"You're Beautiful" is a pop song co-written by British singer James Blunt, Sasha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost[1] for Blunt's
debut album Back to Bedlam (2004). It was
released as the third single from the album in 2005. In the UK and Australia the song reached number one and number two
respectively. When released as the debut single from Back to Bedlam in Canada and the
U.S., it reached number one on both charts and received widespread airplay. In 2006, the song won an Ivor Novello Award for
airplay,[2] and it holds the honour of being the only song
by a British artist to top the Latin America Top 40.
According to the United World Chart "You're Beautiful" is the world's third most
successful song since 1998, scoring 9,469,000 points,
only beaten by Cher's "Believe" and Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie".
Writing and inspiration
Newspapers have claimed that "You're Beautiful" is about a former girlfriend of Blunt's, Dixie Chassay,[3] casting director for the Harry
Potter films. On March 8, 2006 episode of the
Oprah Winfrey program, Blunt said of the song, "It's kind of miserable. It was about
seeing my ex-girlfriend on the Underground in London with her new man, who I didn't know existed. She and I caught eyes and lived
a lifetime in that moment, but didn't do anything about it and haven't seen each other since."[4] Several versions of the song exist. One lyrical version has the explicit
lyrics "fucking high" which were released on Back to Bedlam and most of the "You're Beautiful" singles. The radio edit of
the song replaces the explicit lyrics with "flying high". Acoustic, live and DVD versions have also been released.
When asked about the song, Blunt responded, "It's probably one of the least meaningful songs on the album and by no means
people's favourite. The album is like a book covering various aspects of life in a specific order."[5]
In a poll conducted by the Rolling Stone to identify the 10 most annoying songs, this
song was ranked seven.[6]
James Blunt laying out his belongings in the music video.
The music video for "You're Beautiful" was directed by Sam Brown. Some have assumed this
video alludes to suicide.[7] Blunt removes the upper portion of his clothing in a cold, bare, snowy setting and places all of his
personal belongings on the ground. Whilst he does this, seagulls circle overhead like
buzzards.[8] At the end of
the video, he jumps off a cliff and lands into the depths of icy water while he sings the lyrics: "But it's time to face the
truth, I will never be with you". His jump would mean this death. But it could also implicitly mean the death of the relationship
with his girlfriend about whom he is singing this song. The whole video could allude to the concept of how the relationship with
his girlfriend was slowly breaking and how when he saw her with another man it came to a permanent end. A follow-up video first
played at the BRIT Awards in February 2006 shows
three beautiful mermaids swimming underwater. Suddenly, Blunt is shown to be jumping into the water with them. They frolic
together for the duration of the song; however, at the line "But it's time to face the truth/I will never be with you," Blunt
returns to the surface, leaving the mermaids behind. The video is now played during Blunt's live performances during the singing
of "You're Beautiful".
Chart performance
"You're Beautiful" accomplished a feat rarely seen on the modern UK Singles Chart by
ascending the chart following its début. Released on May 30, 2005,
it entered at number twelve on June 5th and reached number one six weeks later where it remained
for five consecutive weeks. The last song to debut outside of the top ten and climb to number one was The Outhere Brothers' "Boom Boom Boom" (1995). The song reached #1 in
several other countries, and was in the top-10 on most major charts.
In November 2005, "You're Beautiful" was released in North America where it achieved
widespread success. In Canada, it ascended to number one (where it remained for four consecutive weeks) twenty-two weeks
following its début on the BDS Airplay chart. In the United States, it débuted at number eighty-eight before reaching number one
seventeen weeks later. It replaced Beyoncé's "Check on
It" and itself was replaced by Ne-Yo's "So Sick".[9] This also became the first single by a British artist to reach number one since
Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997"
(1997).[10] It achieved success on the Billboard
Pop 100, Hot Digital Songs, Adult Contemporary, and Adult Top 40
formats.
