"Gary Gilmore's Eyes" is a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 by the punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band the Adverts

The Adverts

The Adverts were an English punk band who formed in 1976 and broke up in late 1979. They were one of the first punk bands to enjoy chart success in the UK, and their line-up included Gaye Advert, whom The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music called the "first female punk star".-Career:The band was...

. The song reached #18 in the UK Singles Chart

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 ...

 in September, 1977 and earned the band an appearance on Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

. It was originally intended to be included on the bands' debut album, Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts

Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts

Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts was The Adverts’ 1978 début album and featured the UK hit single: “No Time To Be 21” which made No. 38 in February 1978. It was recorded at Abbey Road and produced by John Leckie....

, but was dropped at the last minute. It has, however, been included in most re-issues of the album. The song was used in the soundtrack for the HBO movie "Shot in the Heart

Shot in the Heart

Shot in the Heart is a memoir written by Mikal Gilmore, then a senior contributing editor at Rolling Stone, about his tumultuous childhood in a dysfunctional family, and his brother Gary Gilmore's eventual execution by firing squad in 1977 for a convenience store murder he committed in Provo,...

".

Background

The song is written from the point of view of a patient who has just had an eye transplant and discovers that he has received the eyes of the executed murderer Gary Gilmore

Gary Gilmore

Gary Mark Gilmore was an American criminal, and murderer, who gained international notoriety for demanding that his own death sentence be fulfilled following two murders he committed in Utah. He became the first person executed in the United States after the U.S...

. Gilmore had requested that his eyes be donated to science after his execution as "they'd probably be the only body part usable". After Gilmore's execution, several of his body parts were removed for possible use as transplants or for study. His corneas were used for transplants.

Reception

The song was called "anthemic punk" by Matthew Gilbert (The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...

) and a "forgotten gem" by David Browne (Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

). Sounds

Sounds (magazine)

Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...

 described it as "the sickest and cleverest record to come out of the new wave: Single of the Week". Years later, it was included at #12 in Mojo (magazine)

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

s list of the best punk rock singles of all time.