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").
I Sold My Heart to the Junkman
The Beautiful South Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The one that I trusted
You brought it back to me,
Broken and busted
I sold my heart to the Junkman
And I'll never fall in love again
You took my heart
You could use it
Just like a little toy,
You battered and bruised it
I sold my heart to the junkman
And I'll never fall in love again
Like a melodrama
In a simple manner
Love played the leading part
We had planned a happy ending
But I left with a broken heart
I throw my pride aside
And say "we'll be friends, dear"
Teardrops I cannot hide
For this is the end dear
I sold my heart to the junkman
And I'll never fall in love again
I throw my pride aside
And say "we'll be friends, dear"
Teardrops I cannot hide
For this is the end dear
I sold my heart to the junkman
And I'll never fall in love again
The song, "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" by The Beautiful South, laments the pain and heartbreak caused by a failed relationship. The lyrics speak of a love that was given and trust that was broken. The singer of the song is devastated by the end of the relationship, and he feels betrayed and used. The reference to the Junkman is a metaphor for the end of the relationship. Selling his heart to the Junkman represents his decision to close off his heart and never fall in love again.
The lyrics express the feelings of loss and sadness that are common after a breakup. The singer acknowledges that he gave his heart freely to the person he trusted but was left with a broken heart. The use of metaphor adds depth and richness to the song, allowing us to interpret the lyrics beyond their literal meaning. The lyrics are powerful, suggesting that there are some hurts that are difficult to get over.
Overall the meaning behind the song is the pain of heartbreak and losing trust in someone, the singer sells his heart to the Junkman to protect himself from future pain. It is a deeply emotional and relatable song that resonates with many people.
Line by Line Meaning
I gave my heart to you,
The one that I trusted
You brought it back to me,
Broken and busted
I trusted you enough to give you my heart, but you returned it to me broken and shattered.
I sold my heart to the Junkman
And I'll never fall in love again
My heart has been too damaged to ever love again, so I gave it away like junk.
You took my heart
Because you thought
You could use it
Just like a little toy,
You battered and bruised it
You took my heart not out of love, but to use it like a toy and ultimately inflict harm on it.
Like a melodrama
In a simple manner
Love played the leading part
We had planned a happy ending
But I left with a broken heart
In a classic love story fashion, we planned for a happy ending, but it never came to be and instead I was left heartbroken.
I throw my pride aside
And say "we'll be friends, dear"
Teardrops I cannot hide
For this is the end dear
I sold my heart to the junkman
And I'll never fall in love again
Despite the pain you caused me, I am willing to put aside my pride and suggest we try to be friends, but the tears that flow freely remind me that this is truly the end of our romance and I will never love again.
Contributed by Leo G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.