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If I Had Eyes
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Wikipedia article
"'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 iTunes 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 'Herald Sun' on how his son Moe (3-years-old at the time this was written) inspired this song: "He was drinking a lot of soya milk 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."[http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=9857 If I Had Eyes by Jack Johnson] - [http://www.songfacts.com Song Facts] (accessed May 29, 2014)
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 & Zach Gill) - 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
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