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Open Your Eyes (Snow Patrol song)

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"Open Your Eyes"
Single by Snow Patrol
from the album Eyes Open
Released12 February 2007
Recorded2005
Genre
Length5:41
LabelInterscope
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jacknife Lee
Snow Patrol singles chronology
"Set the Fire to the Third Bar"
(2006) 		"Open Your Eyes"
(2007) 		"Shut Your Eyes"
(2007)
Audio sample
"Open Your Eyes"
Music video
"Open Your Eyes" on YouTube

"Open Your Eyes" is a song by Northern Irish–Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol, released as the fifth single of their fourth album, Eyes Open (2006).[1] The song was released on 12 February 2007.

The song experienced particular success in Brazil, where it ended at number 21 on the country year-end airplay chart, published by Crowley Broadcast Analysis.

Music video

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The song's music video is actual footage from the classic cult film C'était un rendez-vous by director Claude Lelouch. It marked the first time Lelouch granted permission to anyone to use footage from the movie.[2] Q chose it as their Video of the Week on 6 February 2007.[3]

[edit]

The song was used as the theme music to BBC One's Football Focus. The song gained more popularity after being featured during the emotional season twelve finale of ER. Sales of the song on iTunes rose as the song was later featured in a third season episode of The 4400, an episode of Grey's Anatomy's third season, the pilot episode of The Black Donnellys, season 4 episode 21 of Brothers and Sisters, and the second season finale of Being Erica.

It was additionally used in the 2008 Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon video entitled "Don't Waste One Minute"; in the trailer for the 2008 MTV film Stop-Loss; in a promo for season two of Gossip Girl; as the soundtrack to the "best bits" of the British reality series Celebrity Big Brother 5; and as the theme for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, being played at many rallies. The song is used as the background music to the advert for the BBC High Definition service and was heavily featured in the BBC series The Real Swiss Family Robinson, where privileged families were sent to deserted islands to try and survive for three weeks. The song was used in mini movies about children living in Africa suffering from cataracts, which was made for Comic Relief. It was also featured in the 2007 film The Invisible along with "You're All I Have" and was later used in the final moments of the 2013 Formula 1 documentary film 1: Life on the Limit.

Track listing

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UK CD/7-inch/Digital download

  1. "Open Your Eyes" – 5:41
  2. "I Am an Astronaut" – 2:42

Australian CD

  1. "Open Your Eyes" – 5:41
  2. "I Am an Astronaut" – 2:42
  3. "You're All I Have" (live in Hamburg) – 4:42
  4. "Open Your Eyes" (music video)
  5. "Shut Your Eyes" (music video)

CD promo

  1. "Open Your Eyes" (radio edit) – 3:56
  2. "Open Your Eyes" – 5:41

12-inch promo

  1. "Open Your Eyes" (Allende Remix) – 7:29
  2. "Chasing Cars" (Topher Jones & Blake Jarrell Remix) – 7:35

Unofficial releases

  1. "Open Your Eyes" (Marky and Bungle Remix) – 5:43
  2. "Open Your Eyes" (Tiësto Remix) (Private / Unreleased Remix)
  3. "Open Your Eyes" (Redanka Mix) – 8:08
  4. "Open Your Eyes" (Walker Remix) – 6:26

Reception

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Yahoo! Music's Adam Webb had mixed reviews for the single. He rated it five stars out of ten and criticized them for "making the same record over and over again", though he stated "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" an exception. He called the song "a return to the formula of "Run", "Chasing Cars" and so on and so forth." He criticized the song further by saying that it sounded like "five young men caught in the headlights as Gary Lightbody sings about aching bones and cold skin over a clipped guitar riff, before everything explodes in an orgy of significance and strait-laced posturing. By the end, the boys in the band are furiously hammering away, heads down, no nonsense, wham bam thank you mam."[4]

The Irish Times columnist Brian Boyd derided Snow Patrol as "life-support machine music" due to the overuse of their songs on medical dramas such as Grey's Anatomy.[5] Q called the single "genuinely good".[3]

Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[13] 2× Platinum 140,000‡
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[14] 2× Platinum 120,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Gold 400,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ [1] Archived 1 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Open Your Eyes". Snow Patrol. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Video of the week – Snow Patrol". Q. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 8 August 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "Snow Patrol - 'Open Your Eyes'". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  5. ^ "Culture & Entertainment News". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  6. ^ "The ARIA Report: Issue 929 (Week Commencing 24 December 2007)" ARIA Top 100 Singles. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Snow Patrol – Open Your Eyes" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Snow Patrol – Open Your Eyes" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  9. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Open Your Eyes". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  11. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  12. ^ "As 100 canções mais tocadas do ano". Crowley Broadcast Analysis. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  13. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2024 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  14. ^ "Brazilian single certifications – Snow Patrol – Open Your Eyes" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  15. ^ "British single certifications – Snow Patrol – Open Your Eyes". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
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