A Pair of Brown Eyes

MacGowan wrote it, and it was released as a single on 18 March 1985, the first Pogues single to reach the UK top 100, at number 72. The melody is loosely based on Wild Mountain Thyme, and Elvis Costello played mandolin on it. In the lyric a drinker in a pub hears Johnny Cash and a Ray Lynam and Philomena Begley song on the jukebox while an old man tells him war stories, among them a line about limbs "labelled parts one to three". B-sides were Whiskey You're the Devil and Muirshin Durkin.

Pitchfork reported that when MacGowan first presented it, the band were startled by its power, Spider Stacy exclaimed with admiration at the parts-one-to-three line, and Fearnley was brought near tears. In a 2012 interview MacGowan said it is about a man who has broken up with his girlfriend and is partly autobiographical, set in a pub called the Scottish Stores. Pitchfork's 2024 review called it his first masterpiece, and the Guardian included it among his ten greatest recordings.

After

Alex Cox directed the 1985 video, with Kirsty MacColl as its star and Costello in a cameo. Christy Moore, Nick Cave, Peter Case, Titus Andronicus and Cat Power have recorded or performed it. Cave told the Guardian that he once saw MacGowan sing it at a soundcheck at a festival in France, and that time stood still for the few people there. Finer said he will always be singing it, and the band were still playing it on tour in 2025.