Something Beautiful (2003) – Robbie Williams

I too got swept-up in the Robbie Williams’ craze when he was churning out hit out of hit both sides of the turn of the century. On this still fresh yet sunny Saturday morning in Bogotá, I gave today’s featured track a spin for the first time in a long time and found myself singing it with full gusto. I had forgotten how much I liked it and still do. This is the third Williams song to appear here after his other stand-outs Angels and Feel. Given the amount of airplay these tunes have received in the Western World, even here in Colombia, it is almost certain you would be familiar with them.

Something Beautiful is a song co-written by Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams. Originally offered to Welsh singer Tom Jones (After his team passed on the song, Williams decided to keep it for himself), it was released as the third single from Williams’ fifth studio album Escapology (2002). According to Songfacts, Williams explained on his website he wasn’t in a good place when he wrote the song, describing it as being about “sitting in bed at night thinking ‘I wish I wasn’t here by myself.'” Nevertheless, the song ends on a positive note, with Williams singing in the chorus: “You won’t be lost, hurt, tired, and lonely, something beautiful will come your way.”

[Verse 1]
You can’t manufacture a miracle
The silence was pitiful that day
And love is getting too cynical
Passion’s just physical these days

[Pre-Chorus]
You analyse everyone you meet
But get no sign, loving kind
Every night you admit defeat
And cry yourself blind

[Chorus]
If you can’t wake up in the morning
‘Cause your bed lies vacant at night
If you’re lost, hurt, tired or lonely
Can’t control it, try as you might
May you find that love that won’t leave you
May you find it by the end of the day
You won’t be lost, hurt, tired and lonely
Something beautiful will come your way

[Verse 2]
The DJ said on the radio
Life should be stereo each day
And the past that cast the unsuitable
Instead of some kind of beautiful
You just couldn’t wait

[Pre-Chorus]
All your friends think you’re satisfied
But they can’t see your soul, no, no, no
Forgot the time feeling petrified
When they lived alone

The music video below, entitled Manufactured Miracles, is a parody of reality television shows such as Pop Idol, which were hugely dominant in the media at the time. It depicts people auditioning to appear in the video, with Williams’ dad Pete Conway among the judges. At the end of the video, British contestant Peter Caruna is revealed as the winner of the competition. Caruna went on to work as both a Williams and Simon Cowell look-alike, and feature in commercials for the frozen pizza brand Chicago Town.

Robbie is just one month shy younger than me born on February 13, 1974 which makes him an Aquarius. We could have been good friends..I get along very well with Water Bearers.

References:
1. Something Beautiful – Robbie Williams
2. Something Beautiful – Songfacts

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand