"You're Beautiful" is a pop rock song co-written by British
singer James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost 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 Bedlamin 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, and it holds
the honour of being the only song by a British artist to top
the Latin America Top 40. The song has sold 625,000 copies in
the UK as stated by the Official UK Charts Company.
Newspapers have claimed that "You're Beautiful" is about a
former girlfriend of Blunt's, Dixie Chassay, casting director
for the
Harry Potterfilms, although Blunt refuses to confirm or
deny this. On 8 March 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." Several
versions of the song exist. One lyrical version has an explicit
word in it ("
She could see from my face that I was fucking high")
which was released on
Back to Bedlamand most of the "You're Beautiful"
singles. The radio edit of the song replaces the explicit
lyric, changing it to "
She could see from my face that I was flying high".
Acoustic, live and DVD versions have also been released.
However, because of the word in question, the album was given a
Parental Advisory sticker.
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."
In an interview with HitQuarters, co-writer Sacha Skarbek
said their collaboration on the song began when Blunt brought
the title and the approach of the chorus to a songwriting
session. Skarbek's contribution largely focused on the music
aspect to the track, contributing chord ideas for the verses,
honing the melodies, and making sure the song stuck to, "a
couple of key hooks rather than making it too complicated."
The music video for "You're Beautiful" was directed by Sam
Brown. The video shows Blunt committing suicide, following a
Japanese tradition of removing one's shoes and contents of
clothing prior to jumping from a great height. 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. 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".
In a poll conducted by
Rolling Stoneto identify the 10 most annoying songs,
this song was ranked seven. In another poll by the British
tabloid
The Sunit was voted the most irritating song of all
time.
"You're Beautiful" is Blunt's most successful single release
to date. It was also his first successful single, and reached
number one in ten countries across the world, including the
United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Canada, and the
Netherlands. The song peaked within the top five in Australia,
France, and Germany.
"You're Beautiful" accomplished a feat rarely seen on the
modern UK Singles Chart by ascending the chart following its
début. Released on 30 May 2005, it entered at number twelve on
5 June and reached number one six weeks later where it remained
for five consecutive weeks. The last song to début outside of
the top ten and climb to number one was The Outhere Brothers'
"Boom Boom Boom" (1995). The highest position "You're
Beautiful" reached in Australia was number two, where it stayed
for two consecutive weeks.
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". The song became the first non-urban or
American Idolsong to reach the top of the U.S. Billboard
Hot 100 since Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" in 2001.
However, "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani has also been
credited for that accomplishment, but due to its hip-hop based
influences, it's been disputed. This also became the first
single by a British artist to reach number one since Elton
John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" (1997). It achieved success on
the
BillboardPop 100, Hot Digital Songs, Adult Contemporary,
and Adult Top 40 formats.
It has been certified six-fold platinum in the U.S. for
digital sales of 1,200,000 copies.
At the 2007 Grammy Awards this single received three
nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Male
Pop Vocal Performance [2] winning none. For the video the
singer won the MTV Award for Best Male Video and Best
Cinematography.
A parody of the song was made by the British sketch-show
Dead Ringers. Titled "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 2006 posted it as a free download
on his own website. [3]
The Internet Sketch Comedy show
Moron Lifedid a parody of the song titled "My
Testicles".
The song and video were parodied on the sketch show,
MADtv. Nicole Parker played a narcissistic James Blunt
and wore a prosthetic male torso when it came time to strip off
her shirts during the song.
MADtvrenamed 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. [4]
The Amateur Transplants performed a parody to the song for
their album Unfit to Practise, titled "Beautiful Song".
Jared Leto and Shannon Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars joked
around with the song in a clip for MTV2 while inside a car.
Jared sang the song as "I'm Beautiful"
Blunt has recorded an appearance for Season 38 of Sesame
Street, in which he sings a parody titled "My Triangle."
Music video by Kevin Sage named "She Was Beautiful" is a
parody of the song.
A parody of the song titled 'You're Beauteous' appeared on
Cartoon Network. It uses scenes from The Marvelous
Misadventures of Flapjack.
These are the formats and track listings of major single
releases of "You're Beautiful".