"It's a Beautiful Thing" is a rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 by Ocean Colour Scene

Ocean Colour Scene

Ocean Colour Scene are an English Britpop band formed in Moseley, Birmingham in 1989. They have had five Top 10 albums and six Top 10 singles to date.-Early days :...

 (OCS). The album and single versions are a duet, featuring P.P. Arnold on vocals (as did previous single Traveller's Tune).

The song was released in 1998 and reached number 12 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. It is taken from their 1997 chart-topping album Marchin' Already

Marchin' Already

Marchin' Already is a 1997 album by Ocean Colour Scene.The album was a follow-up to the successful Moseley Shoals, and is in a similar style. The songs were taken from the band's catalogue that they had built up since forming several years earlier....

and was the fourth and final single to be released from the album, following "Hundred Mile High City

Hundred Mile High City

"Hundred Mile High City" is a rock song by Ocean Colour Scene .The song was released in 1997 and reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. It is taken from their 1997 album Marchin' Already and was the first single to be released from the album. The single was used as the theme tune to the film...

", "Travellers Tune

Travellers Tune

"Travellers Tune" is a rock song by Ocean Colour Scene .The song was released in 1997 and reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart. It is taken from their 1997 album Marchin' Already and was the second single to be released from the album, following "Hundred Mile High City".- Track listing :#...

" and "Better Day". By not reaching the Top 10, the song broke the chain formed by the previous six singles which had all reached the Top 10. The band have never reached the Top 10 since.

The lyrics, though vague, are understood to be about Simon Fowler

Simon Fowler

Simon Fowler is the lead vocalist and acoustic guitarist in Ocean Colour Scene.-The Fanatics:Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwriter for Birmingham band The Fanatics, which consisted of Simon Fowler , Damon Minchella , Paul Wilkes and Caroline Bullock...

's (aka Sonny's) personal difficulties in coming out as gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

. The title is a reference to the 1993 play and 1996 film Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing

Originally Beautiful Thing is a play written by Jonathan Harvey and first performed in 1993. A screen adaptation of the play was released in 1996 by Channel 4 Films, with a revised screenplay also by Harvey. Initially, the film was only intended for television broadcast but it was so well-received...

. Love

Love

Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...

is the "beautiful thing", but Fowler also laments that it can be a "terrible thing".

Track listing

1. "It's a Beautiful Thing"
2. "Mariners Way"
3. "Going Nowhere for a While"
4. "Expensive Chair"