"Eve, the Apple of My Eye" is a single by the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band,

Bell X1 The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics–U.S. Army Air Forces–U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Bel ...

, taken from the band's second album ''

Music in Mouth ''Music in Mouth'' is the second studio album from Irish band Bell X1, released on 18 July 2003 in Ireland and on 21 July in the UK. It was produced by Jamie Cullum (the producer, not the popular jazz singer). The album contains the song, " Ev ...

''. It was eventually released on 11 June 2004 in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and 14 June 2004 in the UK, having been originally scheduled for release on 28 May in Ireland and 7 June in the UK. It entered the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

on 17 June 2004, spending two weeks there and peaking at number 18. The single included a cover of the

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

song "

Like I Love You "Like I Love You" is the debut solo single of American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake from his debut studio album, '' Justified'' (2002), which features American hip hop duo Clipse. It was co-written by Timberlake and the Neptunes (Chad H ...

". Outside Ireland it is best known in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where it featured as background music in a scene from one of their television shows, ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seaso ...

Original

"Eve" was originally written and performed when Bell X1 were

Juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

(featuring

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success i ...

). Called "Never", it was released on the ''

Neither Am I ''Neither Am I'' is the debut studio album by Irish band Bell X1, released on 13 October 2000. It features a number of songs previously written and recorded with Damien Rice, the lead singer of the band's former incarnation, Juniper, and with pr ...

'' album, before being rewritten and retitled "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" for their second album, ''Music In Mouth''. As "Never" it was performed at a 2FM session and released on a four-tracker as the third track on a record that included "Expensive Silence", "Then Go" and "Deliverance".

Use in television

The song was famously used in a scene of United States

teen drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

television series ''

The O.C ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initiali ...

'' in which two of the female characters, played by

Mischa Barton Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born 24 January 1986) is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner's ''Slavs!'' and took the lead in James Lapine's '' Twelve Dreams'' at Ne ...

and

Olivia Wilde Olivia Jane Cockburn ( ; born March 10, 1984), known professionally as Olivia Wilde, is an American actress and filmmaker. She played Thirteen (House), Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series ''House (TV series), House'' ( ...

, shared a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

kiss. Paul Noonan later commented that they initially "thought someone was taking the piss" after receiving an e-mail from the show through their

Hotmail Outlook.com is a webmail service that is part of the Microsoft 365 product family. It offers mail, Calendaring software, calendaring, Address book, contacts, and Task management, tasks services. Founded in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smit ...

account to seek permission. This incident gave the band a wider appeal. They embarked on their debut US tour in 2003 as a consequence. "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" subsequently went on to feature on the music compilation, '' Music from the OC: Mix 4''. However the band were also on the receiving end of some "rather ridiculous" hate email from some angry

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. Noonan said:

"We actually got irate emails from some
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
folks linking us with that behaviour."

In 2008, a Bell X1 gig on their US tour was attended by members of the cast. Noonan said:

"A couple of them came to see us play the
Viper Room The Viper Room is a nightclub and live music venue located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It was established as The Viper Room in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. The other part owner was Sal J ...
in LA... and we didn't know who they were."

With increased record sales,

David Geraghty David Geraghty (born 30 September 1975) is an Irish multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter. He is a founding member of Bell X1, and since 2014 has been performing under the moniker Join Me in the Pines. In 1994 he joined the group Jun ...

later said to Ed Power of the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'': "The OC thing was a huge deal and we have no regrets about doing it. It opened doors for us abroad". As a result of ''The O.C.'' being broadcast in hundreds of countries Bell X1 were reported to have earned much money from the royalties.

Track listings

*CDS CID 856 # "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" - (4:05) # "Ten Paces" - (-) # "Like I Love You" - (4:06) # "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" - (video) *CDS (Promo) CIDDJ856 # "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" - (4:05) # "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" - (3:35) (radio edit) *7" Apple Green Vinyl IS856/9866800 # "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" - (4:04) # "Like I Love You" - (4:06)

Live performance

George Whyte in his ''Irish Independent'' review of the December 2006 concert at the

Point Theatre The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Qu ...

—"A fair whack of the punters finally got what they wanted as the familiar piano strains of "Eve, The Apple Of My Eye" rang out, summoning screams of 'Oh my GOD, I LOVE this song!' from Abercrombie-clad teens everywhere". A live performance of the song witnessed by the ''Irish Independent'' in 2009 was "delivered so movingly it's likely to raise goose-pimples".

Legacy

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tab ...

'' journalists Neil Dunphy and Una Mullally named it number 46 in their 2008 "ultimate playlist representing the top-50 Irish songs of all time", reminding readers that it was "chiefly known in the States as the soundtrack to that lesbian kiss in ''The OC''".

Chart performance

References

External links

Bell X1 on irishmusiccentral.com

Single review on contactmusic.com

Single review on leedsmusicscene.net

"Eve, the Apple of My Eye" on last.fm

Music from ''The O.C.'' on Rhapsody
{{authority control 2004 singles Bell X1 (band) songs 2003 songs Island Records singles Songs written by Paul Noonan Songs written by David Geraghty Songs written by Brian Crosby (composer)