hypersongs

Eye of Fatima (Parts 1 & 2)

The two-part opener of Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, credited to the band.
Camper Van Beethoven, from Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (1988)

Credited to the band, the two parts run 2:37 and 2:17 and open side one, about 4:54 together, recorded in the 1987 sessions with Herring. We found no studio and no artist statement on its meaning, and an unsupported search summary claiming Lowery wrote it as a folk ballad is not used. Forgotten Favorite calls Part 1 a short song with a driving tempo and no chorus. A promo single paired the song with "Turquoise Jewelry" using a 3:27 edit, a New Zealand TV clip was broadcast on July 12, 1988, and in 2008 the band re-recorded both parts at 4:55 for Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty. We cannot tell whether our upload is the album take, the edit or the re-recording.

The reunited band plays most of side one live. A recording of Cabaret Metro in Chicago on July 15, 1988 on the Internet Archive has both parts as tracks 8 and 9, and on January 1, 2016 at The Crocodile in Seattle they opened the set. Sublime's Bradley Nowell recorded "What Happened/Eye of Fatima" (1:58) for Sublime Acoustic (1998), and Cracker has played it as a cover. A review of a 2013 Phoenix show called it a cult favorite.

On stage

  • 1988-07-15, Cabaret Metro, Chicago Both parts taped; on the Internet Archive.
  • 2016-01-01, The Crocodile, Seattle Opened the set.

Covers and versions

  • Sublime (Bradley Nowell) (1998) On Sublime Acoustic, as What Happened/Eye of Fatima.

Sources

  1. Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, Wikipedia
  2. Someday our love will sell us out: an interview with Camper Van Beethoven, PopMatters (2013-02-13)
  3. Sublime Acoustic: Bradley Nowell and Friends, Wikipedia
  4. Camper Van Beethoven at Cabaret Metro, 1988-07-15, Internet Archive