James Blunt will be pleading ‘Gimme Shelter’ from fans of The Rolling Stones, after claiming they haven’t had a ‘big hit’ like You’re Beautiful.
Fifteen years ago, the musician dropped the teary bomb with his debut album, Back To Bedlam.
Though, if you asked the general listener to name one of Blunt’s tunes, chances are they wouldn’t go for Wisemen, or Goodbye My Lover, or Bonfire Heart (which are all great, by the way). The default answer is the perennial You’re Beautiful.
You know you want to… here’s that classic video for You’re Beautiful:
Everybody knows You’re Beautiful. It’s timeless tune is infectious – love it or hate it, you can’t help but sing along (even if you’re mocking it… or are you really?).
Blunt is no stranger to riling people up, as witness by his expertly calculated slaughterings on social media – but his latest comments will definitely get under the skin of certain music fans.
In an interview with Esquire, Blunt said:
I think most musicians and bands are searching for that one big hit. You know, I think The Rolling Stones are still looking and, and I’m just lucky enough to have it out there right now, at the top of my career.
The benefit of that is it keeps you pretty well grounded. Someone can say, ‘hey, that song is just a massive smash,’ and yet, in America or in let’s say, France, that’s always just a myth… it means you can take nothing for granted.
The claim is hilarious – surely it’s tongue-in-cheek? Not that I’m criticising Blunt’s talents in any form, but The Rolling Stones are absolute legends.
Two big ones immediately come to mind: Paint It Black and Gimme Shelter – the latter of which has been used in several of Martin Scorsese’s movies to immensely stylish effect.
But then again… did The Rolling Stones ever jump into the sea half-naked while singing about never being with the one they love? I think not.
His latest tune, Cold, sees Blunt reemerging from the sea after his cliff-face jump in the 2005 video. ‘I really feel like I’ve made it back to shore,’ he told Esquire.
His songs testify to his abilities as a (rather downtrodden) wordsmith: but his Twitter is an entirely different breed.
Blunt became an internet sensation for his ruthless put-downs, which you can see an amazing collection of on The Daily Edge.
Don’t mind me, just going to listen to You’re Beautiful for the 1,000th time.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.