Together We Are Beautiful

Album: Groove Me (1980)
Charted: 1
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Together We Are Beautiful" is about two '70s swingers who find true love with each other. They're willing to give up their swingin' ways for some of that good, old-fashioned marital bliss.

    I don't need love affairs anymore
    I don't need love affairs anymore
    Can't you see, it's the chemistry
    You really must agree
    Together we are beautiful
    We are so beautiful


    The song is frozen at the moment of infatuation and never mentions how all of that marital bliss turned out, long-term. We're sure it went well - disco loves always do.
  • "Together We Are Beautiful" was released as the B-side to the "Baby, Let Me Kiss You" single. UK DJs liked "Together We Are Beautiful" more and made it Fern Kinney's biggest career hit, along with her cover of King Floyd's "Groove Me."
  • Ken Leray wrote and recorded "Together We Are Beautiful" in 1977, but Fern Kinney's disco-sparkled version is the one that charted highest and became the most remembered. Leray's version is slower than Kinney's, with him playing piano and singing with a soft orchestral arrangement backing him.
  • In 1979, Steve Allan (not to be confused with the media icon Steve Allen) released a version that hit #67 on the UK Singles Chart. He had some minor hits as vocalist for The Carvells and went on to perform with Startrax in 1981. This song was his only solo hit. Allan's version is closer to Leray's original than to Kinney's version.
  • Kinney's version of the song was disco (or, at least, disco adjacent) at a time when disco was already a dead man walking. It came out in early 1980, not too long after the ill-fated Disco Demolition Night of July 12, 1979, which signaled the beginning of the end for disco in both the US and the UK. Enough fire remained in the genre's followers to propel Kinney's "Together We Are Beautiful" into the #1 slot on the UK Singles Chart.
  • A UK body spray named Physio Sport used the song in a commercial in 1999. In 2013, EDF Energy also used it for advertising.
  • In the 2005 British comedy Kinky Boots, Brit actor Chiwetel Ejiofor performs this song.
  • The British pop band Brotherhood of Man has a version of this song on their 1980 album Brotherhood of Man Sing 20; the English actor/singer Martine McCutcheon covered this song on her 2000 album Wishing.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Billy Gould of Faith No More

Billy Gould of Faith No MoreSongwriter Interviews

Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds

Roger McGuinn of The ByrdsSongwriter Interviews

Roger reveals the songwriting formula Clive Davis told him, and if "Eight Miles High" is really about drugs.

Corey Hart

Corey HartSongwriter Interviews

The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The Devil

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The DevilSong Writing

Just how much did these monsters of rock dabble in the occult?

Devo

DevoSongwriter Interviews

Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.