Old Red Eyes Is Back

About Old Red Eyes Is Back

"Old Red Eyes Is Back" is a song written by Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray and performed by The Beautiful South. The song was originally released on the album 0898 Beautiful South. It features as the opening track and was the first single released from the album in February 1992. The single reached a peak of No. 22 in the UK and became the band's 5th UK Top 40 Single. Lead vocals are provided by Paul Heaton, with co-vocalists Briana Corrigan and Dave Hemingway featured occasionally in the background. Heaton's lyrics deal with a man named 'Old Red', clearly a man suffering with alcoholism, as Heaton has at several times in his life. The verses detail Old Red's drinking habits and how it is affecting his health ("he pours another drink and listens to his body thaw") before the final verse announces "Old Red, he died..." The chorus reminisces about the things he has sacrificed for his drink: "all the things I could have done instead". The subject matter is a common theme throughout the Beautiful South's material, but "Old Red Eyes Is Back" is arguably the most graphic account of the perils of alcoholism amongst their song catalogue. The music video is fittingly set in a pub and features two Paul Heatons. One, a sober looking man who sings the lyrics telling the story of 'Old Red'. The other, who sings the chorus, is presumably meant to be 'Old Red', with messy long hair and his face looking rough from heavy drinking. more »

Year:

1992

3:35

195 Views

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Old Red eyes is back
Red from the night before the night before
Walked into the wrong bar walked into a door

Old Red's in town
And sitting late at night he doesn't make a sound
Just adding to the wrinkles on his deathly frown

They're only red from all the tears that I should've shed
They're only red from all the women that I could've wed
So when you look into these eyes I hope you realize
They could never be blue
They could never be blue
They could never be blue
They could never be blue

Listen up Old Red
You never listened to a word the doctor said
He told you if you drank another you'd be dead

Old Red Eyes is back
His shoulders ache all over and his brain is sore
He pours a drink and listens to his body thaw

They're only red from all the thoughts unused inside my head
They're only red from all the things I could have done instead
So when you look into these eyes I hope you realize
They could never be blue
They could never be blue
They could never be blue
They could never be blue

Blue is a street without an end
Red is the color of my hell
Blue is a greeting from a friend
Red is the color of farewell

Old Red he died
And every single landlord in the district cried
An empty bottle of whiskey laying by his side
A lazy little tear running from each eye
They could never be blue
They could never be blue
They could never be blue
They could never be blue

 The easy, fast & fun way to learn how to sing: 30DaySinger.com

The Beautiful South

The Beautiful South was an English pop group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. Other members were Sean Welch (bass), Dave Stead (drums) and Dave Rotheray (guitar) and a succession of female vocalists - Briana Corrigan, Jacqui Abbott and Alison Wheeler. more »

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