In The Beautiful South, Heaton shared the lead singer's role with Hemingway and female singer Briana Corrigan to create a trio of lead vocalists. This set-up helped to characterise the bittersweet kitchen sink dramas played out in Heaton's often-barbed songs.
The band's music might sound like bubbly, catchy, lightweight pop but Heaton's sour, savage and amusing worldview on everything and anything (alcoholism, religion, sex, politics and, mostly, the down side of relationships) is always lurking beneath the surface of the quirky melodies. The tastes and smells of the local pub are never far away either, with the band gaining a reputation for boozing. The band's first album was Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989) and spawned the hits Song For Whoever and You Keep It All In. The release of 1990's Choke album saw the band claim its only Number 1 hit to date, A Little Time. 0898 followed in 1992, with hits including Old Red Eyes Is Back.
In 1994, after Corrigan quit the band when she saw Paul's lyrics for the forthcoming album Miaow, St Helens supermarket shelf-stacker, Jacqui Abbott, was brought on board to fill in. Heaton had heard her sing at an after show party in St Helens and remembered her vocal talents.
Jacqui's first album with the band was Miaow in 1994. Hits included Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud) and a cover of Fred Neil's Everybody's Talking, previously popularised by Harry Nilsson. The end of that year saw the release of Carry on up the Charts, a "best of" compilation consisting of the singles to date plus new track One Last Love Song. The album was massively successful and it is said that 1 in 7 homes in the UK owns a copy.
Blue Is the Colour (1996), Quench (1998) and Painting It Red (2000) followed with varying success. Jacqui also quit the band in 2000. After a second Greatest Hits album Solid Bronze in 2001, they recorded Gaze in 2003 with yet another female vocalist, Alison 'Lady' Wheeler. Wheeler was still in place for 2004's Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs, an album of unusually arranged cover versions including Livin' Thing, You're The One That I Want, Don't Fear The Reaper and I'm Stone In Love With You. In 2006 the band released their tenth studio album, Superbi.
The band broke up in January 2007, releasing the statement: "The Beautiful South have split up due to musical similarities. The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music."
Former members of the group have since played Beautiful South songs together as 'New Beautiful South' and more recently 'The South'.
In 2007, Mercury Records released Soup: The Best of The Housemartins and The Beautiful South, a compilation album containing 7 hit singles by The Housemartins ("The Housemartins Condensed") and 15 tracks The Beautiful South ("Cream of The Beautiful South").
Have Fun
The Beautiful South Lyrics
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And if you can't have fun
Have someone else's fun
'Cause someone sure had mine
They came in
now they're having a whale of a time
You should grow a beard
A beard to tell you tales, whilst the fireplace roars
The closing of relationships and the opening of doors
The starting of hostilities and the ending of wars
Take care
And if you couldn't care
Take someone else's care
'Cause someone took my care
They went there and then they were not there
We should have a baby
And then I wouldn't feel quite so sad
Then I'd feel like Paul the Saint and not Jack the Lad
A baby that'll make me feel so very glad
I've had a life of booze, but that's all I've ever had
'Cause I'm the King of Misery
The Prince of the torn apart
And you're the lighthouse keeper
To the owner of a ship-wrecked heart
Take heart
And if you can't take heart
Take someone else's heart
Someone took my heart
They came in, now I'm torn apart
We should grey together
Not that pigeon-chested Trafalgar grey
The grey that greets you on that first October day
The grey of Russian front, whilst wolves bay
And the skeleton of life that love decays
'Cause you're the Queen of Sadness
The Princess of the House of Pain
And you're the final match
To the holder of this flickering flame
Have fun
The Beautiful South’s song “Have Fun” explores themes of loss, longing, and the search for fulfillment. The lyrics encourage finding happiness wherever you can, even if that means taking someone else’s fun or care or heart. The singer suggests growing a beard as a sign of self-discovery and storytelling, hoping that it will help him cope with the ending of relationships and the opening of new doors.
The singer also longs to have a baby to make him feel less sad and shift his identity from a Jack the Lad to Paul the Saint. Despite his history with booze, having a child would bring him immense joy. Ultimately, the song ends with the singer and the Queen of Sadness considering growing old together, downplaying the ideal of a perfect relationship and instead embracing the melancholy and decay.
The melancholic tone of the song is accentuated by the shift between the playful first verse and the more somber second and third verses. The repetition of “Have Fun” is almost mocking, suggesting a forced sense of happiness in the face of sadness. “Have Fun” is a nostalgic and bittersweet song that encourages finding joy and hope in unexpected places.
Line by Line Meaning
Have fun
Enjoy your life
And if you can't have fun
If you're not able to enjoy, be happy
Have someone else's fun
Actually not possible to have someone else's fun, but maybe you can join in and feel happy
'Cause someone sure had mine
The artist was once happy, but that happiness is now gone
They came in
Someone unexpected appeared
now they're having a whale of a time
They are now enjoying themselves immensely
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DAVE ROTHERAY, PAUL HEATON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind