Music Review: INXS "Beautiful Girl"
INXS
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Beautiful Girl
Album: Welcome to Wherever You Are
Year: 1993
Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS, protects a runaway in the stilted "Beautiful Girl."
A stiff guitar plinks to begin the single, creating an After School Special-esque tone. Hutchence murmurs the young prositute, Nicky, is standing on the corner block. She's wearing a black coat to shield her skin from the cold. She run away from an abusive father and alcoholic mom, and apparently a cat who didn't love her. " Nicky's in the corner/With a black coat on/Running from a bad home/With some cat inside."
A friend of his asks him where they met. He tells them under the blinding lights of the city. He whispers to her to remain in his company. "Now where did you find her/Among the neon lights/That haunt the streets outside/Stay with me."
In the chorus, he reassures her that she will be safe with him. She has many hidden good qualities people have failed to recongnize. However, she craves her parents' love and acceptance. "Beautiful girl (stay with me)/Beautiful girl (stay with me)/She wants to go home."
She leaves him for a while to go back to her home. She searches through the neighborhoods, hoping to see her family. However, she discovers she trusts Hutchence enough to care for her. "From doorway to doorway/Street corner to corner/With the neon ghosts in the city/And she says/Stay with me/
Stay with me/Stay with me/Stay with me."
In the second verse, Hutchence sees her knees tremble and doe eyes. She's afraid someone will rape or kill her if she remains on the streets any longer. "She's so scared/So very frightened/Anything could happen/Right here tonight."
The chorus is sung twice to end the single. However, the second chorus varies, beginning with "stay with me (beautiful girl" instead.
"Beautiful Girl," despite its good intentions, fails in its social message. The moral song seems to be: if a young girl is troubled she needs a subsitute older man who will be father. Yet, at the same time, the relationship is considered a romance. Once the Hutchence-as-daddy factor seeps in, it becomes uintentionally skeevy.
Album: Welcome to Wherever You Are
Year: 1993
Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS, protects a runaway in the stilted "Beautiful Girl."
A stiff guitar plinks to begin the single, creating an After School Special-esque tone. Hutchence murmurs the young prositute, Nicky, is standing on the corner block. She's wearing a black coat to shield her skin from the cold. She run away from an abusive father and alcoholic mom, and apparently a cat who didn't love her. " Nicky's in the corner/With a black coat on/Running from a bad home/With some cat inside."
A friend of his asks him where they met. He tells them under the blinding lights of the city. He whispers to her to remain in his company. "Now where did you find her/Among the neon lights/That haunt the streets outside/Stay with me."
In the chorus, he reassures her that she will be safe with him. She has many hidden good qualities people have failed to recongnize. However, she craves her parents' love and acceptance. "Beautiful girl (stay with me)/Beautiful girl (stay with me)/She wants to go home."
She leaves him for a while to go back to her home. She searches through the neighborhoods, hoping to see her family. However, she discovers she trusts Hutchence enough to care for her. "From doorway to doorway/Street corner to corner/With the neon ghosts in the city/And she says/Stay with me/
Stay with me/Stay with me/Stay with me."
In the second verse, Hutchence sees her knees tremble and doe eyes. She's afraid someone will rape or kill her if she remains on the streets any longer. "She's so scared/So very frightened/Anything could happen/Right here tonight."
The chorus is sung twice to end the single. However, the second chorus varies, beginning with "stay with me (beautiful girl" instead.
"Beautiful Girl," despite its good intentions, fails in its social message. The moral song seems to be: if a young girl is troubled she needs a subsitute older man who will be father. Yet, at the same time, the relationship is considered a romance. Once the Hutchence-as-daddy factor seeps in, it becomes uintentionally skeevy.