Everything Is Beautiful

"Everything Is Beautiful" is a song written, composed, and performed by Ray Stevens. It has appeared on many of Stevens' albums, including one named after the song, and has become a pop standard and common in religious performances. The children heard singing the chorus of the song, using the hymn, "Jesus Loves the Little Children", are from the Oak Hill Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, this group included Stevens' two daughters.

This article is about the Ray Stevens song. For other uses, see Everything Is Beautiful (disambiguation).
"Everything Is Beautiful"
Single by Ray Stevens
from the album Everything Is Beautiful
B-side"A Brighter Day"
ReleasedMarch 1970
Genre
Length3:29
LabelBarnaby
Songwriter(s)Ray Stevens
Producer(s)Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens singles chronology
"I'll Be Your Baby Tonight"
(1970)		 "Everything Is Beautiful"
(1970)		 "America, Communicate with Me"
(1970)
Music video
Listen to "Everything Is Beautiful" (1970 #1 Billboard chart hit) on YouTube

The song was responsible for two wins at the Grammy Awards of 1971: Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Ray Stevens and Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance for Jake Hess. Stevens' recording was the Number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in the summer of 1970. The song also spent three weeks atop the adult contemporary chart.[2] Many country stations played "Everything Is Beautiful", with it peaking at number 39 on Billboard's Country chart.[3] Billboard ranked the record as the No. 12 song of 1970. The song includes anti-racist and pro-tolerance lyrics such as "We shouldn't care about the length of his hair/Or the color of his skin."[4]

"Everything Is Beautiful" is viewed as a major departure for Stevens, as the song is a more serious and spiritual tune, unlike some of his earlier ("Gitarzan" and "Ahab the Arab") and later ("The Streak") recordings, which were comedy/novelty songs. The success of the record would allow Stevens (while still recording his comedy and novelty songs) to devote much of his 1970s work to more serious material, before pivoting back almost exclusively to comedy in the 1980s.[5]

Charts

Jody Wayne cover

South African singer Jody Wayne covered "Everything is Beautiful" in early 1972. His version reached number 20 in his home nation.[12]

Other cover versions

References
  1. Smith, Troy L. (14 December 2021). "Every No. 1 song of the 1970s ranked from worst to best". Cleveland.com. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 231.
  3. "Archived copy". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2009-10-12. Retrieved 2009-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Lyrics for Everything Is Beautiful by Ray Stevens". songfacts.com. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  5. "Stevens Nuts over 'Squirrel'". Billboard. December 8, 1984. pp. 39, 42.
  6. Flavour of New Zealand, 3 August 1970
  7. "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, June 6, 1970". Archived from the original on June 8, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  8. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  9. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca. 17 July 2013.
  10. Musicoutfitters.com
  11. "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1970". Archived from the original on July 22, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  12. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  13. "45worlds.com". 45worlds.com. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  14. British Hit Singles & Albums. London: Guinness World Records Ltd. 2005. p. 195. ISBN 1-904994-00-8.
  15. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Ray Stevens - "Everything Is Beautiful" [50th Anniversary Edition] (Music Video)". YouTube.


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