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").
Without Her
The Beautiful South Lyrics
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Thinking she'll be there but she never comes
I wake up and wipe the sleep from my eyes
Then I rise to spend another day without her
It's just no good anymore
When you walk through the door of an empty room
You go inside and set a table for one
It's no fun when you have to spend a day without her
Took it to the moon
It was such a beautiful thing
But it's ended now and it sounds like a lie
I said I'd rather die that be without her
Love is such a beautiful thing
When it knows how to swing
And it grooves like a clock
But the hands on the clock tell the lovers to part
And it's breaking my heart to spend another day without her
I spend the night in a chair
Thinking she'll be there but she never comes
I wake up and wipe the sleep from my eyes
Then I rise to spend another day without her
Can't go on without her
There's no song without her
The song "Without Her" by The Beautiful South is a heart-wrenching ballad that talks about the struggles of being alone and missing someone. The song starts with the singer spending a sleepless night in the hope that the person he misses so much will come to him, but that person never shows up. He wakes up the next morning with sleep still in his eyes, only to be disappointed once again, and he proceeds to live his day just like any other day, without her.
The song then talks about how love can be beautiful and amazing, but it can also be painful when the clock hands remind lovers that they must part ways. The singer is left heartbroken, unable to go on without the one he loves, and the song ends with a strong message that there is no song without her.
The lyrics are a powerful display of emotions, the emptiness that people feel when they are away from someone they love, and the realization that life without them is not just unbearable but also mundane. The song ends with a clear message that life only has meaning when that special person is around, and without them, everything loses its purpose.
Line by Line Meaning
I spend the night in a chair
I spend my nights waiting for her, restless and uncomfortable.
Thinking she'll be there but she never comes
I hope and pray that she will come back, but she never does.
I wake up and wipe the sleep from my eyes
I start each day in a daze, trying to shake off the sadness and loneliness.
Then I rise to spend another day without her
I get up, knowing that I'll have to face another day without her by my side.
It's just no good anymore
My life feels empty and meaningless without her.
When you walk through the door of an empty room
Entering a room that's supposed to be filled with love and companionship, but finding it empty and void of any happiness.
You go inside and set a table for one
Preparing meals for one, imagining what it would be like to share it with the one you love.
It's no fun when you have to spend a day without her
Living life without her is dull and joyless, there's no happiness or fun in it.
He burst a pretty balloon
The happiness and love that we shared together was like a beautiful balloon, but it's now been destroyed.
Took it to the moon
Pursuing and chasing something beautiful and dream-like, but ultimately it was never meant to be.
It was such a beautiful thing
The love we shared was a beautiful thing, but now it's gone and nothing remains.
But it's ended now and it sounds like a lie
Our love ended, and it feels like it was all a lie and it never truly existed.
I said I'd rather die that be without her
The pain of being apart from her is so strong, that I would rather die than continue living without her.
Love is such a beautiful thing
Love is an incredible, wonderful and magical feeling.
When it knows how to swing
When love is strong, it's able to adapt and change to whatever life throws its way, and keep swinging.
And it grooves like a clock
Love has a comfortable, familiar rhythm that runs like a clock, dependable and always there.
But the hands on the clock tell the lovers to part
Despite the strength of love, sometimes circumstances and situations beyond our control force us to separate.
And it's breaking my heart to spend another day without her
Every day without her is a heart-wrenching experience, and the pain seems unbearable.
Can't go on without her
Without her, life cannot continue, there's no strength to move forward without her by my side.
There's no song without her
She's the inspiration behind every song I want to sing, and without her by my side, the notes fall flat and the melody fades.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: HARRY NILSSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jon Burrows
Wow I never knew they covered Harry!