One Two Brown Eyes

By 1964, Northern Irish singer Van Morrison had been part of the music industry for some time, having toured West Germany with an Irish showband named the International Monarchs, where he'd play harmonica, guitar and saxophone.^[1] Following the recording of one single, they dissolved in November 1963 after which Morrison returned to Belfast.^[2][3] After responding to an advert published in the Belfast Telegraph for musicians to play at a newly opened rhythm and blues club at the Maritime Hotel, Morrison got acquainted with guitarist Billy Harrison, bassist Alan Henderson alongside keyboardist Eric Wrixon; after drummer Ronnie Milling joined the band, Wrixon was inspired by the name Them, based on the movie of the same name.^[4] Their first gig at the Maritime Hotel occurred on 10 April 1964.^[5]

Writer Clinton Heylin believes that "One Two Brown Eyes" largely originated from jam sessions the band held at the Maritime Hotel, though notes that the lyrics may have been written as early as the summer of 1963, when Morrison composed "Gloria". In a similar vein to "Gloria", Them would often extend performances of "One Two Brown Eyes" upwards of 20 minutes.^[6] It was during one such performance that Peter Lloyd, owner of a local recording studio took note of the band. In April of that year, Them recorded a demo for Lloyd that included performances of both "Gloria" and "One Two Brown Eyes";^[7] These recordings caught the attention of Decca Records' A&R man Dick Rowe, who after hearing the tape signed Them to the label.^{[8][nb 1]}

Them's first studio session occurred on 5 May 1964 at Decca Studios in London together with Rowe.^{[10][11][nb 2]} At that point, Them consisted of Morrison (vocals, harmonica), Harrison (guitar), Henderson (bass), Ronnie Milling (drums) and Pat McAuley (keyboards).^[13] As the band, particularly Millings and McAuley, were fairly unexperienced in the studio, Rowe brought in session musicians Arthur Greenslade and Bobby Graham to supplement the band on keyboards and drums, respectively.^{[10][14][nb 3]} Mervyn Solomon believed that Them did not have any issues with including session musicians on the recording, as "they were determined to get on".^[10] Turner noted that Milling and Graham played drums simultaneously, rather than having Graham substitute Milling on the instrument entirely.^[14] He writes that this is most evident on the stereo mixes of "One Two Brown Eyes" and "Gloria", where two different drum tracks are evidently heard.^[16]

As recorded by Them, "One Two Brown Eyes" largely surrounds the key of F-sharp minor, a tonality that is never modulated throughout the song's runtime.^[18] Multiple authors note the song's sparse instrumentation that largely surrounds the bossa nova beats played by Millings and Graham.^[16][19] Heylin notes that the different drumming styles provide great contrast; Millings uses a simple "tribal beat" on his drum track in contrast to Graham, who performs a beat that "gives the song a calypso aura".^[18] According to critic Richie Unterberger, "One Two Brown Eyes" "starts off with a bossa nova-like drum pattern" that is soon augmented with "a descending, circular bass pattern" that anchors the song and is repeated throughout its entirety.^[19] For the recording, Harrison used a thimble to emulate the sound of a slide guitar.^[20] His performance on the song which consists of "ethereal runs" have led critic Erik Hage to label it "proto-psychedelic".^[21]

Unterberger opined Morrison appears to sound much more "menacing" in his vocal delivery during his early career compared to later solo one.^[19] He notes that Morrison seemingly seems to "break into tortured wordless scats", something that is amplified after the song's instrumental break "with a yowl suggesting a romantic conquest that's not entirely without undercurrents of struggle"; something that brings a more serious bid to the lyrics.^[19] Lyrically, the song are somewhat typical of Morrison's overall writing,^[20] with Unterberger noting them to be a "sort of half-extemporized, walking-at-night lyrics that have been among his specialties throughout his career".^[19] They tell the story of the narrator stumbling upon a subject with "two hypnotizing brown eyes" that has told lies about Morrison; he reprimands them by "humbling them through cutting them down to his size".^[22] Morrison also warns the subject not to stay out at night, something that has been interpreted as an allusion to infidelity.^[22]