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A Pair of Brown Eyes

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"A Pair of Brown Eyes"
Single by The Pogues
from the album Rum Sodomy & the Lash
B-side"Whiskey You're the Devil"
Released18 March 1985
GenreCeltic rock
Length4:54
LabelStiff
Songwriter(s)Shane MacGowan
Producer(s)Elvis Costello
The Pogues singles chronology
"Boys from the County Hell"
(1984)
"A Pair of Brown Eyes"
(1985)
"Sally MacLennane"
(1985)

"A Pair of Brown Eyes" is a single by The Pogues, released on 18 March 1985.[1] The single was their first to make the UK Top 100, peaking at Number 72.[2] It featured on the band's second album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, and was composed by Pogues front man Shane MacGowan. Its melody is loosely based on that of “Wild Mountain Thyme" (also known as "Will Ye Go Lassie Go"), a song by Francis McPeake in a traditional folk style.

The song references the Johnny Cash version of the song "A Thing Called Love": "And on the jukebox Johnny sang / About a thing called love". It also references Irish country music singers Ray Lynam and Philomena Begley's version of "My Elusive Dreams": "While Ray and Philomena sang / Of my elusive dream".

Music video

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The music video for the single was directed in 1985 by Alex Cox and was set in a Nineteen Eighty-Four-esque Britain with Margaret Thatcher in the place of Big Brother as a supreme, god-like authoritarian figure. The video featured roles played by band members as well as a cameo by the record's producer Elvis Costello.

Critical reception

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The song was ranked number 9 among the "Tracks of the Year" for 1985 by NME.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Record News". Melody Maker. London, England: IPC Media: 4. 16 March 1985.
  2. ^ Pogues UK chart history
  3. ^ "Albums and Tracks of the Year". NME. 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.