James Blunt‘s “You’re Beautiful” was one of the most popular songs on the planet in 2005. The song was everywhere, topping the charts in 11 different countries. In America, it became the first song by a British artist to reach No. 1 since Elton John’s revamped “Candle in the Wind” in 1997. Decades later, “You’re Beautiful” lives on as a perennial wedding song.
Like “Candle in the Wind,” Blunt’s single is the stuff of adult contemporary gold: a mid-tempo ballad that’s smoothly-sung and yearningly sentimental. Unlike “Candle in the Wind,” though, the track is often misinterpreted by its fans and critics, many of whom assume it’s a romantic tribute to someone who’s, well, really good-looking.
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According to the songwriter himself, though, “You’re Beautiful” is more desperate than affectionate. He began writing the song after catching a glimpse of his ex-girlfriend on a subway platform in London, her arm around another man. Although Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost contributed to the songwriting process, too, “You’re Beautiful” is the work of a lonely man who’s stunned by his own bad luck—and a bit stoned, too.
“You get labeled with these things like, ‘Oh, James Blunt. Isn’t he just a soft romantic?’” he said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “Well, f*ck that. No, I’m not. ‘You’re Beautiful’ is not this soft romantic f*cking song. It’s about a guy who’s high as a f*cking kite on drugs in the subway, stalking someone else’s girlfriend when that guy is there in front of him, and he should be locked up or put in prison for being some kind of perv.”
The song’s lyrics center upon a moment when Blunt and his ex lock eyes “in a crowded place,” briefly holding each other’s gaze. While appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in March 2006, Blunt shed some light on that real-life encounter. “It’s kind of miserable,” he said of the song’s autobiographical premise. “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.”
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In the song’s music video, which was directed by Sam Brown, Blunt stares into the camera as snow falls around him. He pulls off his shirt, takes off his shoes, removes everything from his pockets, and eventually jumps into the ocean below. Upon its release in 2005, some viewers interpreted the character’s leap into the icy water below as a suicide attempt.
Although the song itself isn’t that explicit, Blunt’s lyrics do have a dangerous undertone. There’s something sinister to “You’re Beautiful”—a sense of creepiness that’s lurking just beneath the surface, beneath all that reverb and high-production gloss, just waiting for someone to take a closer look at the lyrics.
My life is brilliant, my love is pure, he sings during the song’s first verse, ditching all subtlety and, instead, heaping on the self-praise. If you were the person he was singing to, would you believe him? Or would you begin looking for the exit sign behind him? What about the line that comes later? That ones that goes, She was with another man, but I won’t sleep on that, ’cause I’ve got a plan? Would you wait around to watch that plan unfold, or would you go ahead and file that restraining order?
These days, James Blunt regularly makes fun of the song’s ubiquity. He’s proud of its success, but he also understands the public backlash that occurred during the late-2000s, after “You’re Beautiful” had simply been played on too many radio stations, too many times, for too long. “Too much of a good thing turns into a bad thing eventually, and [the song] got a lot of airplay, and it doesn’t take much to work out that kind of thing,” he said for the Huffington Post piece. “I love hamburgers, but if you give me a hamburger for every meal, I’m gonna tire of it.”
The self-deprecating Blunt also has a message for the scores of newlyweds who continue to play “You’re Beautiful” at their wedding ceremonies and receptions.
“Everyone goes, ‘Ah, he’s so romantic; I want ‘You’re Beautiful’ as my wedding song,’” he told Huffington Post, before adding, “These people are f*cked up.”
Photo by Debbie Hickey/Getty Images
