"A Pair of Brown Eyes" is a single by The Pogues

The Pogues

The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...

, their first to make the UK Top 100

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, peaking at Number 71. It featured on the band's second album, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash

Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash

Rum Sodomy & the Lash is the second studio album by the London-based folk punk band The Pogues, released in 1985.The title is taken from a quotation, often attributed to Winston Churchill: "Don't talk to me about naval tradition...

, and was composed by Pogues front man Shane MacGowan

Shane MacGowan

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...

, on the melody of "Wild Mountain Thyme

Wild Mountain Thyme

"Wild Mountain Thyme", also known as "Purple Heather" and "Will You Go Lassie, Go", is a folk song, rewritten by Francis McPeake, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland...

", also known as "Will Ye Go Lassie Go," a song by Francis McPeake in a traditional Irish folk style.

Music video

The music video for "A Pair of Brown Eyes" was directed in 1985 by Alex Cox

Alex Cox

Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...

 and was set in a Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...

-esque Britain with Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

 in the place of Big Brother as a supreme, god-like authoritarian figure. The video featured roles played by band members as well as a cameo by Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

.