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.