James Blunt Revealed The Actual Meaning Behind The 'You're Beautiful' Song And It's Substantially Less Sweet Than I Would Have Thought
Unilad – In an interview with the Huffington Post, Blunt revealed that song is a about a guy who’s as high as kite off some really strong drugs and harassing a woman on a train.
He explained:
“Everyone goes, ‘Ah, he’s so romantic. I want ‘You’re Beautiful’ as my wedding song.’ These people are fucked up. You get labelled with these things like, ‘Oh, James Blunt. Isn’t he just a soft romantic?’ Well, fuck that. No, I’m not. ‘You’re Beautiful’ is not this soft romantic fucking song. It’s about a guy who’s high as a fucking 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.”
Like a very original person, I learned to play guitar in college in Los Angeles (many people have said no teenager trying to get laid after high school attempted that before me, hard to say). And given the timing, “You’re Beautiful” was one of the first songs I heard right alongside “Cream,” “Wonderwall,” and, oddly enough, “Banana Pancakes” by Jack Johnson for some reason in class. And I’ve always had a soft spot for James Blunt and “You’re Beautiful” because of it; something about his soothing but achievable singing rhythms really spoke to me. Strap a capo on your guitar, practice for about an hour, all of a sudden you’re banging out one of the top pop hits of the day as if you’re not a total fraud. I appreciate that about James Blunt.
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But despite that kinship with the song, I had no fucking clue this song was just about some hobo trying to fuck on a subway. Maybe it’s growing up in NYC, but I can’t imagine a world where there’s a homeless gentleman on a train eying up a chick, high on whatever homeless man drugs, and the sentiments in his head are “Ah jeez you’re so beautiful, shame we can never end up together.” In real life, at best, that man is masturbating while making uncomfortable eye contact with her as she holds onto a pole in horror and prays he doesn’t have a lot of PSIs built up in there to get Super Soaker distance. It’s a much more practical kind of love for sure but loses a bit of charm.
“You’re beautiful // You’re beautiful it’s true // I saw your face // in a crowded place // and I don’t know what to do // Because I’ll never be with youuuu”