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").
Pollard
The Beautiful South Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You ask for pollard and you get pollard
You plead for pollard and you get pollard
You get down for pollard and you get pollard
You get down for pollard and you get pollard
You get down on your knees for pollard
And you get pollard
You get down on your knees and you get pollard
Cos you request pollard when you get pollard
And you ask for pollard and you get pollard
You plead for pollard and you get pollard
You get down for pollard and you get pollard
You get down for pollard and you get pollard
You get down on your knees for pollard
You get down on your knees for pollard
And you get pollard
The Beautiful South's song 'Pollard' is often categorized as an absurdist anthem. It is essentially a simple three-minute monotonous chant consisting of a single phrase repeated over and over again. The repeated phrase is “You request pollard, and you get pollard”, and it goes on to escalate to “You get down on your knees for pollard, and you get pollard”.
The lyrics of 'Pollard' are open to interpretation. It can be construed as a commentary on society's willingness to blindly follow authority, to accept what is presented to us without question, even if it is not what we wanted or expected. The song could be seen as an allegory for the subservience and obedience demanded by those in power. It questions if we are becoming too complacent and accepting of what we are given, instead of asking for what we really want.
The repetition of the phrase "pollard" is significant in that it has no inherent meaning, but it becomes loaded with meaning through repetition. It becomes a symbol for anything we may want or ask for, but which is not given to us. The song calls us to question what we are willing to accept as the norm and challenges us to reconsider our attitudes and behaviors.
Line by Line Meaning
You request pollard and you get pollard
You specifically ask for pollard and that's all you receive
You ask for pollard and you get pollard
Your request for pollard is fulfilled without question or alternative options
You plead for pollard and you get pollard
Even when you beg or plead, you still only receive pollard
You get down for pollard and you get pollard
You go to great lengths and effort for pollard, yet still only end up with pollard
You get down on your knees for pollard
You humble yourself and supplicate for pollard
And you get pollard
But regardless of how you ask, beg, or plead, all you receive is pollard
Cos you request pollard when you get pollard
The reason why you never receive anything other than pollard is because that's all you ever ask for
You ask for pollard and you get pollard
Your continuous request for pollard results in pollard being the only thing you receive
You plead for pollard and you get pollard
Even when you are desperate for something else, you still only end up with pollard
You get down for pollard and you get pollard
No matter how hard you work or how much effort you put in, you never receive anything other than pollard
You get down on your knees for pollard
You lower yourself and show subservience for something that ultimately has limited value
You get down on your knees for pollard
Even when you try a different approach, your end result is still pollard
And you get pollard
The cycle continues; you keep asking, and you keep receiving the same thing
Contributed by Hunter V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.