If I Had Eyes Explained

If I Had Eyes
Cover:If I Had Eyes.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Jack Johnson
Album:Sleep Through the Static
B-Side:Let It Be Sung
Released:December 11, 2007
Recorded:Los Angeles, California, 2007
Genre:Soft rock
Length:3:59
Label:Universal, Columbia
Producer:J.P. Plunier
Prev Title:Imagine
Prev Year:2006
Next Title:Sleep Through the Static
Next Year:2007

"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."[1]

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.[2]

Track listing

CD single

  1. "If I Had Eyes" - 3:59
  2. "Let It Be Sung" (with Matt Costa & Zach Gill) - 4:08

Musicians

Charts

Chart (2007)Peak
position
Ö3 Austria Top 4037
Canadian Singles Chart11
German Media Control Charts73
Netherlands Mega Single Top 10060
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart33
Swiss Singles Chart30
UK Singles Chart60
U.S. Billboard Hot 10047
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks7
Venezuela Pop Rock (Record Report)[3] 2

References

  1. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=9857 If I Had Eyes by Jack Johnson
  2. (uploaded June 16, 2009)
  3. Web site: Pop Rock. Spanish. 2008-04-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20070702054004/http://www.recordreport.com.ve/publico/?i=poprock. 2007-07-02. Record Report.

External links