Bright Eyes are back once again with a cover of “Flirted With You All My Life.” The song is the band’s second release (after October 2020 charity single “Miracle of Life”) following 2020’s Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, the album that ended the band’s nine-year hiatus.
Their rendition of “Flirted With You All My Life” pays tribute to the song’s original creator, Athens, Ga., singer/songwriter Vic Chesnutt, who passed away in 2009. The heart-wrenching song receives a raw screaming breakdown in the Bright Eyes cover as it gains momentum from its slow, sweet-sounding beginning.
Frontman Conor Oberst said of Chesnutt:
I had the pleasure of seeing Vic perform many times over the years and from a young age. I can truly say he deeply changed my worldview and what it meant to write a really unique and thought provoking song. One of the greatest ever. Always missed. Here is our humble version of one of his best.
Listen to Bright Eyes’ cover of “Flirted With You All My Life” below and revisit Chesnutt’s 2009 Daytrotter session with Elf Power further down.
