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The Bluest Eyes in Texas

1988 song performed by Restless Heart

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 12, 2022
Entity authorityQ16953863 ↗
Source-derived summary

"The Bluest Eyes in Texas" (originally released as "Bluest Eyes in Texas") is a song written by Tim DuBois, Dave Robbins and Van Stephenson, and recorded by American country music group Restless Heart. It was released in May 1988 as the lead single from Restless Heart's album Big Dreams in a Small Town.

Background

In the United States, the single reached the top position in the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1988. In Canada, the single peaked at the number-two position on the RPM Country Tracks chart.

Bill Balsley directed the song's music video, which premiered in early 1988.

Song co-writers Robbins and Stephenson later joined with Henry Paul to form the country group BlackHawk in 1992.

Content

In the song, the narrator sings that he has just left his girlfriend. He questions the reason for their break-up, but says that he is trying to move on. He bemoans that can't forget her blue eyes, and that they haunt him.

Inspiration

In an interview with The Boot, Robbins said that Van Stephenson provided the idea of the song when he started telling them about an old girlfriend from high school who he bumped into recently.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Bluest Eyes in Texas” as 1988 song performed by Restless Heart. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1988, 1992—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1988-05-13. The account is most persuasive where Bluest, Eyes and Texas can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1988 song performed by Restless Heart. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2022. The linked authority identifier is Q16953863. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988 and 1992.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Bluest Eyes in Texas”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Bluest Eyes in Texas primary sources, The Bluest Eyes in Texas archive and Bluest research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Bluest Eyes in Texas”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Bluest Eyes in Texas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.