By the early ’70s, country singer/songwriter Ray Stevens had made a name for himself with a succession of pretty funny novelty songs, including “Ahab the Arab,” “Harry the Hairy Ape,” and “Gitarzan.” That’s why so many listeners were surprised when he released today’s classic song of the day, “Everything is Beautiful,” which is about as far from a funny novelty song as you can get.
Ray Stevens wrote “Everything is Beautiful” as the theme song for his NBC variety show, The Ray Stevens Show. Here’s what he remembers about chaining himself to the piano to write the song:
“After three days, I finally came up with ‘Everything is Beautiful,’ which I thought ‘yeah, this’ll do it.’ Sure enough, we made the record, and the people that produced the show loved it and wanted to use it as the theme for The Ray Stevens/Andy Williams Summer Show.”
As to how he came up with the idea, where’s what he remembers:
“You know, I had a little book of Chinese proverbs and it would say things that we’ve all heard. I can’t recall all of them, but one of them was ‘everything is beautiful in its own way.’ I thought, ‘Well, I’ll try that.’ Sure enough, it came off really good and I stopped writing at that point (during that three-day period). I took a little break at that point.”
Released as a single in March of 1970, “Everything is Beautiful” took the music world by storm. It went to #1 on all the major U.S. charts, including the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard’s Easy Listening chart. It also hit #1 in Australia and Canada, and made the top twenty in the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK. Billboard ranked “Everything is Beautiful” as the #12 song for all of 1970 and it won two Grammy Awards, for Best Male Pop Performance and and for Best Inspirational Performance.
The public obviously took to “Everything is Beautiful” and its inspirational lyrics. Those words are still something we should listen to and embrace today:
There is none so blind
As he who will not see
We must not close our minds
We must let our thoughts be free
For every hour that passes by
You know the world gets a little bit older
It’s time to realize that beauty lies
In the eyes of the beholder
And everything is beautiful in its own way
Like a starry summer night
On a snow covered winter’s day
Everybody’s beautiful in their own way
Under God’s heaven
The world’s gonna find a way
By the way, the children’s choir singing that “Jesus Loves the Little Children” part were all students at Oak Hill Elementary School in Nashville. Ray’s two daughters, Suzi and Timi, where both students there and sang in the choir—and on the record.
And here’s today’s daily bonus video of the day, Ray Stevens singing “Everything is Beautiful” on The Ray Stevens Show. It may seem a bit trite, but it’s really a pretty good little song.
