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"Behind Blue Eyes"
Single by The Who
from the album Who's Next
Released	July 31, 1971
Recorded	March-May, 1971
Genre	Rock
Length	3:42
Label	Decca/Polydor
Producer(s)	The Who and Glyn Johns
The Who singles chronology
"Going Mobile"	"Behind Blue Eyes"	"Won't Get Fooled Again"

"Behind Blue Eyes" is a song written by Pete Townshend of The Who for his never-completed Lifehouse project. It first appeared on The Who's 1971 Who's Next album, along with a number of other outtakes from the aborted project.

The song is one of the most well-known of The Who's recordings. It starts off with a solo voice singing over a finger-picked guitar, later adds in bass guitar and ethereal harmonies, eventually breaks out into full-scale rock anthem when a second theme is introduced near the end, and wraps up by a brief reprise of the quieter first theme. Songs written in alternating sections were something of a trademark of Townshend's writing of the period, going back at least to Tommy, where it was used in "Christmas" and "Go to the Mirror!" The guitar riff at the end of the rock anthem section is also used after the bridge during the song Won't Get Fooled Again, perhaps serving as a link between the two songs when Who's Next was intended to be a rock opera. (Some musical themes from Tommy and Quadrophenia appear in multiple places.)

The lyrics are a first-person lament from a man in the Lifehouse story, variously identified as 'Brick' or 'Jumbo', who is always angry and full of angst because of all the pressure and temptation that surrounds him, and the song was intended to be his "theme song" had the project been successful. (The lyrics of the rocking section near the end were actually written by Townshend as a prayer when he was a disciple of Meher Baba after being tempted by a groupie, and incorporated into the song when it was written.)

Still, the song speaks to the guilt of Europeans stemming from their subjugation of the native peoples in whatever continent they happened to wander into. The title of the song actually begs to speak for the Aryan race and laments the fact that the person behind "blue eyes" is "hated" and "fated to telling only lies" which is a true representation of how the English empire was regarded in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The French poet Arthur Rimbaud often wrote of belonging to a sickly race of which he was not proud. This theme of self-loathing is fairly common in poetry and Townshend makes good use of it in this song. He should be applauded for taking such a courageous stance in speaking frankly regarding the unabashed sense of entitlement in the treatment of native peoples. While subjugating native peoples the Europeans still demanded to be catered to, as in the line "...and if I shiver / give me a blanket / keep me warm / let me wear your coat."

The version of "Behind Blue Eyes" on the original Who's Next album was actually the second version the band recorded; the earlier version appears as a bonus track on the remastered CD release, which features Al Kooper on Hammond Organ.

• "Behind Blue Eyes" has been covered by Limp Bizkit, Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow, Testudo, Ian Stuart Donaldson, Jon English, Ken McLellan, Suzanne Vega and Silvertide.

• The band Limp Bizkit covered this song for their album Results May Vary and for the movie Gothika. The music video was directed by frontman Fred Durst and Gothika star Halle Berry appeared in it, in which they share a long, passionate make-out scene. The band added new lyrics and omitted the final stanza of the original song.

• The intro to the song was sung by Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode from Season 4, "Where the Wild Things Are".

• Though not a cover, lead singer Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam (reportedly influenced by The Who^{[citation needed]}), wrote a song at a young age titled "Better Man," which bears quite a bit of similarity to Behind Blue Eyes. The song was eventually released on their third album Vitalogy, and has become one of Pearl Jam's greatest hits. The construction is similar in that it is a ballad in two parts: a soft, melodic beginning, driven by finger-picking and gentle but powerful vocals, and then breaking out into a much harder, faster part about 2 minutes in, which eventually turns into a guitar jam that completes the song.

• Rapper Noreaga also recorded a song entitled "Bad Mad" (featuring Beanie Sigel) that uses a sample of the chorus of the song.

• Most recently, Dilana performed her cover of "Behind Blue Eyes" on Rockstar: Supernova.