Beautiful People - Big Country (1991)
4,378 views · Published 15 September 2012 · 3:22 · Indexed 25 September 2026
Channel: MetalGuruMessiah · 2012 · Music
"Beautiful People" was released on Big Country's fifth studio album, No Place Like Home, in the fall of 1991. The album title derives from a quote in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which is referenced by the first track, "We're Not in Kansas". The album finds the band trying to reinvent themselves and shift away from their '80s image. It does succeed in capturing a more organic sound than their previous release. However, by the time of the album's release, Big Country's star was dimmed, commercially at least, to the point where it didn't even receive a release in the U.S. Where many of my friends at the time were heavy into U2, I was always more fond of both Big Country and The Alarm. This was a band that had such a unique sound...bagpipes in rock was unusual, but the thing that struck me the most was the strength of the songwriting, and of course there was frontman Stuart Adamson's amazing voice. Big Country scored it pretty big right off the bat, receiving critical acclaim, though not quite an equal amount of popular and commercial success, but it seemed likely that, based on the talent displayed, this was a band that would quickly scale greater heights with their next records. As their fans tapered with each subsequent record....the hardcore Big Country fans remained, never giving up on the band's early promise and being rewarded with songs like "Beautiful People" that kept that promise! The beauty of some late Big Country still has the power to astonish and it's always startling to a degree when you listen to the music they recorded during this period and realize what a shame it is that it remains so obscure to all but the most loyal fans. This was how I came to "Beautiful People", jogging with my dogs the other day in crisp morning air listening to No Place Like Home on my Ipod. I'd been wanting to create a Big Country video for so long, but the songs I'd considered (mostly from earlier records) were blocked. As a selection from such an obscure record, I'd hoped "Beautiful People" might be the one...here it is. Listen to the lyrics of this song! R.I.P. Stuart another brilliant and kind soul gone too soon. For Jana and "John Wayne". http://www.youtube.com/user/cattledog1229 Special Thanks to my friends, for their gracious consideration: Louie Schwartzberg, for the beautiful video of the beautiful people! Please visit his channel for the full video! Moving Art Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/LouieSchwartzberg) Harley, for the beautiful clip of the stars in the night sky! Please visit his channel for full video! Harles99 Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/Harles99) [Lyrics] If beauty is an ecstasy and anger keeps you poor A hungry man is never free, a rich man never cured Things were never what they used to be Now every crowd has it's silver lining, we all got stuff to sell And you may live your life so bitter, but you remember it so well Things were never what they used to be For all the folks who can run the world, drive cabs or cut your hair And the sun may set without your help, but you're beautiful people to me You may fall before you're pushed, but it's beautiful people I see If you only see the stars when it's dark, that's enough for me An empty soul with a full opinion is beautiful people to me It's all the same in different hats, the proof of the missing link A nation talking to itself and none of us can think Things were never what they used to be For a silent fool may still be wise, there's no way you can tell And the captain more scared than his crew is beautiful people to me And the finest government you could buy, it's beautiful people I see If you live five to one against, it's good enough for me Can't use two steps to cross a canyon, you're beautiful people to me If you don't see the same trees I see, you're beautiful people to me Make deserts bloom and oceans die, just beautiful people to me If you're lost and dying of civilization, that's enough for me If you believe your own blind eye, you're beautiful people to me And you may miss what you never had and have what you don't need And the sun may set without your help, but you're beautiful people to me You may fall before you're pushed, but it's beautiful people I see If you only see the stars when it's dark, that's enough for me An empty soul with a full opinion is beautiful people to me And the captain more scared than his crew is beautiful people to me And the finest government you could buy, it's beautiful people I see If you live five to one against, it's good enough for me Can't use two steps to cross a canyon, you're beautiful people to me If you don't see the same trees I see, you're beautiful people to me Make deserts bloom and oceans die, just beautiful people to me If you're lost and dying of civilization, that's enough for me
