Bright Eyes (Art Garfunkel song)
| "Bright Eyes" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Art Garfunkel | ||||
| from the album Fate for Breakfast | ||||
| B-side | "When Someone Doesn't Want You" | |||
| Released | 1979 | |||
| Format | 45 rpm record | |||
| Genre | Baroque pop | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Mike Batt | |||
| Art Garfunkel singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Bright Eyes" is a song written by Mike Batt and performed by Art Garfunkel. It was used in the soundtrack of the 1978 British animated adventure drama film Watership Down and the later television series of the same name. The track appears on British and European versions of Garfunkel's 1979 Fate for Breakfast and on the US versions of his 1981 album Scissors Cut. It was the biggest-selling single of 1979 in the UK. Thanks in no small part to its 5-week consecutive run a-top the UK charts.
Background
The song was written by Mike Batt for Watership Down, with director Martin Rosen requesting a song about death.[1] It plays when the rabbit Hazel, the lead character in the film, almost dies after being wounded by a farmer's gun.
The song was very successful in the United Kingdom, staying at number one in the UK Singles Chart for six weeks in 1979,[2] selling over one million copies, becoming the biggest-selling single of that year in the UK. It has sold 1.2 million copies.[3] In the United States, it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. It reached #27 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
Charts
| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 3 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 1 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 2 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 3 |
| South African Singles Chart | 15 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 3 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 2 |
| UK Singles Chart[2] | 1 |
Personnel
- Art Garfunkel – vocals
- Mike Batt – string arrangements
- Chris Spedding – acoustic guitar
- Roland Harker – lute guitar
- Les Hurdle – bass guitar
- Roy J. Morgan – drums
- Edwin Roxburgh – oboe
- Ray Cooper – percussion
Other versions
- The Shadows recorded an instrumental version in 1979 on the album String of Hits.
- The Nolans recorded the song for their 1979 album Nolan Sisters.
- In 1979, It Ain't Half Hot, Mum star Don Estelle covered the song in his album Time After Time".[4]
- In 1979, Swedish singer Siv-Inger recorded the song with lyrics in Swedish by Margot Borgström, as Varför (Why), on the album Liv och kärlek (Life and Love).[5] and charted on the Svensktoppen with the song for 10 weeks between 30 March-1 June 1980, peaking at number four.[6]
- In 1980, five-year-old child performer Matthew Butler performed a version of the song on the ITV children's series Tiswas dressed in a grey furry rabbit costume. Butler, his costume and his rendition of the song (which was released as a single by CBS Records) became a staple part of the programme for the rest of its duration.[7]
- Pop group Brotherhood of Man recorded the song for their Sing 20 Number One Hits album in 1980
- Australian children's pop group The Tin Lids member Eliza-Jane 'E.J.' Barnes sang this song in the band's album Snakes & Ladders which was released in July 1992 and nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Children's Album in 1993.
- Welsh band Manic Street Preachers released a live version as a b-side on the cassette version of their "A Design for Life" single in 1996.[8]
- In March 1998, Swedish singer Pandora released a version as a single, taken from her album Pandora's Hit Box.[9]
- The song was later covered by Stephen Gately in 2000 and used as the theme song of the Watership Down animated television series. It was released as a double A-side with his single "New Beginning". While Mike Batt, who wrote the original song, composed an entire new score. This new cover went on to earn the TV show a nomination for a Gemini Award, for best original score.
- Hayley Westenra recorded a version for her 2001 self-titled studio album.
- Singer and actor Joseph McManners recorded a version for his 2005 album In Dreams, with music provided by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
- Declan Galbraith recorded a version in his album Thank You in 2006.
- The song appeared on Season 4, Episode 5 of The Basil Brush Show where Basil Brush sings the chorus to a metal background in the band "the Toxic Beatbox Orchestra".[10][11]
- The first line of the chorus is briefly played in Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, during a scene when Gromit, while waiting for the Were-Rabbit to appear, turns on the radio in his van, only to turn it off again in disgust.[12]
- In 2012, Adam Young of Owl City covered the song and released it to his SoundCloud.[13] Young himself is a big fan of Watership Down.[14][15]
References
- ↑ Allen, Liam (2009-03-03). "Was it a kind of bad dream?". BBC News.
- 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 366–7. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ Sedghi, Ami (2012-11-04). "UK's million-selling singles: the full list". Guardian.
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Don-Estelle-Time-After-Time/master/589025
- ↑ "Liv och kärlek | Svensk mediedatabas". SMDB. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
- ↑ "SVENSKTOPPEN" (TXT). Sr.se. 1980-01-13. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
- ↑ Lockley, Mike. "Staffordshire man reveals the seedy truth behind living life as the Tiswas Bunny". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
- ↑ "Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life (Cassette Single) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 2010.
- ↑ "Pandora - Bright Eyes (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. 21 March 1998.
- ↑ "YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
- ↑ "IMDB, The Basil Brush Show, Series 4 Episode 5, "Basil's Brush With Fame", 2005".
- ↑ {{cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ijV176lGLK8 |title=YouTube |publisher=YouTube |date|accessdate=2017-12-22}}
- ↑ "Bright Eyes (Adam Young cover)". SoundCloud. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ↑ "A Q&A with Owl City". 4music.com. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Jesusfreakhideout.com 2011 interview with Owl City". Jesusfreakhideout.com. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
Probably the book that is super inspiring is a book called Watership Down by Richard Adams. It's from the late 70s, about talking rabbits, and it's a very grounded-in-reality book. It's not a kids' book, but it has to do with these talking rabbits and their adventure, and there's a lot of metaphors and crazy stuff. And that's always been a very inspiring thing. If ever I'm feeling dry, or going through writer's block or something, I just even leaf through some pages of that book and I'm like "Whoa, I have to go make music!"
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