It was certified sixfold platinum in the U.S. for
digital sales of 1,200,000 copies before the RIAA changed their guidelines for
certification in June 2006. It is now certified one-fold platinum.[11] As of early 2007 the song had sold almost 2 Million digital singles in the US alone.
"You're Beautiful" debuted at #35[12] in October 2005 in
the Latin America Top 40 and kept ascending and entered the Top 10 four weeks later and
reached number one after 14 weeks in the Top 10 where it remained for two consecutive weeks and four weeks total.[13] The single was the 5th most played song of 2006 in Latin
America, the highest ranking by an international artist.[14]
Awards
At the 2007 Grammy Awards this single received three nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the
Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
[1] winning none. For the
video the singer won the MTV Award for Best Male Video and Best Cinematography.
Parodies
A parody of the song was made by the British
sketch-show Dead Ringers. Entitled "It's Bloody Cold", it featured
Jon Culshaw as Blunt sitting in the snow and jumping into a swimming pool in an attempt to
be seen as cool by the other major British singers (Robbie Williams, Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Morrissey and Craig David are explicitly named among these). It also
claimed that the name "James Blunt" is Cockney rhyming slang.
"Weird Al" Yankovic composed and recorded a parody of "You're
Beautiful" entitled "You're Pitiful", intended for release on his twelfth album. Yankovic had done so with permission from Blunt himself. However, Blunt's
label, Atlantic Records, chose to forbid Yankovic from releasing his parody. Yankovic
removed the song from his album to avoid conflict with the record label, and in June of 2006 posted it as a free download on
his own website. [2]
The Internet Sketch Comedy show Moron Life did a parody of the song entitled
"My Testicles".
Acoustic keyboardist "Exactly
Midnight" did a version entitled 'Far From Beautiful', which tells the story of a person who tries to quickly get a date for
that evening, without any limits for attractiveness. A twist is included which suggests that James Blunt stole the tune of the
band, and also gives a back story of Blunt's inhumanly high voice.
The song and video were parodied on the sketch show, MADtv. Nicole Parker played James Blunt and wore a prosthetic male torso when
it came time to strip off her shirts during the song. MADtv renamed the song to "I'm Beautiful".
The song has also been parodied in an office setting: "My Cubicle", created by comedy website Morning Sidekick. Several
versions are circulating, one audio-only, one with a video showing the lyrics on a blank background, and several fan-created
music videos in which an actor acts out the actions in the lyrics. [3]
Amateur Transplants released a version on their DVD entitled "Beautiful Song"
Blunt has recorded an appearance for Season 38 of Sesame Street, in which he sings a
parody entitled "My Triangle."
Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "You're Beautiful".
- "You're Beautiful"
- "Fall at Your Feet" (Acoustic)
- UK CD2 / Australian/New Zealand CD single
- "You're Beautiful" (Edit)
- "High" (Acoustic)
- "You're Beautiful" (CD-Rom Making of Video)
- "You're Beautiful" (CD-Rom Video)
- "You're Beautiful"
- "So Long Jimmy" (Acoustic)
Charts
Trivia
- The song is occasionally performed by the Queen's military band during the changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.
- The song was bestowed the #1 spot for "Most Irritating Song of All Time" by The Sun[5]
- The song holds the honor of been the only song by a British artist and the second song in English to top the Latin America Top 40.
- The opening tune of the song is the same as "The Lonely Man", the theme used in "The Incredible Hulk".
- Played on the Tv Series Smallville
References
Notes
- Amazon.com. James Blunt — releases and track listings. Retrieved on March 12,
2006.
- ARC Weekly Top 40. Rock on the Net.
Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
- ARIA.com. Australian airplay and sales
charts. Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
- Billboard. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
- Dot Music.
United Kingdom sales chart. Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
- IFop.com. French sales chart.
Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
- Jam.canoe.ca. Canadian airplay and sales
charts. Retrieved on March 11, 2006.
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