You want to know why I hate you?
Well I'll try and explain.
You remember that day in Paris
When we wandered through the rain
And promised to each other
That we'd always think the same
And dreamed that dream
To be two souls as one
And stopped just as the sun set
And waited for the night
Outside a glittering building
Of glittering glass and burning light
And in the road before us
Stood a weary greyish man
Who held a child upon his back
A small boy by the hand
The three of them were dressed in rags
And thinner than the air
And all six eyes stared fixedly on you

The father's eyes said "Beautiful!
How beautiful you are!"
The boy's eyes said
"How beautiful!
She shimmers like a star!"
The childs eyes uttered nothing
But a mute and utter joy
And filled my heart with shame for us
At the way we are

I turned to look at you
To read my thoughts upon your face
And gazed so deep into your eyes
So beautiful and strange
Until you spoke
And showed me understanding is a dream
"I hate these people staring
Make them go away from me!"

The fathers eyes said "Beautiful!
How beautiful you are!"
The boys eyes said
"How beautiful! She glitters like a star!"
The child's eyes uttered joy
And stilled my heart with sadness
For the way we are

And this is why I hate you
And how I understand
That no one ever knows or loves another

Or loves another


Lyrics submitted by oofus

How Beautiful You Are Lyrics as written by Laurence Andrew Tolhurst Boris Williams

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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How Beautiful You Are... song meanings
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  • +8
    General Comment

    This is what the song was inspired by:

    C. Baudelaire - Les Yeux des Pauvres

    --> English translation

    The Eyes of the Poor

    Oh! You want to know why I hate you today. It will undoubtedly be less easy for you to understand than it will be for me to explain, for you are, I believe, the most beautiful example of feminine impermeability one could ever encounter.

    We had spent together a long day that had seemed short to me. We had indeed promised that we would share all of our thoughts with one another, and that our two souls would henceforth be one -- a dream that isn't the least bit original, after all, if not that, dreamed of by all men, it has been realized by none.

    In the evening, a bit tired, we wanted to sit down in front of a new café that formed the corner of a new boulevard, still strewn with debris and already gloriously displaying its unfinished splendors. The café was sparkling. The gaslight itself sent forth all the ardor of a debut and lit with all its force walls blinding in their whiteness, dazzling sheets of mirrors, the gold of the rods and cornices, chubby-cheeked page-boys being dragged by dogs on leashes, laughing ladies with falcons perched on their wrist, nymphs and goddesses carrying on their heads fruits, pies, and poultry, Hebes and Ganymedes presenting in out-stretched arms little amphoras filled with Bavarian cream or bi-colored obelisks of ice cream -- all of history and all of mythology at the service of gluttony.

    Right in front of us, on the sidewalk, a worthy man in his forties was standing, with a tired face, a greying beard, and holding with one hand a little boy and carrying on the other arm a little being too weak to walk. He was playing the role of nanny and had taken his children out for a walk in the night air. All in rags. The three faces were extraordinarily serious, and the six eyes contemplated fixedly the new café with an equal admiration, but shaded differently according to their age.

    The father's eyes said: "How beautiful it is! How beautiful it is! You'd think all the gold in this poor world was on its walls." -- The eyes of the little boy: "How beautiful it is! How beautiful it is! But it's a house only people who aren't like us can enter." -- As for the eyes of the smaller child, they were too fascinated to express anything other than a stupid and profound joy.

    Song-writers say that pleasure makes the soul good and softens the heart. The song was right this evening, as regards me. Not only was I moved by this family of eyes, but I also felt a little ashamed of our glasses and our carafes, which were larger than our thirst. I turned my gaze toward your's, dear love, to read my thoughts there; I plunged into your so beautiful and so bizarrely gentle eyes, into your green eyes, inhabited by Caprice and inspired by the Moon, and then you said to me: "I can't stand those people over there, with their eyes wide open like carriage gates! Can't you tell the head-waiter to send them away?"

    So difficult is it to understand one another, my dear angel, and so incommunicable is thought, even between people in love!

    MeurtreSceneon June 14, 2009   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    I see this song as a cynical retort against the idea of soulmates. When people think they've found their soulmate they conjure up this wild fantasy idea that they are two souls as one, the same mind in two different bodies, then once an incident occurs which reveals they think completely differently about something, have a wild disagreement, that fantasy is immediately shattered and exposed to the reality of it all, their love turns to hatred as they realize they aren't actually much like one another at all.

    This song is one of my favorites because I myself am pretty cynical about the idea of soulmates. I personally feel it's a lot more romantic to connect with someone who's different to you in certain ways, so that even though you may disagree on various things you still respect one another's views and love one another for who you are. The 'two souls as one' idea to me sounds naive and vain, and that is pretty much exposed in this song.

    MaskOfSanityon April 09, 2006   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Taken from "Les Yeux Des Pauvres", a short novel by Baudelaire, a song about the dualism of ideas and reality. Simple as that, huh?

    MDMasteron June 21, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    I agree. Smith looks at these people and sees the beauty in them. His girlfriend sees beggers. He sees the uglyness of her soul and recoils in her uglyness.. Pretty simple.

    richp6767on June 16, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    dualism of what ideas explain more?

    DONTbuyitBURNITon April 22, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    The moment in time when the shades are raised and you realize the person you are with does not value the world the way you do; in fact you find their view disgusting.

    stranger34on June 11, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Beauty is only skin deep! The girl - pretty on the outside, was very ugly on the inside, and this is why I hate you...

    Bayoustormon December 10, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Uhm, the synth line at the beginning sounds a lot like Decades by Joy Division. -jess

    jessepenceon December 30, 2004   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    MaskOfSanity you are 100% spot on! When we meet the so-called "perfect" person, we do conjure up "perfection" fantasies because we are all to naive to know any different.

    In this song the illusion is shattered when he sees how his loved one views the people, she sees them as beggars (Make them go away from me) which makes our protaganist jump out of the "soul mate" idea because he sees her for what she really is, and his illusions of soulmates or whatever are completely shattered (and this is why I hate you)

    Fucking amazing Cure song, one of the best on the Kiss Me... album.

    hothothot!on April 14, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    markofsanity, I agree 100%. The idea of a soulmate who will share all your views seems great but it will inevitibly become Dull and loose its luster. Living your life through views other than your own is much, much more intriguing. You subconciously say to yourself wow, I would have never seen it that way. Or, if your other partner is wild and your timid the timid gets to see life through the eyes of the wild...etc...basically, the differences complete each other.

    jaydog2025on May 18, 2006   Link

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