"BEHIND BLUE EYES." BtVS Song.
Giles sings this 1971 track by The Who at the Espresso Pump in “Where the Wild Things Are” (Season Five). The Scoobies (Anya, Tara, Willow and Xander) are shocked by his appearance in casual clothes (and an earring in his left ear), although the girls are transfixed by his performance, with Tara and Anya agreeing he has a good voice, whilst Willow points out just how sexy Giles is. Xander finds this all rather hard to deal with.
The following dialogue is taken from the Buffy Dialogue Database:
ANYA: Oh.
WILLOW: Wow.
GILES: (sings) To be fated...
XANDER: Um, could we go back to the haunted house? Cause, this is creeping me out.
TARA: Does he do this a lot?
XANDER: Sure. Every day the earth rotates backward and the skies turn orange.
GILES: (sings) But my dreams, they are as empty, as my conscience...seems to be... I have hours, only lonely...
WILLOW: Now I remember why I used to have such a crush on him.
GILES: (sings) ...my love is vengeance ...
TARA: Well, he is pretty good.
GILES: (sings) ...that's never free-ee....
ANYA: (agreeing) His voice ... is pleasant. (All three girls are riveted.)
XANDER: What?!
GILES: (sings) No one knows what it's like...
WILLOW: Oh, come on, he is kinda sexy.
GILES (sings) Like I do...
XANDER: I'm fighting total mental breakdown here, Will. No more fueling the fire please.
Giles has gone to the Espresso Pump to have “grown-up time” and the lyrics (much like those of “Freebird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd which Giles sings in “The Yoko Factor”) suggest his increased distance from the world of the Scoobies: “No one knows what it's like/To be the bad man/To be the sad man/Behind blue eyes/No one knows what it's like/To be hated/To be fated/To telling only lies/But my dreams, they aren't as empty/As my conscience seems to be/I have hours, only lonely/My love is vengeance/That's never free/No one knows what it's like/To feel these feelings/Like I do/And I blame you.”
The choice of a track by The Who again confirms Giles’ credentials as a serious musician with classic rock tastes, as indicated by Oz in “The Harsh Light of Day.”
Note: according to the Buffy and Angel Music Pages John King (Music co-ordinator on BtVS) is on guitar.
Lynyrd Skynyrd opened for The Who’s Quadrophenia Tour in 1973.