You're Beautiful

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“You're Beautiful”
Single by James Blunt from the album Back to Bedlam
Released	May 30, 2005 May 2005 September 2005
Format	CD single (worldwide) 7" single (UK) Digital download (U.S.)
Genre	Pop rock, folk rock
Length	3:34
Label	Atlantic records
Writer(s)	James Blunt S. Skarbek A. Ghost
Producer	Tom Rothrock
Certification	Platinum (BPI) Platinum (RIAA)
James Blunt singles chronology
"Wisemen" (2005) "You're Beautiful" (2005) "High" (re-release) (2005) Alternate covers Maxi cover Alternate covers Alternate cover

"You're Beautiful" is a pop rock song co-written by British singer James Blunt, Sasha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost^[1] for Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam (2004). The publishing splits are registered as Blunt (66%), Skarbek (24%) and Ghost (10%). 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".

Contents 1 Writing and inspiration 2 Chart performance 3 Awards 4 Parodies 5 Formats and track listings 6 Cover versions 7 Charts 8 References 8.1 Notes

[edit] 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, although Blunt refuses to confirm or deny this. 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 explicit lyrics 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. 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]

The music video for "You're Beautiful" was directed by Sam Brown. Some have assumed this video alludes to suicide, as it follows modern Japanese manner of removing ones shoes and contents of clothing prior to jumping from a great height.^[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".

[edit] Chart performance

"You're Beautiful" accomplished a feat rarely seen on the modern UK Singles Chart at the time 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]

[edit] 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 [2] winning none. For the video the singer won the MTV Award for Best Male Video and Best Cinematography.

[edit] 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. [3]

The Internet Sketch Comedy show Moron Life did a parody of the song entitled "My Testicles".

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. [4]

Amateur Transplants released a version on their DVD entitled "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 entitled "My Triangle."

Music video by Kevin Sage named "She Was Beautiful" is a parody of the song.

[edit] Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "You're Beautiful".

• UK CD1

1. "You're Beautiful"
2. "Fall at Your Feet" (Acoustic)

• UK CD2 / Australian/New Zealand CD single

1. "You're Beautiful" (Clean Edit)
2. "High" (Acoustic)
3. "You're Beautiful" (CD-Rom Making of Video)
4. "You're Beautiful" (CD-Rom Video)

• UK 7"

1. "You're Beautiful"
2. "So Long Jimmy" (Acoustic)

[edit] Cover versions

Maria Lawson performed the song on Series 2 of The X Factor and also covered it on her debut album Maria Lawson. Beverley Trotman sang the song on Series 4 of The X Factor. Kenny G recorded a cover for his album I'm in the Mood for Love...The Most Romantic Melodies of All Time in 2006

[edit] Charts

Chart (2005/2006)	Peak position[15]
Argentina Top 40 Singles	2 [5]
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	2
Austrian Singles Chart	6
Belgian Singles Chart	1
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart	1
Chile 100 Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	1
French Singles Chart	5
German Singles Chart	2
Irish Singles Chart	1
Italy Airplay Chart	1
Latin America Top 40	1
Latvian Airplay Top	1
New Zealand Chart	4
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Swiss Singles Chart	2
Swedish Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	5
U.S. Billboard Latin Pop Tracks	40
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1
United World Chart	1

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

v • d • e James Blunt Albums Back to Bedlam · Chasing Time: The Bedlam Sessions · All the Lost Souls Singles "High" · "Wisemen" · "You're Beautiful" · "Goodbye My Lover" · "1973" · "Same Mistake" · "Carry You Home" Related Discography · Return to Kosovo