Article here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6318345.stm).

What a shame :( . I love a lot of their work, particularly the early stuff. 'Song For Whoever' is a classic, and 'One Last Love Song' is one of my favourites. They hadn't done a great deal since Jacqui Abbott left a few years ago, so perhaps a split was on the cards for some time.

So there IS a god! :D


I have a lot of their stuff on cd, and their "Dont marry her, f**k me on mp3 player.

what a shame! i love their easy going music! my fave is 'perfect 10' :)

:cry: :cry:: :shocked: :( :(

Noooo! That's really sad news. I've been to see them so many times (at least ten!) including at the Sheffield Arena tour in Dec (think that was their last EVER gig then!) They did a different set apparently to the one they did in Manchester the night previously - it was the same set they'd done in Hull earlier in the year - the homecoming gig they'd called that one.

They are the unfashionable band I love to like.

Flo, Dave's mother shared her potato salad in a vitalite tub with me.:|

Don't marry her is my karaoke song. :|

Homespun played at the Boardwalk and I didn't go as it was my mate's birthday and that's not what she wanted to do. :|

Oh it's a sad, sad day. I'm off to play 'one last love song' and get morbid.

How long have they been around? Since the early 80s?

How long have they been around? Since the early 80s?
'Song For Whoever' was 1989, I think. That was their first single, as I recall. Before that, Paul Heaton was in The Housemartins ('Happy Hour', 'Caravan of Love' etc from around 1986).

Thats what I was thinking of! The housemartins!
They were brilliant!

...Oh it's a sad, sad day. I'm off to play 'one last love song' and get morbid.
It's playing as I type :( .

I've been reading on their website since.

God lots of people saying how it was the soundtrack to their life etc.
People had posted in Dec saying they thought it was a farewell gig due to great big Cheerio backdrop at the end ... i did think this was a bit weird but it was Christmas.

More telling was the skull and crossbones teeshirt one of the band wore with paul written underneath.

First proper gig i ever went to at 13 was Housemartins.
Last gig i proper went to was The Beautiful South. I'm now 35.

Should i be worried?

I was just talking about them today, their music is a lot more intelligent than people give them credit for.

I always felt that many of their songs could have been improved if they had a proper song writer working with them. It seems that the way they were put together was quite ameteurish at times.

Did one person in the band write everything and refuse any input from the others?

I always felt that many of their songs could have been improved if they had a proper song writer working with them. It seems that the way they were put together was quite ameteurish at times.

Did one person in the band write everything and refuse any input from the others?

No Paul used to write with Dave Rotheray. They were also a partnership/cooperative which is quite unusual for a band. This means that they shared all the royalties equally between ALL the band members regardless of who wrote the song, something that most do not do.
Muddy, their lyrics are fantastic everyman's poetry. Bloomin heck, Paul could never remember them as he's got an awful memory and they are so complex in places... He always had a music stand with a book on.
e.g.
Bell bottom tear

This is the dinner prepared
This is the dress that I made
This is the child I brought up
And this is the woman you laid
This is the woman you laid

This is the perfume I wore
This is the hotel we stayed
This is the way that I lay
And this is the woman you laid
This is the woman you laid

We promise ourselves this is no one-night stand
Let us draw all the curtains and strike up the band
And I'm thrilled by gentlest touch of your hand we pretend

Blackbird on the wire

Eyes to take you dancing
mouth to leave your wife
Legs to run away with
and you wonder why?

Heart that makes you bypass
every other girl
Smile that keeps you grinning
at the madness of this world

But like the blackbird on the wire
I will not take the prey on you
You wouldn't want me to
For I am too soft for such a thing
And like the blackbird on the wire
I just watch you by
The tears I knew I'd cry
Fall unnoticed down below

Have Fun
'Cause I'm the King of Misery
The Prince of the torn apart
And you're the lighthouse keeper
To the owner of a ship-wrecked heart

And my personal favourite - Prettiest eyes.

Line One is the time
That you, you first stayed over at mine
And we drank our first bottle of wine
And we cried

Line Two we're away
And we both, we both had nowhere to stay
Well the bus-shelter's always OK
When you're young

Now you're older and I look at your face
Every wrinkle is so easy to place
And I only write them down just in case
That you die

Let's take a look at these crows feet, just look
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Sixty 25th of Decembers
Fifty-nine 4th of Julys
Not through the age or the failure, children
Not through the hate or despise
Take a good look at these crows feet
Sitting on the prettiest eyes

Line Three I forget
But I think, I think it was our first ever bet
And the horse we backed was short of a leg
Never mind

Line Four in a park
And the things, the things that people do in the dark
I could hear the faintest beat of your heart
Then we did

Now you're older and I look at your face
Every wrinkle is so easy to place
And I only write them down just in case
You should die

Lets take a look at these crows feet, just look
Sitting on the prettiest eyes
Sixty 25th of Decembers
Fifty-nine 4th of Julys
You can't have too many good times, children
You can't have too many lines
Take a good look at these crows feet
Sitting on the prettiest eyes

Well my eyes look like a map of the town
And my teeth are either yellow or they're brown
But you'll never hear the crack of a frown
When you are here
You'll never hear the crack
Of a frown

I am really gutted :( but not really that surprised, i thought that they would be splitting up in the next couple of years or so. Im sure they feel as though they cant go any further. Paul will be back with something im sure.
They've been around 18 years!!! 10 studio albums......That is longevity :)

No Paul used to write with Dave Rotheray. They were also a partnership/cooperative which is quite unusual for a band. This means that they shared all the royalties equally between ALL the band members regardless of who wrote the song, something that most do not do.

