Every now and then while I’m driving in my car, I’ll listen to one singular song, over and over again. This might last a day, or a week, depending on how much I like the song or if I tire of it. Sometimes my song repeat can last longer than the normal one week run. That was the case with the following song.
“The Story In Your Eyes”, by the Moody Blues.
The Moody Blues formed their band in 1964, in Birmingham, England. Over a span of four decades, they’ve sold a total of 55+ million albums. That is an impressive amount of vinyl and CD sales!
The Moody Blues are sometimes labeled an “orchestral rock” band, due to their heavily orchestrated production. Personally, I’ve always been amused that the Moody Blues never featured their own faces on the front covers of their record albums, although that probably could have boosted sales even more! This, along with their unique sound, set the band apart and they are one of the few 1960’s bands that are still touring and selling out concerts, today.
The Story In Your Eyes was released in 1971 and is probably the most rockin tune to ever come from the Moody Blues. They are better known for their mellower, arty and intricately produced songs like, “Nights In White Satin” and “Tuesday Afternoon”. Fabulous songs, I might add.
The song itself features a Mellotron, which was a type of pre-synth keyboard that could produce the orchestral sounds you hear on their early albums. The Mellotron was part of their signature sound and helped give the Moody Blues that full, lush, orchestrated sound.
The Story In Your Eyes starts off with a simple, but ever so catchy guitar lick, played by Justin Hayward, the bands lead and rhythm guitar player. Justin wrote the song at the age of 24, right around the age I discovered it, myself. The lyrics seem to be years ahead of the composer’s 24 years of age.
It’s been a challenge to find any actual documented meaning behind this song, as though it’s been dodged and hushed, for whatever reason. It only leaves the world to speculate, what the true intended meaning of the song really is. Some believe it’s just the common Moody Blues message “try and build a better world”.
Well, it’s obvious to me that in “The Story In Your Eyes” Justin Hayward was singing about a love affair with a woman and that one, or both parties involved, were married. From the lyrical content, it sounds as though they dated at one point, moved onto other chapters of their lives and ended up coming back together, again.
But I’m frightened for your children and the life that we are living is in vain And the sunshine we’ve been waiting for Will turn to rainOf course, that doesn’t mean the songwriter wrote it from his own personal point of view, or that is has any truth to it, but Justin has admitted in several interviews that he’s tapped into his own life experiences, for his songwriting inspirations.
Here is the original 1971 version of The Story In Your Eyes, with the lyrics:
Now you know the story behind the song!
Reference notes: Pearce.u-net John McFerrin Music wn.com Music News webwriter.f2s
The Story Behind The Song 
Thanks or your review of this great song…
It was only recent that I became interested in the songs written and performed by Justin Hayward, whether as a solo act or with the Moody Blues.
I am intrigued that in almost all of his albums, there was always the song of a certain love lost in his past. This is just one of them.
The same theme keeps appearing in Forever Autumn, The Actor, Broken Dream, etc…
Another song was their big hit “Your Wildest Dreams” with lyrics “I wonder where you are, I wonder if you think about me…”
and its poignant music video that made it clear to us about the meaning of the song.
It had a follow-up song and a music video “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere”, where he sought his old love in his old town and returned to her,
despite of the fact that she was married and most probably he was too, both of them with children…Note the same theme in “The Story in Your Eyes”
Mr. Hayward had a recent interview where he went all out and disclosed that the above song(s) are about a particular person in his past, he cared not to name this person. The closing song, by the way, of his latest album “Spirits of the Western Sky” (2013) written and performed now that he is in his late sixties is “Out There Somewhere”… I wonder if he really went back to her… So intriguing…
I agree with this response. There is this theme of a lost love in about every album Justin Hayward has been a part of. And it goes way back. It appears this person could be in another continent as hinted in his songs, “I Bless the Wings that Bring You Back” and “Silverbird” (from a solo album). I admit this could be figurative as so many of his songs such as the haunting “December Snow” in the Moody Blues Christmas album. Anyone can relate how he uses the seasons as a way to express the heart of one who experiences the warmth of a relationship like September but lose it like October and November then turn almost to a bitter memory in December that can go on for the rest of your life.. His solo albums are full of this theme and the album “Blue Jays.” “I Dreamed Last Night” is the cry of the soul.