The Beautiful South

[RGA]

Thought I'd throw this quircky little group out there for thsoe with a dark and perverse sense of humour. I was at a party some years ago and the couple were playing "Welcome to the Beautiful South" and the band plays a nice soft kinda Jazz/poppy stuff but with bizarre lyrics which of course seem so out of steop with the accompanyment that I found myself rather ammused by the off beat nature of the band.

Fast forward 10+ years and I found myself staring at quite a selection of albums from a band that I have never heard played on the radio.

Woman in the Wall for example is a light jazz pop song about a woman who the singer has killed and put in his wall. Lyrics:

He was just a social drinker but social every night
He enjoyed a pint or two or three or four
She was just a silent thinker, silent every night
He’d enjoy the thought of killing her before

Well he was very rarely drunk but very rarely sober
And he didn’t think the problem was his drink
But he only knew his problem when he knocked her over
And when the rotting flesh began to stink

Cry freedom for the woman in the wall
Cry freedom for she has no voice at all
I hear her cry all day, all night
I hear her voice from deep within the wall
Made a cross from knitting needles
Made a grave from hoover bags
Especially for the woman in the wall

She’d knitted him a jumper with dominoes on
So he wore it everyday in every week
Pretended to himself that she hadn’t really gone
Pretended that he thought he heard her speak

Then at last it seemed that he was really winning
He felt that he had some sort of grip
But all of his new life was sent a-spinning
When the rotting wall began to drip"

Yeah it's off beat allright.

Check them out if you want a different kind of sound with some out there lyrics...their "Carry on up the Charts" album became one of the biggest selling albums in British History and yet have very little presence in the US.

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/beautiful_south/bio.jhtml

[-Jar-]

Thought I'd throw this quircky little group out there for thsoe with a dark and perverse sense of humour. I was at a party some years ago and the couple were playing "Welcome to the Beautiful South" and the band plays a nice soft kinda Jazz/poppy stuff but with bizarre lyrics which of course seem so out of steop with the accompanyment that I found myself rather ammused by the off beat nature of the band.

Fast forward 10+ years and I found myself staring at quite a selection of albums from a band that I have never heard played on the radio.

Woman in the Wall for example is a light jazz pop song about a woman who the singer has killed and put in his wall. Lyrics:

He was just a social drinker but social every night
He enjoyed a pint or two or three or four
She was just a silent thinker, silent every night
He’d enjoy the thought of killing her before

Well he was very rarely drunk but very rarely sober
And he didn’t think the problem was his drink
But he only knew his problem when he knocked her over
And when the rotting flesh began to stink

Cry freedom for the woman in the wall
Cry freedom for she has no voice at all
I hear her cry all day, all night
I hear her voice from deep within the wall
Made a cross from knitting needles
Made a grave from hoover bags
Especially for the woman in the wall

She’d knitted him a jumper with dominoes on
So he wore it everyday in every week
Pretended to himself that she hadn’t really gone
Pretended that he thought he heard her speak

Then at last it seemed that he was really winning
He felt that he had some sort of grip
But all of his new life was sent a-spinning
When the rotting wall began to drip"

Yeah it's off beat allright.

Check them out if you want a different kind of sound with some out there lyrics...their "Carry on up the Charts" album became one of the biggest selling albums in British History and yet have very little presence in the US.

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/beautiful_south/bio.jhtml

I haven't heard much of their stuff beyond the first two albums, but I've always enjoyed them quite a bit.

You'll also want to check out the Housemartins, they were the group that the Beautiful South sort of grew out of (same singer). The Housemartins were a little more guitar-driven, but still very poppy and quirky, kind of a Smiths-lite, or something.

Definately check 'em out if you haven't already.

-jar

[Davey]

Yeah, it's always surprising to me how some artists can be so popular in Great Britain or other parts of the world, but just don't quite crack the market in the US. The Beautiful South is definitely one of those, althopugh with 0898 they did pick up an audience here. Not huge, but respectable. One of my favorites is "Something That You Said" from that one, with some of the most disturbed lyrics I've heard, yet wrapped in a really great song. Love it and somehow managed to work it into one of my quirky early comps around here. Can't remember how well it worked, though...:)

The perfect love song it has no words it only has death threats
And you can tell a classic ballad by how threatening it gets
So if you walk into your house and she's cutting up your mother
She's only trying to tell you that she loves you like no other
No other, she loves you like no other.

The perfect kiss is dry as sand and doesn't take your breath
The perfect kiss is with the boy that you've just stabbed to death
Is with the boy that you've just stabbed to death
Is with the boy that you've just stabbed to death

[Stone]

I like the Beautiful South, but I've found their albums to be somewhat inconsistent (but I'm probably biased too, being a pretty big Housemartins fan). My favorite overall is 0898 already mentioned by Davey, but the first couple albums have some great moments like "You Keep It All In," "Tonight I Fancy Myself" and "I've Come For My Award."




They're only red from all the tears that I should've shed
They're only red from all the women that I could've wed
So when you look into these eyes I hope you realise
They could never be blue

[RGA]

Thanks for that I have not heard the Housemartins. I only have two Beautiful South albums so I'll try and pick up some more along with the Housemartins.

I wonder about the lyricist -- he may be unstable LOL :D (You Keep it all in)

You know your problem
You keep it all in
You know your problem
You keep it all in

That's right
The conversation we had last night
When all I wanted to do was
Knife you in the heart
I kept it all in

You know your problem
You keep it all in
You know your problem
You keep it all in

Midnight, a husband getting ready to fight
A daughter sleeps alone with the light
Turned on, she bears but
Keeps it all in

Just like that murder in '73
Just like that robbery in '62
With all there things that have happened to me
I kept it all in
Why do you keep on telling me now

You know your problem
You keep it all in
You know your problem
You keep it all in

That's sweet
That conversation we had last week
When you gagged and bound me up to my seat
You're right, I do
I keep it all in

I also like the female singer in their group -- she's got a Cyndi Lauperish voice and there is a Pet Shop Boys with 1950's feel. Well there isn;t much out there like em --- Barenaked Ladies feel to it all as well.