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").
Lips
The Beautiful South Lyrics
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Keep telling me you're forever
You're forever, you're forever
The Beautiful South's "Lips" features deeply somber and sobering lyrics that tap into a prevalent feeling of disillusionment and betrayal. The opening line, "Your lying lips don't cry don't cry," set the tone for a song that confronts issues of falsehood, trust, and deception. The chorus repeats the phrase "Keep telling me you're forever" in a painful, desperate way, which emphasizes the raw and emotional impact of the track.
In the context of the song, the lyrics can be interpreted as a warning to those who are struggling to maintain a relationship. The singer's lover is assuring them that they are in it for the long haul, but this assurance rings hollow, given the constant lying and subterfuge that characterizes the relationship. The song's bleak message is not only the end of the relationship but is capturing the pain of being caught up in a web of lies and illusions.
Overall, "Lips" is a poignant and sharp-eyed commentary on the fragility of trust and the toxicity of deceit that can destroy a relationship. The impact of the lyrics is enhanced by the lulling, hypnotic beat of the song, which heightens the emotional impact of the message.
Line by Line Meaning
Your lying lips don't cry don't cry
Your dishonest mouth shouldn't shed any tears, any tears
Keep telling me you're forever
Continuously claiming that our love is eternal
You're forever, you're forever
Reiterating that you're committed to me indefinitely
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DAVE ROTHERAY, PAUL HEATON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind