"I Only Have Eyes for You" was written by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, written in 1934 for the film Dames where it was introduced by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. The song has been covered by thousands of musicians. Successful recordings of the song have been made by Ben Selvin (in 1934), The Flamingos (in 1959), The Lettermen (in 1966) and Art Garfunkel (in 1975), among others. I Only Have Eyes For You was recorded at Bell Sound studios, 237 West 54th Street, New York, the state‑of‑the‑art facility where Buddy Holly had recorded 'Rave On' just a few months earlier, and where George Goldner oversaw most of his labels' recording sessions alongside Richard Barrett. Whereas they'd often determine the right key for a song and collaborate with the musicians on a head arrangement, with the Flamingos they mainly ensured that the singers positioned themselves at the correct distance from the microphone and, while keeping an eye on the clock during the traditional three‑hour session, ascertained which was the best take. The music and vocals for 'I Only Have Eyes For You' were recorded simultaneously to mono, and since Jake Carey was shorter than the other group members he was asked to stand on a stack of phone books. This would put him at the same height as his fellow backing singers when they stood around the same mic, yet Jake was less than happy. "He was mad as hell,” Terry Johnson (producer and group member) confirms. "He said, 'I'm not a midget!' but we told him, 'We're not going to bend our necks down to suit you. The mic has got to be at a certain level for all of us.' So, we put Jake on three or four phone books and that's how we recorded, with the background singers on one mic and the lead guy on another.” Terry Johnson: "I had the sheet music, and I thought the chord changes made it too plain,” he says. "I also heard Dick Haymes' recording, and it was just so vanilla, as were the versions by Al Jolson and Peggy Lee. They all used those chord changes, and nobody did the refrain: 'My love must be a kind of blind love. I can't see anyone but you.' So I decided to do something different, and when Nate saw me struggling with it, he said, 'Why don't you do something really different with it, Buzzy? Go way out on it! Make it Russian, like 'Song Of The Volga Boatman'.' "He gave me that idea, and so I was laying down in my room with the guitar on my chest, playing around with the chords, but no matter what I tried it just didn't fit. Finally, it was about 12 or one in the morning, and I was so tired that I fell asleep, and in my dream I heard 'I Only Have Eyes For You' just the way it came out on our record. I heard the 'doo‑bop sh‑bop' [backing vocals], I heard the way the harmony would sound — I heard the harmony so clear, and I heard the structure of the chords. As soon as I woke up, I grabbed the guitar off my chest and it was like God put my fingers just where they were supposed to be. I played those chords and I heard the harmonies, and so I called the guys. I woke them all up and I said, 'Come over to my room right now! I've got 'I Only Have Eyes For You'!' "They were like, 'Are you crazy? It's almost four o'clock!' and I said, 'I need you all now, otherwise I may not be able to remember.' So they came to my room, all of them grumbling, and when they heard me do it they looked at me like, 'What the hell is this?' They laughed at me: 'What's "doo‑bop sh‑bop, goo‑bop sh‑bop, boo‑bop sh‑bop, loo‑bop sh‑bop, shoo‑bop sh‑bop”?' You see, although in my dream it was 'doo‑bop sh‑bop', I had everybody doing a different thing, changing things around to make sure no one could really pick out what we were saying.