Date: Aug 11, 2007
Weeks: 4
I'm not opposed to sampling in general, but this song samples so much of "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King that it's practically a remake. The bass line is the song's backbone, and this song just plain reuses it. So it's impossible to avoid comparing this song directly to that classic, and this song suffers in comparison.
"Stand By Me" is all about having someone to stand by you, and how that makes you able to withstand whatever the world might throw at you. It's a positive song, and the music supports that positivity with quiet cheeriness. "Beautiful Girls" turns the lyrics right around and is lyrically one of the most depressing pop songs I've encountered. It's hard to claim it's a feel-good song when the chorus features the line "They'll have you suicidal, suicidal." The repetition just emphasizes how depressing it is. And that stands in direct contrast to the cheery "Stand By Me" music. I see that the line "suicidal" was controversial and got the song edited a lot. Changing "suicidal" to "in denial" kind of obscures the meaning, though.
It could be clever irony, I suppose. Put depressing lyrics over a happy tune. But the lyrics don't seem to support that. The lyrics aren't about trying to maintain a happy attitude despite being sad. They're just about the misery of being dumped, and the pessimism of despairing of finding anyone else ever again. "You're way too beautiful girl, that's why it'll never work. You'll have me suicidal, suicidal." These lyrics need a sad tune, or an angry tune. They don't need this gentle, happy tune. I suppose overall I just find this teenage notion of suicidal despair because you were dumped at age 16 to be terribly overwrought. This isn't reminding me of how I felt in my own teenage years, it's just making me feel like teenagers are overdramatic and dumb.
It's also just kind of vaguely insulting to the "beautiful girls." "Damn all these beautiful girls." That makes me think of the Weezer song "El Scorcho," and its opening line that is often misinterpreted as "Goddamn you half-Japanese girls!" when in fact the line is "Goddamn! You half-Japanese girls do it to me every time." But "Beautiful Girls" doesn't have that. It really is just "Damn all these beautiful girls. They only want to do your dirt." I'm not sure what "do your dirt" means, but it's clearly not complimentary.
I could nitpick these lyrics for several more paragraphs, but I won't. Suffice to say I think the lyrics are bad and contrast sharply with the music, but not in a cleverly ironic way.
Kingston's slight Jamaican accent is just thin enough that I thought he was putting it on, but Wikipedia claims he was raised in Jamaica and therefore comes by it honestly. I suppose the Jamaican style in which he sings the song is okay. I guess I get too distracted by the words he's singing to really evaluate his singing. I think I'd rather hear him perform a straight cover of "Stand By Me."
Musically, this song isn't bad. The bass line, ripped straight out of "Stand By Me," is excellent, of course. But I like a lot of the style enhancements that have been made. There are a lot, but they are tastefully applied. There's a xylophone, a few soft synth stings, a string section that may be an imitation of strings used in the original. All good things. I even like the a capella bridge with the background singers. There's a timpani near the end that borders on overly-dramatic, but I don't mind that so much. If anything, I'd like a dramatic, orchestral take on "Stand By Me."
My verdict: Don't like it. I almost gave it a pass on the idea that if the same talent had been used to cover "Stand By Me" I would be happy. Unfortunately, the lyrics are really distracting, and they don't show off Kingston's vocals in a positive way.
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