A
THOUSAND BEAUTIFUL THINGS
ANNIE LENNOX
SONGWRITER: NEIL YOUNG
COUNTRY: SCOTTLAND
ALBUM: BARE
LABEL: RCA VICTOR
GENRE: POP
YEAR: 2003
Ann Lennox OBE (born 25
December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and
philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of
the new wave band The Tourists, she and
fellow musician Dave Stewart went on to achieve international success in the 1980s as Eurythmics.
Appearing in the 1983 music video for "Sweet Dreams
(Are Made of This)" with orange cropped hair
and wearing a man's business suit, the BBC states,
"all eyes were on Annie Lennox, the singer whose powerful androgynous look
defied the male gaze". Subsequent hits with Eurythmics include "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)"
and "Here Comes the Rain Again".
Lennox embarked on a solo career in 1992 with
her debut album, Diva, which
produced several hit singles including "Why"
and "Walking on
Broken Glass". The same year, she
performed "Love Song for
a Vampire" for Bram Stoker's
Dracula. Her 1995 studio album, Medusa,
includes "No More I Love You's"
and "A Whiter
Shade of Pale". To date, she has released
six solo studio albums and a compilation album, The Annie
Lennox Collection (2009). With eight Brit Awards, which
includes being named Best British Female Artist a record six times, Lennox has been named the "Brits Champion
of Champions". She has also collected four Grammy Awards and
an MTV Video
Music Award. In 2002, Lennox received a Billboard Century
Award; the highest accolade from Billboard magazine. In 2004, she received both the Golden Globe and the Academy
Award for Best Original Song for "Into the West",
written for the soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Lennox's vocal range is contralto. She has
been named "The Greatest White Soul Singer Alive" by VH1 and one of The
100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone.
In 2012, she was rated No. 22 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music. She has
earned the distinction of "most successful female British artist in UK
music history". As of June 2008, including her work with Eurythmics,
Lennox had sold over 80 million records worldwide. As part of a one-hour
symphony of British Music, Lennox performed "Little Bird"
during the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. At the 2015 Ivor Novello
Awards, Lennox was made a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors,
the first woman to receive the honour.
In addition to her career as a musician,
Lennox is also a political and social activist, notable for raising money and
awareness for HIV/ AIDS as it affects women and children in Africa—this
includes her SING Campaign which she launched in 2007. In 2011, Lennox was appointed an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for her "tireless charity campaigns and championing of
humanitarian causes". On 4 June 2012 she performed at the Queen's Diamond
Jubilee Concert in front of Buckingham Palace. In
2017, Lennox was appointed Glasgow
Caledonian University's first female chancellor.
Bare is the third studio album by Annie Lennox,
released in June 2003. It peaked at number 3 in the UK and number 4 on the US Billboard 200. The
album has been certified Gold in both the UK and the US and was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 46th Grammy Awards.
The
album was released with a DVD which included interviews and acoustic versions
of songs by Lennox. The Japanese edition of the album features a
version of Lennox's earlier hit "Cold"
recorded live in Toronto.
Old man lying by the
side of the road
With the lorries rolling by
Blue moon's sinkin from the weight of the load
And the buildings scrape the sky
Cold wind nippin and the valley of dawn
And the morning paper flies
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes
Don´t let it bring
you down,
It´s only castles burning
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around
Blind man running
through the light of the night
With an insight in his hands
Come on down to the river of sight
And you can really understand
Red lights flashing
through the window of your room
Can you hear the sirens moan
White kid lying in the gutter in the lane
And you're walking home alone
Don't let it bring
you down
It´s only castles burning
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around
Dont let it bring you
down
It´s only castles burning
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around
Old man lying by the
side of the road
With the lorries rolling by
Blue moon's sinkin from the weight of the load
And the buildings scrape the sky
Cold wind nippin and the valley of dawn
And the morning paper flies
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes
Dont let it bring you
down
It´s only castles burning
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around
And you will come around
Dont let it bring you
down
It´s only castles burning
Find some one who`s turning
And you will come around.