Private Eyes (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Private Eyes


Artist = Hall & Oates
from Album = Private Eyes
B-side =
Released = 1981
Format = 7" Vinyl record
Recorded = Spring 1981
Genre = Pop
Length =
Label = RCA Records
Writer =
Producer = Daryl Hall, John Oates, Neil Kernon
Last single = "You Make My Dreams" (1981)
This single = "Private Eyes" (1981)
Next single = "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (1981)

"Private Eyes" is the hit 1981 single by Hall & Oates and the title track from their album of that year. The song was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for 2 weeks, from November 7 through November 20, 1981. This single was the band's second #1 hit on the Billboard charts in the 1980s, (the first being "Kiss on My List").

The music video featured the band dressed as detectives and was the first to feature the backup band of guitarist G. E. Smith, bassist Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, drummer Mickey Curry, and saxophone/keyboardist Charles DeChant.

The single carries a similar rhythm to the duo's number one hit from earlier that year, "Kiss On My List," with the difference being a handclap chorus that has made the song an audience-participation favorite at live Hall and Oates shows. It was one of the duo's first songs to appear in heavy rotation on MTV.

In popular culture

The song is performed by private investigator Vinnie Van Lowe in the Veronica Mars episode "Kanes and Abel's." After Veronica tries to bug Vinnie's office, he asks his receptionist (also his mother) who his favorite band is, then leans out the window and sings the song to an eavesdropping Veronica. At one point he changes the chorus from "Private Eyes" to "Veronica Mars/I'm watching you."

The Disney Channel ran a DTV music video of the song, set mostly to clips from the Goofy cartoon short "How to Be a Detective".