It was originally intended to be included on the band's debut album, Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts, but was dropped at the last minute. It has been included in most subsequent reissues of the album however.[3]
The song was written from the point of view of a patient who has just undergone an eye transplant and discovers that he has received the eyes of the executed double murderer Gary Gilmore.[4] Gilmore had requested that his eyes be donated to science after his execution as "they'd probably be the only body part usable".[5]
After Gilmore's execution, several of his body parts were removed for possible use as transplants or for study.[6] His corneas were used for transplants.[7][8]
The song was called "anthemic punk" by Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe[9] and a "forgotten gem" by David Browne of Entertainment Weekly.[10]Sounds described it as "the sickest and cleverest record to come out of the new wave: Single of the Week".[11][12]
It was later included at No. 12 in Mojo's list of the best punk rock singles of all time.[13]
"Gary Gilmore's Eyes" was covered, in cooperation with Adverts frontman T. V. Smith, in 1991 by the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, appearing on their album Learning English, Lesson One.[16] Smith later recorded another version of the song, backed by Die Toten Hosen, for his 2001 album Useless: The Very Best of T.V. Smith.[17][18]
Finnish band Punk Lurex OK also covered the song, recorded in Finnish under the title『Tappajan Silmät』("The Eyes of the Murderer"), and released it as a single in 1994.[19] In 2000, Smith collaborated with Punk Lurex OK, recording another version of the song which was included on their joint EP, The Future Used to Be Better.[20]
Smith released a live version of "Gary Gilmore's Eyes" on the 2009 album Live at the N.V.A. Ludwigsfelde, Germany.[21]
Finnish ska band the Valkyrians released a version of "Gary Gilmore's Eyes", with Smith guesting, on their 2011 album Punkrocksteady.[22][23]
^Masley, Ed (27 February 2009). "Hot list: Female New Wave icons". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 14 April 2011. the Adverts' single "Gary Gilmore's Eyes," in which an eye transplant recipient must come to terms with looking at the world through eyes that once belonged to Gilmore, who'd gone on an infamous killing spree a few years earlier.
^Sullivan, Jim (2 November 2003). "Box full of punk-rock aggression". Boston Globe. Retrieved 14 April 2011. ... to the Adverts taking the point of view of a hospital patient who has received the eyes of Gary Gilmore in a transplant; Gilmore, the infamous killer executed by a Utah firing squad, had said he'd donate his eyes to science as they'd probably be the only body part usable.
^Breslin, Jimmy (18 January 1977). "Utah Stuffs Its Dilemma Into a Body Bag". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 April 2011. Gilmore's eyes had to be kept in good shape because, upstairs in a surgery room, a team of ophthal- was waiting to remove Gilmore's corneas.
^ abGilbert, Matthew (12 October 2001). "A SEARING TALE OF TWO BROTHERS". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 14 April 2011. The soundtrack rises from abstract notes of angst and irresolution into the anthemic punk of the Adverts' "Gary Gilmore's Eyes," a pounding symbol of the ...
