Written by the band's guitarist Justin Hayward, it was first released as a single with "My Song" on the B-side, and then on the 1971 album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour shortly after.

"The Story in Your Eyes" was the Moody Blues' last single to feature the Mellotron as it would be supplanted by the Chamberlin, a similar instrument, in time for their next album, Seventh Sojourn.

The SACD release of the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour contains a version of "The Story in Your Eyes" that has the Mellotron in a more dominant role.

Allmusic critic Lindsay Planer described it as "one of the Moody Blues’ edgier pieces" with "decidedly probing observational lyrics.

[5] The main riff of the song resembles the later section of "MacArthur Park," by Jimmy Webb, an international hit single for Richard Harris in 1968.