WHAT DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THOSE EYES AT ME FOR
by EMILE FORD & THE CHECKMATES


What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For? was a song written by American composers Joseph McCarthy, Howard Johnson and James V. Monaco in 1916 for the Broadway production of Follow Me. Michael Emile Telford Miller, known professionally as Emile Ford, was a musician and singer born in Saint Lucia, British Windward Islands, who moved to London in the mid-1950s to study sound design, made a doo-wop version of the song with his backing band The Checkmates (Ford’s half-brother, bassist George Sweetnam-Ford, guitarist Ken Street, sax player Dave Sweetnam-Ford and drummer John Cuffley).

They originally turned down a deal with EMI as they wouldn’t allow Ford to produce his own records, settling for Pye Records instead. First released in October 1959, and co-produced by legendary producer Joe Meek, What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For? steadily climbed the UK Official Singles Chart to reach the top in Christmas week, landing the UK Christmas Number 1 1959. The song spent six weeks at Number 1 earning Ford a gold disc, which was then unheard of for a singer’s debut single.

What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For - Emile Ford and The Checkmates

Official Charts logo Official Singles Chart

Chart facts

  • Peak position1
  • LabelPYE
  • Catalogue number7N15225
  • First Chart Date

Weeks on chart

  1. 6No1
  2. 15Top 10
  3. 18Top 20
  4. 24Top 40
  5. 26Top 75
  6. 26Top 100

Chart run

= Peak position = This week

26 weeks - 05/11/1959 to 27/04/1960

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