By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Ocean Eyes’ is a well-known song by Billie Eilish. However, this lyric isn’t a self-penned composition, unlike many of Eilish’s other hits. Instead, it was actually composed by her brother, Finneas O’Connell, who wrote it for his band, The Slightlys. But he let Eilish record a version of it, and it has become world-famous as a result.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Here’s a question for you. Which classic song began as Scrambled Eggs, was a song that the songwriter couldn’t convince any other singer to record, and yet went on to become the most-covered song every written?
The answer is ‘Yesterday’, now one of the most popular and best-known Beatles songs. But this song, whose meaning is worth exploring further, had a fascinating genesis, and the story of ‘Yesterday’ is well worth telling.
‘Firework’ is one of Katy Perry’s best-known songs, and its lyrics were inspired by a classic work of literature, so we thought we’d consider Katy Perry’s song from a broadly ‘literary’ perspective. What is the meaning of the song’s lyrics? And which literary classic influenced the writing of those lyrics?