'You're Beautiful' remains a popular, if often torn-apart, love song nearly two decades after its release, but you might think twice about just how romantic the song is after hearing its true meaning.
James Blunt has pretty much proven himself to be the king of self-depreciating jokes ever since 'You're Beautiful' became a hit in 2004, having spent five weeks in the Number 1 spot.
He's been praised for the way he's reacted to people blasting the song, but he's previously admitted himself that 'You're Beautiful' is actually 'kind of miserable'.
Let's think about the lyrics. "I saw an angel / Of that I'm sure / She smiled at me on the subway / She was with another man
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But I won't lose no sleep on that / 'Cause I've got a plan."
So what he's saying is, he has a 'plan' to get this woman from her existing man. But what is that plan? Well, according to Blunt, it's to stalk her.
Yep, told you it was creepy.
During an appearance on The John Bishop Show, the singer explained: “It’s about me stalking somebody else’s girlfriend on the underground while I’m high… but people play it at their weddings, which is nice."
Blunt has also previously explained to The Guardian that the woman in the song was inspired by heartbreak, as he explained: "One day I was on the underground in London and saw an ex-girlfriend with her new boyfriend. Our eyes met, but we just walked past each other, and I went home and wrote the words to 'You’re Beautiful' in two minutes."
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Blunt also credited two other songwriters with helping him to finish the song, but made clear that while it's 'always been portrayed as romantic [...] it’s actually a bit creepy'.
"Everyone has those moments where you wonder: “What if I’d said something?”," Blunt said.
The singer also spoke about the edits the song had undergone to make it acceptable for some younger listeners, explaining that his label had asked him to remove the words 'f**king high' from the lyrics.
"I tried “particularly high”, “especially high”!," he recalled. "Eventually I sang “flying high” on the radio edit but wanted the released version left as it was. I told them: “I was f**king high!”
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Even the music video for the track doesn't do much to paint it in a positive light, as it shows Blunt slowly undressing before leaping off a cliff.
He obviously wasn't trying very hard to hide the darkness of the song from us, but it looks like we all missed it nonetheless. Well, now you know.
Topics: Music, James Blunt
Emily Brown