason that statistically, the majority of love songs would be about brown-eyed people.
Well, brown eyes often don’t get as much love as blue or green eyes in art. To correct this, we’ve gathered 20 of the best songs about brown eyes.
Top Songs About Brown Eyes
“Brown-Eyed Girl” – Van Morrison
Morrison gets nostalgic about a former lover with brown eyes in this cheerful track. He fondly recalls exploring the outdoors with her, hiding behind waterfalls and running through the fog. It’s a very poetic image, with a hint of sadness as Morrison wonders what happened to their relationship.
He reveals that he saw the brown-eyed girl in question recently, and thought how different she looked in real life than in his memory.
“Brown-Eyed Girl” is one of the most famous songs about brown eyes. However, the song didn’t originally mention brown eyes at all. Morrison originally wrote the song as “Brown-Skinned Girl”, but accidentally changed the lyrics and consequently the title when recording.
“Brown Eyes” – Destiny’s Child
Destiny’s Child takes a dreamy trip down memory lane, reminiscing about specific moments of a romance with a man with brown eyes who they say has taught them the true meaning of love. They can always tell he loves them even when he doesn’t say it, because his brown eyes give it away. The song has the feeling of looking through a relationship scrapbook, pointing at specific pictures.
“Brown Eyes, Brown Hair” – Caleb Hearn
In this sweet track, Hearn paints a picture of a girl with brown eyes, brown hair and not a lot of confidence in herself. He encourages her to be confident in who she is and lets her know that it’s okay to feel down in herself but tells her she needs to keep getting back up on her feet every time she’s knocked down. Brown-eyed people can often feel overlooked by those with blue or green eyes, and Hearn speaks directly to those who feel invisible in this song.
“Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” – Crystal Gayle
Gayle laments the fact that her lover has moved on, using the metaphor of brown eyes turning blue to represent the sadness that is washing over her. She wants him to give her the whole honest truth, even though she knows that it will hurt her, and ends up finding herself begging him to stay.
This song was actually written as a sequel to a song written by Gayle’s older sister, Loretta Lynn. It ended up being a huge hit for Gayle, helping to introduce her to listeners beyond her country audience. She nailed the vocals in one take whilst recording and the track was even nominated for a Grammy.
“Beautiful Brown Eyes” – Solomon Burke
Burke is in love with the wrong woman in this woeful track. Even though he loves her and her beautiful brown eyes with his whole heart, she evidently doesn’t feel the same about him, as she’s off with other men. He’s left sat in his room waiting for the phone to ring – and it never does.
“Brown Eyes” – Lady Gaga
Gaga loses a brown-eyed someone in this track from The Fame. Considered the most autobiographical track on her debut studio album, the song follows the end of a relationship, as Gaga remembers the brown eyes of her lover and watches them walk away. There’s some suggestion that the person in question might still be in love with their ex – Gaga doesn’t specify what colour their eyes are.
“Big Brown Eyes” – Benny Sings
The Dutch musician can feel his brown-eyed love pulling away from him but doesn’t know what to do about it other than question them. Asking them to “please, help me out”, he panics over being able to see the love vanishing from their brown eyes when they look at him. By the end of the song, however, he realises that he won’t be able to bargain more time in the relationship, and accepts that sometimes people just fall out of love.
“Brown Eyes And All The Rest” – Carnival Youth
The protagonist of this track makes a deal with someone to see where the relationship goes, despite trepidation. The two brown-eyed people are tired of losing in relationships but too “bold” to stop trying, so they decide that the only thing to do is to give love another chance. It’s a sweet ode to continuing on your path despite setbacks, and how much better it can be when you have someone to continue on with.
“Pretty Brown Eyes” – Cody Simpson
Simpson has an instant connection with a pair of pretty brown eyes in this upbeat summer anthem. He describes how attractive the girl is before swallowing his nerves and approaching her to ask if she’s free to go out that night.
We don’t hear if the girl agrees to go anywhere with him, but we can assume he gets his yes.
Although Simpson hasn’t publicly commented on who the song is about, many believe it to be about his ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid. Not only does she have brown eyes, but Simpson references a model figure in the song, and Hadid is a supermodel by profession.
“Brown Eyes and Backwoods” – Tom The Mail Man
Tom describes an intense but ultimately toxic relationship with a brown-eyed person in this track. The two of them dropped all their defenses for each other, throwing themselves into the relationship with the naivety of children and finding something unexpectedly wonderful. However, the relationship was ultimately tragic, and Tom reflects on the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be.
“Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)” – Mint Condition
The girl in this song just can’t seem to let go of her fears and open herself up to love. She lies to her partner, telling him she’s busy when she’s out alone, and ignores her pounding heart because she’s scared of getting hurt. Mint Condition addresses the girl, calling her ‘pretty brown eyes’, and tell her how sad she’s making her partner by holding him at arm’s length like this and pretending to her friends that what they have isn’t significant.
“Brown Eyes Baby” – Keith Urban
Urban offers to mend a girl’s broken heart and take the blue back out of her brown eyes in this country track. All she has to do is get herself up and dressed and head out to a bar, where they can kick things off with a drink or two. He isn’t promising that the two of them will end up falling in love and being together forever, but he’s confident that one good date can bright her blue eyes up and make her feel optimistic about finding love again.
“Brown Eyes” – Fleetwood Mac
Christine McVie explores the very beginnings of attraction in this sultry song from Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk. The song has a dreamy feel, as McVie stares into a pair of brown eyes. She wonders whether taking a chance on this person will leave her hurt or be the start of something good. Her caution comes from the fact that she’s been hurt by liars before and she isn’t sure if she’s ready to trust in someone else yet.
“Summer Shandy” – The Front Bottoms
A complicated relationship simplifies down into a pair of brown eyes and an intense attraction in this track from the Front Bottoms. The lead singer has a complicated professional life as a musician but being around the object of his affections makes him want to settle down in a beach house, go swimming all day and stare into her brown eyes all night.
However, he can’t quite seem to shake his “bad boy blues” and take a leap into a commitment with this brown-eyed girl. “Summer Shandy” comes from the group’s fifth album, Back On Top, which was their first to be released through a major label.
“A Pair Of Brown Eyes” – The Pogues
This track from The Pogues is loosely based on an Irish folk song and takes the perspective of a World War I veteran, who dreams of coming home from war to a pair of brown eyes. However, no brown eyes are waiting for him when he returns. He ends up roving over the country, restlessly searching for a pair of brown eyes.
Although the song uses World War I as a historical backdrop, the music video for the song featured a portrayal of ex-UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It was supposed to show her as a totalitarian, Big Brother figure.
“F.U.” – Little Mix
Little Mix describe making a nice meal for a boyfriend, only for him to come home late after cheating with his mistress. Even though the girls know that he’s using two phones, staying out late with other girls and manipulating them, a look in his brown eyes reminds them why they stick around.
Even though they hate him and their friends can’t believe they stick around, they can’t help loving him regardless of his terrible behaviour. The song sees them practicing a break-up speech in the mirror and trying to find the strength to leave.
“The Next World” – Opus Orange
In this surreal track from Opus Orange, the narrator wonders if he’ll be with his brown-eyed lover in the next world. He finds it hard to focus on or think about anything other than their dark brown eyes and long straight hair and is conscious of the fact that they’re constantly breaking through the defenses he puts up.
He realises that he is becoming dependent on them and falling very deeply in love. Now all he wants to know is if they’ll be separated in death, or whether they’ll get to be together forever.
“Brown Eyes” – Keeley Elise
Elise will never look at brown eyes the same way again. On a Tuesday coffee shop date, she looks up to see sunlight hitting her date’s eyes, and wonders why there aren’t more love songs describing brown eyes. Our thoughts exactly!
She decides to rectify this by writing an ode to her date’s warm brown eyes and how they appear gold in the sun. The appearance of their eyes and their reaction to being stared at makes her fall deeply in love with them.
“Rae” – More Fatter
More Fatter sing about an ‘angel’ with almond brown eyes that they can’t look away from. Many musicians have romanticised brown eyes, but More Fatter go all in, wistfully admiring the brown-eyed beauty from a distance and wishing they had the courage to admit their love and kiss her. Instead, they keep staring at her brown eyes and thinking about how they look like sunlight.
“Brown Eyes” – Meron Addis
The person Addis likes may be playing it cool, but their brown eyes are a dead giveaway. She notices how their eyes light up when she walks in and their face changes, and she’s pretty sure they want to come and talk to her. She loves the way their brown eyes look at her and she encourages them to make their move and sweep her off her feet.
Final thoughts
Whether you’ve been looking for songs that give your brown eyes a little more love, or you have a brown-eyed person in your life that you want to express your feelings for, these are the perfect twenty songs for celebrating brown eyes. Forget blue and green eyes – these odes to brown-eyed beauties will be stuck in your head all day.
Caitlin Devlin is a music, entertainment and lifestyle writer based in London. When she’s not creating playlists for Repeat Replay, she’s reviewing gigs and interviewing artists for Ticketmaster UK and thinking about what her Spotify Wrapped will look like this year.