"Eve" was originally written and performed when Bell X1 were Juniper. Called "Never", it was released on the Neither Am I album, before being rewritten and retitled "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" for their second album, Music In Mouth. As "Never" it was performed at a 2FM session and released on a four-tracker as the third track on a record that included "Expensive Silence", "Then Go" and "Deliverance".
Use in television
The song was famously used in a scene of United Statesteen dramatelevision seriesThe O.C in which two of the female characters, played by Mischa Barton and Olivia Wilde, shared a lesbian kiss. Paul Noonan later commented that they initially "thought someone was taking the piss" after receiving an e-mail from the show through their Hotmail account to seek permission. This incident gave the band a wider appeal. They embarked on their debut US tour in 2003 as a consequence. "Eve, the Apple of My Eye" subsequently went on to feature on the music compilation, . However the band were also on the receiving end of some "rather ridiculous" hate email from some angry American Christians. Noonan said:
"We actually got irate emails from some Christian folks linking us with that behaviour."
In 2008, a Bell X1 gig on their US tour was attended by members of the cast. Noonan said:
"A couple of them came to see us play the Viper Room in LA... and we didn't know who they were."
With increased record sales, David Geraghty later said to Ed Power of the Irish Independent: "The OC thing was a huge deal and we have no regrets about doing it. It opened doors for us abroad". As a result of The O.C. being broadcast in hundreds of countries Bell X1 were reported to have made lots of money from the royalties.
George Whyte in his Irish Independent review of the December 2006 concert at the Point Theatre—"A fair whack of the punters finally got what they wanted as the familiar piano strains of "Eve, The Apple Of My Eye" rang out, summoning screams of 'Oh my GOD, I LOVE this song!' from Abercrombie-clad teens everywhere". A live performance of the song witnessed by the Irish Independent in 2009 was "delivered so movingly it's likely to raise goose-pimples".
Legacy
Sunday Tribune journalists Neil Dunphy and Una Mullally named it number 46 in their 2008 "ultimate playlist representing the top-50 Irish songs of all time", reminding readers that it was "chiefly known in the States as the soundtrack to that lesbian kiss in The OC".
