"If I Had Eyes" is the first single from Hawaiian singer-songwriter Jack Johnson's album '' Sleep Through the Static''. It was released exclusively on Brushfirerecords.com November 29. The official

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single was released on December 11, 2007. The track features more electric guitar work, similar to that on his '' On and On'' album. The track is a mix of acoustic, jazz, and blues. Lyrically, the song expresses the sad breakup of a long-term relationship.

Background and writing

Johnson elaborated to the ''

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'' on how his son Moe (3-years-old at the time this was written) inspired this song: "He was drinking a lot of

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at the time. I told him if he kept drinking too much, he would grow a tail with an eyeball at the end. He looked at me trying to make sure I was kidding. When he figured that out, he attached his elbow to his butt and pointed his finger around the room. He had made this tail with an eyeball. He pointed at me and said, 'Dad, you look good.' I thought that was a sweet thing to say." This inspired Johnson to immediately write ''If I Had Eyes''. Johnson added: "I made a song that said, 'If I had an eyeball on the end of my tail, I'd tell you that you look good as I walked away'. I meant it literally, but once I thought about metaphors (Johnson's friends were divorcing), it was a beautiful way to put it. I switched it around, made it less silly, but kept my son's ideas. I need to give him a songwriting credit."

Music video

The music video for "If I Had Eyes" shows Jack Johnson and his fellow musicians (see below credits) performing the song in a recording studio. The video was shot in grayscale with a few other colors appearing, mostly from the instruments they're playing. (uploaded June 16, 2009)

Track listing

CD single

# "If I Had Eyes" - 3:59 # "Let It Be Sung" (with

Matt Costa Matthew Albert Costa (born June 16, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter from Huntington Beach, California, United States. He has 13 independent releases: 7 self-recorded EPs, 6 complete LPs, 4 of which are released via Brushfire Records. H ...

Zach Gill Zach Gill (born May 18, 1975) is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter. He performs regularly as a solo artist in addition to being a member of Animal Liberation Orchestra and Jack Johnson's band. Gill has performed at festivals and on te ...

) - 4:08

Musicians

*Jack Johnson - vocals, guitar *Adam Topol - drums *Merlo Podlewski - bass *Zach Gill - piano, clavinet, backup vocals *Danny Riley - backup vocals *JP Plunier - claps, backup vocals *Emmett Malloy - claps *Josh Arroyo - claps

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

If I Had Eyes Lyrics

If I Had Eyes Chords
{{authority control 2007 singles Jack Johnson (musician) songs Songs written by Jack Johnson (musician) 2007 songs Universal Music Group singles