"You're Beautiful" is a pop rock song co-written by British singer James Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam (2004). It was released as the third single from the album in 2005. In the UK and Australia the song reached number one and number two respectively. When released as the debut single from Back to Bedlam in Canada and the U.S., it reached number one on both charts and received widespread airplay. In 2006, the song won an Ivor Novello Award for airplay, and it holds the honour of being the only song by a British artist to top the Latin America Top 40. The song has sold 625,000 copies in the UK as stated by the Official UK Charts Company.Newspapers have claimed that "You're Beautiful" is about a former girlfriend of Blunt's, Dixie Chassay, casting director for the Harry Potter films, although Blunt refuses to confirm or deny this. On 8 March 2006 episode of the Oprah Winfrey program, Blunt said of the song, "It's kind of miserable. It was about seeing my ex-girlfriend on the Underground in London with her new man, who I didn't know existed. She and I caught eyes and lived a lifetime in that moment, but didn't do anything about it and haven't seen each other since." Several versions of the song exist. One lyrical version has an explicit word in it ("She could see from my face that I was fucking high") which was released on Back to Bedlam and most of the "You're Beautiful" singles. The radio edit of the song replaces the explicit lyric, changing it to "She could see from my face that I was flying high". Acoustic, live and DVD versions have also been released. However, because of the word in question, the album was given a Parental Advisory sticker.

When asked about the song, Blunt responded, "It's probably one of the least meaningful songs on the album and by no means people's favourite. The album is like a book covering various aspects of life in a specific order."

In an interview with HitQuarters, co-writer Sacha Skarbek said their collaboration on the song began when Blunt brought the title and the approach of the chorus to a songwriting session. Skarbek's contribution largely focused on the music aspect to the track, contributing chord ideas for the verses, honing the melodies, and making sure the song stuck to, "a couple of key hooks rather than making it too complicated."The music video for "You're Beautiful" was directed by Sam Brown.The video shows Blunt committing suicide, following a Japanese tradition of removing one's shoes and contents of clothing prior to jumping from a great height. Blunt removes the upper portion of his clothing in a cold, bare, snowy setting and places all of his personal belongings on the ground. Whilst he does this, seagulls circle overhead like buzzards. At the end of the video, he jumps off a cliff and lands into the depths of icy water while he sings the lyrics: "But it's time to face the truth, I will never be with you".

The first part of the song, "Your Move", is likely based[dubious - discuss] on the book Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The book Through the Looking Glass is a chess game, and Alice joins the game as a pawn, making her way through the board to become a queen. The lyrics of "Your Move" contain various allusions to the game of chess, such as the phrases "move me on to any black square", "make the white queen run so fast", and "the goal is for us all to capture all we want".

The second part, "All Good People", consists of many repetitions of the sentence "I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way" over a driving rock accompaniment, ending in a powerful vocal harmony and organ phrase which begins on a chord progression of E, D, C, G, then A. Each repetition of the verse is one whole step lower than the previous as the song fades out. * A later version of the song (as performed live from 1976 onward) references "Instant Karma!" and "Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon. The lyrics to the chorus of "Give Peace a Chance" are repeated softly in the background throughout "Your Move". The original song, as registered in 1971 with Topographic Music and performed on the "Yes Album" vinyl, does not have these references, but has "Send an instant comment" instead of "Instant Karma". This original version does not include the "Give peace a chance" chorus.
* "Your Move" was covered by the band Shaw Blades and by actor Robert Downey, Jr. on his album The Futurist.
* The opening lyrics are sung by Sarah Silverman on her DVD, Jesus Is Magic at the end of her "Amazing Grace" performance. Off stage are 2 other singers, one of which is the brother of Jimmy Kimmel, her boyfriend at the time. On stage, Sarah appeared to be singing from various body parts via strategically held/placed microphones. She comments in the DVD's extras that the use of these 2 lines was the most expensive singular expense of the entire movie ($15,000)
* The song is covered by the American rock band Ra on their album Black Sheep under the name "Seem All Good People".
* The song is covered by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs on their album Under the Covers, Vol. 2
* The first portion of the song, "Your Move" is covered instrumentally by Yes guitarist Steve Howe on his album Natural Timbre.
* Legend has it that chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer often listened to this song before his matches with the Russians. As the story goes, he found inspiration in its chess lyrics. What gives some credence to this rumor is the fact that the song first appeared directly before he successfully defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in the World Chess Championship. Fischer died on June 17, 2008, before the story could be confirmed or denied.

