“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Cary Brothers, Sunday, February 19, 2023

Like most of the NoiseTrade music that I've talked about, you may not know who Cary Brothers is. However, since 2003, the singer-songwriter's music could be heard in the background of some of the biggest TV shows and movies, including Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off, Private Practice, The Vampire Diaries, Smallville, and One Tree Hill to name a few of the shows Brothers' music has appeared in. His song "Blue Eyes" was featured on the Garden State soundtrack, which was the highest-selling record Brothers' had contributed music to. In 2010, Brothers released Under Control, the album's final track "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is an intensely romantic song fit for intensely romantic television scenes. 

MY ARMS WILL GROW, CHEST EXPANDING. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" was not only a part of NoiseTrade's 25 Love Songs collection but also part of the overwrought end of Smallville. After ten seasons with many missteps, and a longer-than-it-should-have-lasted relationship between Clark and Lana, Lana finally leaves Smallville for good, and Clark turns his full attention to Lois. In episode 6 of season 10, Clark decides to trust Lois with his secret identity, that he is the blur--what Superman is referred to before the Man of Steel is given his super title. This disclosure of truth comes from hundreds of episodes of the young and handsome Clark Kent agonizing over the pros and cons of telling the secret he keeps to himself for his own safety. This secret identity in the show so often felt like it was a metaphor for coming out as gay so much so that the show made me feel uncomfortable at a time I was denying my own sexuality. The soundtrack for Clark being completely honest with the beautiful Lois Lane is Cary Brothers' "Can't Take My Eyes Off You."

OF ALL THE BOYS YOU COULD HAVE LANDED.  "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" sounds both intimate and desperate. The song describes the moment when two parties admit that what they are feeling is infatuation with the other. And when infatuation is mutual, love blossoms. However, love, at this phase is still fragile. It spooks easily. It flickers in a slight breeze. There had been many false starts before, long pauses that lead to knowing stares before a distraction causes one to say, "Good night." But at a moment of vulnerability, when one party admits to the other affection, if the other does not reciprocate, the one who admitted may feel shame, lose face, and may never be able to face the other again. All of those possibilities play out in the subconscious of the song's instrumentation. But love is accepted and tenderness ensues. In the case of Clark and Lois, the two make love tenderly, perhaps forgetting their Pride and Prejudice meeting in which they seemed to hate each other--of course, Clark was possessed by a confusing version of Jor-El never really explained in Smallville, but I digress. Or maybe that tension turned into love. 


Scene referenced in Smallville Season 10, Ep. 6:

 


 

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