Actually there are lots of bands who do this, it is one way that a band can stay together for many years.

I used to love the Beautiful South, me and feargal used to follow them all over teeny tiny venues.

The all of a sudden, middle aged couples started liking them, for all the wrong reasons (we saw a couple gazing into each others eyes, singing along to "We Are Each Other" - totally missing the irony of the situation). That alone wouldn't have been so bad, but it seemed as though they then started writing their songs to appeal to that auidence! They ended up SO middle of the road it was untrue.

Anyway. That's my twopenneth. I still fancy the arse off Paul Heaton though, even if he does support the wrong team.

Very sad Liars bar what a top drinkers song.

Actually there are lots of bands who do this, it is one way that a band can stay together for many years.

I did not know this.... examples please :)

I did not know this.... examples please :)
Doesn't U2 do that? Not certain though.

Paul Heaton was in The Housemartins ('Happy Hour', 'Caravan of Love' etc from around 1986).

Was dave hemmingway also a member of the housemartins?
i'm sure he played drums & backing vocals.

I did not know this.... examples please :)

Black Sabbath, Blur, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Gomez, Gorillaz, Green Day, Guns N' Roses, Incubus, Interpol, Jane's Addiction, Marillion, Mastodon, Motorhead, Pulp, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Reef, Supergrass, Terrorvision, Van Halen.

And slightly less democratically, other bands have "given" credit to less or un productive members.

e.g.
The beatles liked to give Ringo a song on each album
When Wham split up George Michael gave Andrew Ridgely half of Last Christmas as a parting gift. Which pays him the kind of salary an MP gets every single year.

[QUOTE=muddycoffee;1911924]The Doors QUOTE]

Who gets Jim Morrisons share?:confused:

[QUOTE=muddycoffee;1911924]The Doors QUOTE]

Who gets Jim Morrisons share?:confused:

Craig,
when people die and their work continues to generate money, then they either have a will, or their next of kin or the government gets their earnings.

Without the benefit of the details of the late Mr. Morrison's will, I can't be more specific.

No doubt when you grow up you will understand these things more clearly.

P.S.
Have you heard of a gentleman from Liverpool called John Lennon ?
he died before you were born but he wrote lots of good songs which still make lots of money, so much money in fact that he would probably be richer than richard branson, Eminem, and everyone in the top ten put together.

The Beautiful South were one of those bands you couldn't really get passionate about, but it was kind of reassuring they were there. You wouldn't make an effort to listen to them, but neither would you turn your radio off when one of their songs came on.

The Beautiful South were one of those bands you couldn't really get passionate about, but it was kind of reassuring they were there. You wouldn't make an effort to listen to them, but neither would you turn your radio off when one of their songs came on.

I disagree, his whiny voice, was often very annoying.
And their songs were tedius and lacking in variety.

I disagree, his whiny voice, was often very annoying.
And their songs were tedius and lacking in variety.


Have you heard liars bar certainly not like anything else they did and definatley not whiny :)

Sorry to hear that they've split but it's not come as a huge surprise to be honest. My personal favourite album of theirs is Gaze ; I thought their latest, Superbi, was a little disappointing but still had some good stuff.

People have said that their last single got to number 99 in the charts...........So what! The charts are mostly full of crap anyway! Teeny bop crap! If they wanted to they would have carried on.

Black Sabbath, Blur, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, The Doors, Foo Fighters, Fun Lovin' Criminals, Gomez, Gorillaz, Green Day, Guns N' Roses, Incubus, Interpol, Jane's Addiction, Marillion, Mastodon, Motorhead, Pulp, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Reef, Supergrass, Terrorvision, Van Halen.

And slightly less democratically, other bands have "given" credit to less or un productive members.

e.g.
The beatles liked to give Ringo a song on each album
When Wham split up George Michael gave Andrew Ridgely half of Last Christmas as a parting gift. Which pays him the kind of salary an MP gets every single year.

Cheers Muddycoffee. I did go have a look after you posted but i couldn't obviously type in the right search - every time i did i only got the Northern Scum. Terrovision & Reef don't suprise me but Blur did! I feel like I've learnt summat worthwhile today.

George Michael sorting Ridgeley out... well all that for shoving a shuttlecock down your pants!

Cheers Muddycoffee. I did go have a look after you posted but i couldn't obviously type in the right search - every time

EK,
I got that list of bands from looking at the credits in my record collection, so I doubt it is a very comprehensive list. I have a feeling that U2 do it too but I don't have any U2 records. :thumbsup:

sad to hear just the other day that the beautiful south have decided to call it a day after so many years!:(
paul and the boys will be sorely missed on the music scene after giving us so many class offerings!
they have been a credit to the music biz:)
http://mikeeey.proboards77.com/index.cgi

Already a thread about this sad news mikey. The search facility is your friend.

ooops!!--sorry just starting to find my feet again!!
http://mikeeey.proboards77.com/cgi

Bands split, it's what happens, you've just got to carry on regardless.

...you've just got to carry on regardless.
Very good :lol: .

:cry: Homespun played at the Boardwalk and I didn't go as it was my mate's birthday and that's not what she wanted to do. :|
Fear not Edna dear - I think they cancelled at the last minute due to band illness. Check with the Boardwalk as it might be rescheduled!

Fear not Edna dear - I think they cancelled at the last minute due to band illness. Check with the Boardwalk as it might be rescheduled!


Oh ty Feargal! :) Yeah someone else has pmed me to tell me the same. Will have to look out for it. I keep jinxing gigs.... first The Gift, then Kasabian, then Nerina Pallot, then Homespun.