"Wild World" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter Cat Stevens. It first appeared in his fourth album, Tea for the Tillerman, recorded in 1970, and released in 1971, continuing the change in Stevens' sound, after leaving Deram Records, and signing with Island Records. Mona Bone Jakon was his first album released after a debilitating year of recovery from tuberculosis. As he convalesced, Stevens filled his time whilst still on bedrest, finding himself becoming a far more prolific songwriter, and after such a dramatic brush with death, began to focus on his purpose in life, after some unpleasant and stressful dealings with his previous record label. Favouring a newfound "stripped down" folk-rock sound, and bucking the heavily orchestrated constraints from his previous contract with Deram Records' Mike Hurst, he instead chose Paul Samwell-Smith (formerly of The Yardbirds) as his producer. With Samwell-Smith supportive of his judgement, Stevens once again began turning out hit records, with a different meaning and depth, both lyrically and melodically beginning with Mona Bone Jakon and continuing to Tea for the Tillerman, where "Wild World" became a popular hit song both in the United Kingdom and the United States. Both critics and Stevens himself agree that this album and the songs to come from it have been considered Stevens' best work.Stevens developed a relationship with a young American girl, Patti D'Arbanville, and the two were a pair throughout a period of two years or so. During that time, he wrote several songs about her, including the hit song, "Wild World".

The song is in the form of the singer's words to his departing lover, inspired by the end of their romance. Stevens later recalled to Mojo: "It was one of those chord sequences that's very common in Spanish music. I turned it around and came up with that theme- which is a recurring theme in my work- which is to do with leaving, the sadness of leaving, and the anticipation of what lies beyond." Released as a single in 1971, it just missed becoming Stevens' first top ten hit in the U.S., peaking at #11 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. "Wild World" has been credited as the song that gave Stevens next album, Tea for the Tillerman "enough kick" to get it played on FM radio; and Island Records' Chris Blackwell has been quoted as calling it "the best album we've ever released".

"Wish You Were Here" is the title track on Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. The song's lyrics encompass writer Roger Waters' feelings of alienation from other people. Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. The main riff came to David Gilmour at home[citation needed] while playing on an acoustic guitar, and it became something which he continued to play in-between takes at Abbey Road Studios where it caught the attention of Roger Waters. They collaborated to complete the song, as Waters had already written some lyrics. In 2004, the song was ranked #316 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.In the original album version, the song segues from "Have a Cigar" as if a radio had been tuned away from one station, through several others (including a radio play and one playing Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony), and finally to a new station where "Wish You Were Here" is beginning. The radio was recorded from Gilmour's car radio. Gilmour performed the intro on a twelve-string guitar, processed to sound like it was playing through an old transistor radio, and then overdubbed a fuller-sounding acoustic guitar solo. This passage was mixed to sound as though the guitarist was sitting in a room, playing along with the radio; it also contains a whine that slowly changes pitch-emulating the heterodyne between two drifting AM radio signals.

The intro riff is repeated several times and reprised when Gilmour plays further solos with scat singing accompaniment. At the end of the recorded song, the final solo crossfades with wind sound effects (reminiscent of "One of These Days" from the 1971 album Meddle), and finally segues into the second section of the multi-part suite "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".

The song borrows the imagery of a "steel rail" from Syd Barrett's solo song, "If It's In You," from The Madcap Laughs album.

It is said that the sound of David Gilmour coughing on the intro to the track made him stop smoking.

"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele (as George Douglas) and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world (Thiele as a producer and Weiss as a composer/performer). Some have suggested that pianist Dana Pelkie collaborated on the song using "George Douglas" as a pseudonym, but this has never been confirmed. This pseudonym is also known to relate to Thiele. Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.Intended as an antidote for the increasingly racially and politically charged climate of everyday life in the United States, the song also has a hopeful, optimistic tone with regard to the future, with reference to babies being born into the world and having much to look forward to. The song was initially offered to Tony Bennett, who turned the song down. Thereafter, it was offered to Louis Armstrong. The song was not initially a hit in the United States, where it sold fewer than 1,000 copies because the head of ABC Records did not like the song and so did not promote it, but was a major success in the United Kingdom, reaching number one on the UK singles chart. In the U.S. the song hit #116 on the Bubbling Under Charts. It was also the biggest-selling single of 1968 in the UK where it was also among the last pop singles issued by HMV Records before becoming an exclusive classical music label. The song made Louis Armstrong the oldest male to top the charts, at sixty-six years and ten months old. Armstrong's record was broken in 2009 when the cover of Islands in the Stream recorded for Comic Relief reached number one. One of the featured artists on the song was Tom Jones.

ABC Records' European distributor EMI forced ABC to issue a What A Wonderful World album in 1968 (catalogue number ABCS-650) which did not chart in the US due to ABC's non-promotion of it, but did chart in the UK where it was issued by Stateside Records with catalogue number SSL 10247 and peaked on the British chart at #37.

The song gradually became something of a standard and reached a new level of popularity. It was re-released in America shortly after Armstrong's death in 1971 and became a top ten hit.[citation needed] In 1988, Louis Armstrong's 1968 recording was featured in the film Good Morning Vietnam and was re-released as a single. The single charted at number one for the fortnight ending June 27, 1988 on the Australian charts.