"Bright Eyes" is a song written by British songwriter
Mike Batt and performed by
Art Garfunkel. It was written for the soundtrack of the 1978 British animated adventure drama film ''
Watership Down''. Rearranged as a pop song from its original form in the film, the track appears on British and European versions of Garfunkel's 1979 ''
Fate for Breakfast
''Fate for Breakfast'' is the fourth solo studio album by Art Garfunkel, released in March 1979 on Columbia Records.
It was his first album to miss the U.S. Billboard Top 40 (charting at a dismal 67) and his first album containing no U.S. Top 40 ...
'' and on the US versions of his 1981 album ''
Scissors Cut
''Scissors Cut'' is the fifth solo studio album by Art Garfunkel released in August 1981 on Columbia Records. It was his second album to miss the US '' Billboard'' top 40 (charting at 113) and his second album containing no US top 40 singles. T ...
''. "Bright Eyes" topped the
UK Singles Chart for six weeks and became Britain's biggest-selling single of 1979, selling over a million copies.
Richard Adams
Richard George Adams (9 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist and writer of the books ''Watership Down'', ''Maia'', ''Shardik'' and ''The Plague Dogs''. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army ...
, author of the
original novel, is reported to have hated the song. A cover of the song was later used explicitly in the
''Watership Down'' television series as its
theme song.
Background
The song was written, produced and arranged by
Mike Batt for ''
Watership Down'', with original director
John Hubley requesting a song about death. It plays when the rabbit Hazel, the lead character in the film, almost dies after being wounded by a farmer's gun and Fiver, his little brother is led to him by the Black Rabbit of Inlé.
Batt described recording the song as "one of the most difficult sessions" of his career
as he wrote the lyrics with his father in mind who was terminally ill with cancer at the time.
The pop single arrangement of the song was very successful in the United Kingdom, staying at number one in the
UK Singles Chart for six weeks in 1979,
selling over one million copies, becoming the biggest-selling single of the year.
In the United States, it failed to reach the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. It reached No. 29 on the Billboard
Adult Contemporary chart.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Personnel
*
Art Garfunkel – vocals
*
Mike Batt – arranger producer
*
Chris Spedding – acoustic guitar
* Roland Harker –
lute guitar
A lute guitar or German lute (german: Gitarrenlaute, Deutsche Laute or Wandervogellaute, less commonly a ''lutar'' (modern Turkish), ''gui-lute'' or ''gittar'') is a stringed musical instrument, common in Germany from around 1850. The instrument ...
* Les Hurdle – bass guitar
* Roy J. Morgan – drums
* Edwin Roxburgh –
oboe
*
Ray Cooper
Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as ...
– percussion
In popular culture
In 2023, the song featured heavily in the fifth episode of season six of the popular
Netflix anthology series,
''Black Mirror'' , titled "
Demon 79", which is set in 1979, the year of the song's release. The song serves as the episode's opening and closing theme.
References
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1978 songs
1979 singles
Art Garfunkel songs
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Songs written by Mike Batt
Pop ballads
Pandora (singer) songs
Columbia Records singles
Watership Down
Songs about death