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  1. #1
    RGA
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    The Beautiful South

    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

  2. #2
    Dubgazer -Jar-'s Avatar
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    Nice group

    Quote Originally Posted by 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
    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
    If being afraid is a crime we'll hang side-by-side,
    at the swingin' party down the line..


    The Replacements

  3. #3
    very clever with maracas Davey's Avatar
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    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

  4. #4
    Stone Stone's Avatar
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    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
    And the world will turn to flowing pink vapor stew.

  5. #5
    RGA
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    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 (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.

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