"Bright Eyes" is a song written by British songwriter

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Having achieved substantia ...

and performed by

Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 h ...

. It was written for the soundtrack of the 1978 British animated adventure drama film ''

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natura ...

''. 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'' and on the US versions of his 1981 album '' Scissors Cut''. "Bright Eyes" topped the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

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. A cover of the song was later used in the ''Watership Down'' television series explicitly as its

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

Background

The song was written, produced and arranged by

for ''

'', with original director

John Hubley John Kirkham Hubley (May 21, 1914 – February 21, 1977) was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer known for his work with the United Productions of America (UPA) and his own independent studio, Storyboard, Inc. (late ...

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 (due to different musical opinions). The pop single arrangement of the song was very successful in the United Kingdom, staying at number one in the

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 Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

– vocals *

– arranger producer *

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his st ...

– acoustic guitar * Roland Harker – lute guitar * Les Hurdle – bass guitar * Roy J. Morgan – drums * Edwin Roxburgh –

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

* Ray Cooper – percussion

References

{{authority control 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