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Song: Everything Is Beautiful (1970)
Artist: Ray Stevens
Album: Everything Is Beautiful (Barnaby)
Writer: Ray Stevens
I grew up listing to Ray Stevens comedy songs. I was so used to laughing so hard to Ray Stevens on the radio that I probably never realized that the song Everything is Beautiful was written and performed by Stevens. I certainly didn’t realize that the first few lines from the song we sung in Sunday School, Jesus Loves the Little Children…were used in a song by the same guy who wrote Mississippi Squirrel Revival, a song about a squirrel causing chaos in a church.
For a guy whose first single was entitled Jeremiah Peabody’s Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills, Everything is Beautiful would seem like quite a serious departure. However, Stevens did not necessarily set out to be a novelty artist, he set out to be a songwriter, and had success with novelty songs. He actually wrote Everything Is Beautiful for the express purpose of having a signature ‘theme’ song for his variety series on NBC, which was a summer replacement series for the Andy Williams show in 1970, on which Ray Stevens had been a popular guest.
Everything is Beautiful became a number one hit for Stevens on May 30, 1970, spending 15 weeks on the charts, four years before his most well-remembered song, The Streak. His first hit was Ahab the Arab, in 1962.
Chorus
Everything is beautiful
In its’ own way
Like a starry summer night
Or a snow covered winter’s day
Everybody’s beautiful
In their own way
Under God’s heaven
The world’s gonna find a way
Other favorites include Gitarzan, Mississippi Squirrel Revival, It’s Me Again Margaret, and Hairy the Hairy Ape.
Watch Ray Stevens Everything Is Beautiful Video
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