MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
You're Beautiful (James Blunt)
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3:22
Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/music/youre-beautiful-james-blunt-7
Description

A short romance on an underground coach, from this former marine.


You've got a karaoke version here.

Transcript

My life is brilliant.

My life is brilliant,
My love is pure.
I saw an angel,
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man,
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yes, she caught my eye,
As I walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Flying high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last 'till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

La la la la la la la la la

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth:
I will never be with you.

Explanations

When a T goes between two vowels: Notice the pronunciation of the intervocalic -T- in the word "beautiful" and how the vowel in the syllable "-ful" /fəl/ is pronounced with a schwa, not /ʊ/. The same pronunciation of the T is found in other intervocalic T's as in: "of thaT I'm sure",  "I've goT a plan", "thaT I was", "when she thoughT up", "buT it's time". This happens in American English every time a T goes between vowels, but in British English this change of pronunciation is a colloquial feature, you can always pronounce a full T everywhere, and you should in formal speech.

brilliant= fantastic (also "brill" in colloquial youngster's British English)

"My love is pure"- Notice the pronunciation of the word "love" and "pure": /maɪ lʌv ɪz pjɔ:/

"pure", "sure" and "you're" are today pronounced with the vowel in FORK: /pjɔ:/ /ʃɔ:/ /jɔ:/ (and not the old pronunciations /pjʊə/  /ʃʊə/  /jʊə/ , which are disappearing) [add a final /r/ to all of them in American English]

Smiled / Walked / Shared - The ending -ED for the past tense and past participle is pronounced /t/ or /d/. But if the verb already ends in -D then we pronounce the vowel (notice "crowded" /krdɪd/)

subway= The word for a "metropolitan railway" (city train) is "the underground" (or "the tube") in the UK and "the subway" in America, but Glasgow's metro, though British, is called "subway". You can see under the ETC tab if want more information about how to say "metropolitan railway" in different cities and countries.

I won't lose no sleep- a double negative is not correct in standard English, but we sometimes hear it in colloquial English (this sentence should be "I won't lose any sleep on that" or "I will lose no sleep on that") = I'm not worried about it


crowded= /krdɪd/ a place with lots of people, probably too many.


'Cause= because
'till= until
she caught my eye= I saw her and she got my attention, her vision made me interested.
to think up= to plan

Remember that in BrE the R is only pronounced before vowels. Notice there's no /r/ in words like: pure, sure, another, you're, never. But in "from" and "her again" it is pronounced because it is followed by a vowel

Meaning

James Blunt explained that the song was written about his ex-girlfriend. He saw her in the London subway after they broke up and she was seeing someone else.

She's beautiful!! They exchange stares (looks) but do not speak...... Apparently, she dumped him (left him) because he had a drug problem. In the unedited lyrics he says, "she could tell by my face that I was ****ing high!!!" (=under the effects of drugs. He changed it to "flying high" on the video to avoid censorship). So he says he’s seen her with another man but he won't lose no sleep on that because he's got a plan.......... Right he's just going to commit suicide (brave plan, uh?).

So in the video he’s freezing standing in the snow by a cliff, where he takes off all his clothes, takes everything out of his pockets (including his soldier identification plate, as a goodbye letter), and jumps off the cliff. He’d rather die than live without that girl anymore.