"Shining Eyes" by James McMurtry is a song about regret and longing for a lost love. The lyrics describe the protagonist's attempts to reconnect with someone they care about, but it seems that the person has moved on and is no longer interested in being with them. The song starts with the protagonist wondering if a ringing telephone in an empty room makes a sound, suggesting that maybe their efforts to reach out to their lost love are going unnoticed. They question whether the person will still be around when they return from a trip to the East Coast, but it seems unlikely. Throughout the lyrics, the protagonist encounters various obstacles like pigeons on the sidewalk and an unhelpful night clerk at a hotel. They reflect on their past mistakes and realize that they can't fix what's already happened. The chorus of the song is about the protagonist's memories of the lost love's shining eyes and how they still haunt them even though they're no longer together. The silence on the line suggests that the person is unreachable, and the protagonist realizes they may have drifted too far from the sight of those shining eyes. As the song progresses, the protagonist acknowledges that they shouldn't be fixating on the past and regrets their failure to take advantage of the time they spent with their lost love. However, they can't help but feel a sense of emptiness and longing for what could have been. In the end, the protagonist stands at a payphone and knows that the lost love may never answer, but they can't help missing their company every day. "Shining Eyes" is a poignant and introspective song about the pain of lost love and the regrets we have about the things we could have done differently.
