Bright Eyes (song)

"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. The accompaniment was re-orchestrated for the film from its original form as a pop song. The original pop 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. "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, author of the original novel, is reported to have hated the song.^[2] A cover of the song, performed by Stephen Gately, was later used in the Watership Down television series as its theme song.^[3]

"Bright Eyes"
Single by Art Garfunkel
from the album Fate for Breakfast
B-side	"Kehaar's Theme"
Released	19 January 1979 (1979-01-19)[1]
Length	4:00
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Mike Batt
Producer(s)	Mike Batt
Art Garfunkel singles chronology
"In a Little While (I'll Be on My Way)" (1979) "Bright Eyes" (1979) "Since I Don't Have You" (1979)

Background

The song was written, produced and arranged by Mike Batt for Watership Down, with original director John Hubley requesting a song about death.^[4] 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.^[5]

Batt described recording the song as "one of the most difficult sessions" of his career.

The original pop single arrangement of the song was very successful both internationally and in the United Kingdom, staying at number one in the UK Singles Chart for six weeks in 1979,^[6] selling over one million copies, becoming the biggest-selling single of the year.^[7][8] In the United States, it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. It reached No. 29 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

Personnel

• Art Garfunkel – vocals
• Mike Batt – arranger producer
• Chris Spedding – acoustic guitar
• Roland Harker – lute guitar
• Les Hurdle – bass guitar
• Roy J. Morgan – drums
• Edwin Roxburgh – oboe
• Ray Cooper – percussion

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1979) Peak position Australia (Kent Music Report)[9] 2 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[10] 3 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] 1 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[12] 1 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 1 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[14] 2 Norway (VG-lista)[15] 3 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 3 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 2 UK Singles (OCC)[18] 1 West Germany (GfK)[19] 3

Year-end charts Chart (1979) Position Australia (Kent Music Report)[20][21] 20 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[22] 12 Belgium (Ultratop Flanders)[23] 5 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[24] 3 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[25] 1 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] 3 West Germany (Official German Charts)[27] 5

In popular culture

The song was briefly heard in the 2005 stop-motion animated film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, when Gromit turns on the radio until he hears the were-rabbit approaching.

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.^[28][29]