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naked eye


composers
Composers: Kerr / Burchill / MacNeil / Forbes / McGee
Authors: Kerr
(Earlier sleeves simply state:- Lyrics: Kerr: Music: Simple Minds)


publisher
© EMI Music Publishing Limited: (1979 - 2007)
© JKMC-Bucks Music Group Ltd / Hornall Music / EMI Music Publishing Ltd: (2008 - 2014)
© BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd / EMI Music Publishing Ltd: (2015 -)


background
Naked Eye was first performed during a Piccadilly Radio session to promote the Chelsea Girl single and forthcoming UK tour. Its title at this point, as written on the tape box, was The Naked Eye.



It was the first song to feature the experimental edginess which characterised the direction of the forthcoming Real To Real Cacophony. The disorientating key and timing changes were there along with Jim's inexplicable lyrics - although perhaps he really was viewing the world as a spider? (Although he'd only give that away with the last word on the album version.)

This early session version was probably recorded as the demo for the album and featured many of the lyrical themes which would eventually appear:

Come inside,
Got to,
Come inside,
Naked Eye.

I don't know what's going on.
She said she can't.
She don't know what's going on.

To the cherries,
To the cherries on the wall.

What do you see?
What's going on?

You could come inside,
Inside into the naked eye,
Naked, naked eye.

Feel so high,
Up, up on the wall,
You know you're down below me,
Well I'm looking around.
Well I'm looking around.
Looking around.
You see insects,
I see insects,
I see the animal,
Gyrate, gyrating, gyrate.
Well, you can kick me,
Kick me,
Dance all over.

What do you see?
What do you learn?
Reading your book,
What do you see?

She don't love me no more.

You could come inside,
You could come inside into the naked eye,
Naked, naked eye.
Naked.

She's all alone,
Just wanted a special view,
I just wanted a special view,
Just me and you,
Just two of us,
Up on the wall.

You go dancing.

I like to hear the walls,
Hear the walls.
Someone's in the room down below,
Someone, someone.

To the cherries,
Cherries.

Despite being featured on the session, there's no record of Simple Minds playing the song during the summer dates of their Life In A Day tour. This could either be because the gigs are poorly documented with only fragments of set-lists known; or the band felt the song still had work, and parked it before entering Rockfield in late August to record Real To Real Cacophony.

The structure and melody of the song were retained during the album sessions. It still had some grounding in the ethereal waltz motifs the band played with in the past (such as Caught In A Dream) but now took on the guise of a deranged fairground ride. Jim changed the lyrics, adding extra lines and ideas which further obscured the song's meaning. (Unfortunately, the tape records for the album are incomplete and confused, and so it's not possible at the moment to accurately state when it was recorded.)

It made an occasional appearance during the Real To Real Cacophony, but then disappeared as more structured, live favourites gradually replaced it.




lyrics
You can come inside,
Come into the naked eye.

My only world falls in again,
I see your face fall in again.
It's so dark,
I don't know your name.
It's so dark,
And I don't know your name.

Only mirrors lie only mirrors lie now,
Only mirrors lie only mirrors lie now.
Through the needle's eye,
Through the needle's eye now.
Only mirrors lie,
Lie lie.

You can come inside,
Come into the naked eye.
Naked,
Naked,

I feel so high,
Going up on the wall,
And you're down below me,
Look all around look all around now,
Look all around look all around now.

Only mirrors lie only mirrors lie now,
Only mirrors lie only mirrors lie now.
Through the needle's eye,
Through the needle's eye now.
Only mirrors lie,
Lie lie.

You can come inside,
Come into the naked eye.
Naked,
Naked.

Just wanted a special view,
Just me and you.
Just just just the two of us,
Just two of us.
Going up on the wall,
Up on the wall.
Going up on the wall,
Up on the wall,
Naked eye,
Naked eye.

What do you see?
And what's there to learn?
Reading your books,
Third diagram.
Someone's in the room down below,
Someone someone,
Someone below,
Insects,
Cherries,
To the cherries,
On the wall,
Spider.



discography
Album Version (2:21)
Recorded and mixed: John Leckie
Arrangement: John Leckie and Simple Minds

Real To Real Cacophony LP Real To Real Cacophony MC Real To Real Cacophony LP (Virgin Reissue) Real To Real Cacophony MC (Virgin Reissue) Real To Real Cacophony LP (Virgin Budget Reissue) Real To Real Cacophony MC (Virgin Budget Reissue) Real To Real Cacophony CD Real To Real Cacophony Reissue CD Compact Collection Real To Real Cacophony Reissue CD Real To Real Cacophony Disky CD Original Gold compilation CD Real To Real Cacophony Remaster Promo CD Real To Real Cacophony Remaster Limited Edition CD Real To Real Cacophony Remaster CD X5 Real To Real Cacophony Promo CD X5 The Vinyl Collection (79,84)






sessions
Piccadilly Radio 261: 7th June 1979



live history
Real To Real Cacophony Tour: 1979-1980