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").
Hidden Jukebox
The Beautiful South Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Third World seems to be sinking
Can't you all get over there
And we'll have them all over here
And you can learn to catch your own food
And you can learn to build your own hut
And we'll make up the usual excuse
Hey skin, I just thought
The doctrine Hitler has taught
Is still kicking off in the States
Can't you go and join with your mates
Join up with the clueless clan
Dress up in a bag and a skirt
End up looking like a jerk
Meanwhile we'll have gone mad
And the hidden jukebox plays us a song
For each and everyone
For black, white, straight and the gay
Celebrate you being away
Hey Turk I was thinking
OK so l may have been drinking
You can come drink over here
And we'll fuck them off over there
Whisky for the Greek and the Turk
Gin for the Arab and the Jew
A double arsenic for Mister Le Pen
Cause it's him who soils Europe and not you
And the hidden jukebox plays us a song
Everyone should sing along
With a message that'll ring and ring
These are the words that we sing
The Beautiful South's Hidden Jukebox has lyrics that are sarcastic and satirical, criticizing the attitudes of those who are apathetic or prejudiced towards other cultures. The song is divided into three verses, each addressing a different group of people, and suggests that they should switch places with people from different parts of the world to learn to appreciate their ways of life. The first verse targets the Church, highlighting the struggles of the Third World and suggesting that members of the Church would benefit from a change of scenery. The second verse takes aim at skinheads, especially those who still believe in the ideologies of Hitler. The third verse targets the Turks and Greeks and is the most overtly disrespectful, suggesting they should come and drink in the West as they move "them" away.
The song seems to suggest that if people of these groups were to swap places with people from other parts of the world, they would be able to better appreciate the struggles and challenges that other people face, and would learn important life skills in the process. The lyrics are biting and wry, and the song as a whole is an ironic way of shedding light on the prejudices people have and the way in which they view other cultures. It was a critical success, and one of the most popular singles from their 1989 album, 'Welcome to the Beautiful South.'
Line by Line Meaning
Hey church I was thinking
I have a suggestion for the church
The Third World seems to be sinking
The developing countries are facing problems
Can't you all get over there
Can't the church go and help out
And we'll have them all over here
And then we can welcome them here
And you can learn to catch your own food
They can learn to be self-sufficient
And you can learn to build your own hut
And they can learn to build their own homes
And we'll make up the usual excuse
And we'll come up with a reason to keep them away
To keep them in the pubs till they're shut
Like keeping them in pubs until they close
Hey skin, I just thought
Hey, I have another idea
The doctrine Hitler has taught
The teachings of Hitler are still prevalent
Is still kicking off in the States
It's still causing problems in America
Can't you go and join with your mates
Why not join forces with like-minded people
Join up with the clueless clan
Join up with ignorant people
Dress up in a bag and a skirt
And dress oddly
End up looking like a jerk
And look foolish
Meanwhile we'll have gone mad
While they're distracted, we will do something wild
And the hidden jukebox plays us a song
And this jukebox that no one knows about plays a song
For each and everyone
It's for everyone to hear
For black, white, straight and the gay
It's not biased towards any group
Celebrate you being away
It's a celebration of being free or escaping
Hey Turk I was thinking
Another idea for you
OK so l may have been drinking
Though I may be a bit drunk
You can come drink over here
You're welcome to come and drink with us
And we'll fuck them off over there
And then we can send them away
Whisky for the Greek and the Turk
We'll have whiskey for the Greeks and Turks
Gin for the Arab and the Jew
And gin for the Arabs and Jews
A double arsenic for Mister Le Pen
But double arsenic for Mr. Le Pen, since he's not welcome
Cause it's him who soils Europe and not you
Because he's the problem, not you
Everyone should sing along
Everyone should join in
With a message that'll ring and ring
A message that will resonate
These are the words that we sing
These are the lyrics we're all singing
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVE ROTHERAY, PAUL HEATON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind