You Are So Beautiful (Slow Jazz Acoustic) by jmjiloveyou

jmjiloveyou - You Are So Beautiful (Slow Jazz Acoustic)

jmjiloveyou

Jun 01, 2025 09:37am

Billy Preston wrote "You Are So Beautiful" with one of his regular collaborators, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Fisher" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bruce Fisher</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-Tobler/BGO-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a> Preston's inspiration was his mother, who worked as a stage actress. According to his friend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Moore" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sam Moore</a> (who had assumed it was a standard love song), Preston was appalled to learn that Moore was using the song as a means to attract young women each time he sang it in concert. In Moore's description, Preston told him: "That song's about my mother!"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a> The composition incorporates part of Preston's 1969 song "Let Us All Get Together (Right Now)",<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a> which he wrote with soul singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Troy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Doris Troy</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[7]</a>According to Beach Boys biographer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Stebbins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jon Stebbins</a>, although <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wilson" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dennis Wilson</a> is not credited as a writer, he helped Preston finish writing "You Are So Beautiful".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-Houston-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a> Preston and Wilson are said to have collaborated on the song while attending a party where they discussed the concept of beauty.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-Collins2013-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[9]</a> In the opinion of Craig Hlavaty, writing for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Press" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Houston Press</a>, while Wilson never sought to claim a share of the song's authorship, "If you check out Wilson's solo work, you can hear where Wilson's mind took over 'Beautiful.'"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-Houston-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Hinsche" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Billy Hinsche</a>, close friend of and sideman with the Beach Boys, stated that he was at the party and witnessed Preston and Wilson working on the song "out of the corner of my ear and the corner of my eye".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-billy-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[10]</a> He said that he was unaware of how much of the song Preston had already written prior to Wilson's involvement. "Maybe it was just his [Wilson's] interpretation of the song. Later Dennis said to me, 'Well, you know, I helped write that song.'"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-billy-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[10]</a> In a 2004 interview, when asked whether his brother Dennis was "one of the uncredited writers" of "You Are So Beautiful", <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Brian Wilson</a> said: "He did not write that song."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[11]</a>Dennis sang "You Are So Beautiful" as an encore at Beach Boys shows intermittently from 1975 until his death in 1983.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">citation needed</a>] A live rendition, circa 1978, and an edited 1983 live rendition both appear in the film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_Boys:_An_American_Band" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Beach Boys: An American Band</a> (1985). A live version was released on the group's album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Timin%27:_Live_at_Knebworth_England_1980" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980</a> in 2002.<h2>Composition</h2>"You Are So Beautiful" was originally published in the key of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%E2%99%AD_major" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A♭ major</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature#Characteristics" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">common time</a> with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tempo</a> of 70 beats per minute. Cocker's vocals span from B♭2 to E♭4.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-12" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[12]</a><h2>Critical reception</h2>Marc Lee of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Telegraph" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Daily Telegraph</a> noted the song's contemplative beginning, accompanied only by piano, followed by "lush strings" which "sweep in and carry [Cocker] off into passionate ecstasies". Lee commented that the song, one of Cocker's best-known works, was a good example of Cocker's ability to be both gentle and "gloriously stirring".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-13" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[13]</a><h2>Live performances</h2>Cocker performed the song along with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ray Charles</a> in a 1983 television tribute to Charles, A Man and his Soul.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Are_So_Beautiful#cite_note-14" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[14]</a><h2>Personnel</h2><ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cocker" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joe Cocker</a> – lead vocals</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Hopkins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nicky Hopkins</a> – piano</li><li>Dave McDaniel – bass</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Webb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jimmy Webb</a> – arrangements</li></ul>