"Love Is a Beautiful Thing" is a song written by
Seth Swirsky
Seth Swirsky (born August 5, 1960) is an American pop music songwriter (including the Grammy-nominated " Tell It to My Heart"), an author, a recording artist, a filmmaker, a political writer and a noted baseball memorabilia collector.
Songwrit ...
and recorded by
Al Green
Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...
(at age 46-7) for his 1993 album ''Don't Look Back''. It was released as a single that same year, and was later released on his 1995 album ''
Your Heart's in Good Hands
''Your Heart's in Good Hands'' is American singer Al Green's 26th studio album, his first after a several-year hiatus from secular music, released by MCA Records in 1995. Described as "a solid project that approaches the Rev. Green's classic work ...
''; it also appears on his 2002 ''L-O-V-E: The Essential Al Green'' greatest hits collection.
The song was originally written for and recorded by
Charles & Eddie
Charles & Eddie were an American soul music duo composed of Charles Pettigrew and Eddie Chacon. Their single " Would I Lie to You?", taken from their 1992 debut album, ''Duophonic'', won Ivor Novello Awards in 1993 in the Best Contemporary Song, ...
on their 1991 debut album, ''
Duophonic
Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...
''. Al Green's version was featured in the films ''
The Pallbearer'' (1996), ''
Sorority Boys'' (2002), ''
Two Weeks Notice'' (2002) and ''
The Cookout
''The Cookout'' is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Lance Rivera, written by Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere. The film introduces Quran Pender (credited as "Storm P") as Todd Anderson and stars Ja Rule, Tim Meadows, Jenifer Lewis, Meagan ...
'' (2004).
Krystal Harris
Krystal Marie Peterson (née Harris; November 7, 1981) is an actress, singer-songwriter and pianist known for her 2001 contributions to ''The Princess Diaries'' soundtracks and for her album '' Me & My Piano''. Her singing career was aided by ...
sang it for the movie ''
Legally Blonde'' in 2001. Al Green's version was also used as
Revlon's theme song in their international ad campaign in 2004.
Through his own ad libs during the song, Al Green acknowledges that "Love Is a Beautiful Thing" summed him up the most: nine seconds into the song Green says "This is what I believe." Then, near the end (at 4 minutes and 43 seconds), over the music he sings the titles of six of his own biggest hit songs: "
Let's Stay Together" (which he sings twice), "
I'm Still in Love with You", "
Call Me", "For the Good Times", "
Tired of Being Alone" and "Here I Am".
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...
's version of "Love Is a Beautiful Thing" was included on the 1997 compilation album ''
Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute''.
The song was
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
and
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress and film producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since her career ...
's wedding song.
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Songs written by Seth Swirsky
1991 songs