You Look So Fine
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"You Look So Fine" was the fifth and final single released from Garbage's 1998 sophomore album Version 2.0.
Song profile
"You Look So Fine" was written and recorded at Smart Studios during the late 1997 sessions for Version 2.0. The song emerged from a track entitled 'King Of Crime', which was eventually scrapped by the band."You Look So Fine" is a vodka-pop love song with a bitter twist, with a sweet chorus of swooning guitars and glorious synth.
Single release
In Europe and the UK, "You Look So Fine" was issued as a single in May 1999. In the UK the song became the band's tenth consectutive Top 50 hit peaking at the #19 spot."You Look So Fine" was also released as a single in Australia in December 1999. Despite the success of previous single "When I Grow Up", it failed to chart in that territory.
"You Look So Fine" was backed with two exclusive B-sides "Get Busy With The Fizzy" and the UK only "Soldier Through This".
Music video
The video for "You Look So Fine" was shot in Los Angeles by Stephane Sednaoui in February 1999, and features The Surfers' frontman Kelly Slater as the man whom in the video Shirley finds washed up on the shores of her small world. At the time he was dating actress Pamela Anderson, who attended the video shoot. Pamela Anderson was herself a Garbage fan.The Garbage men Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker originally had bigger roles in the video, which were filmed, but according to lead singer Shirley Manson, were cut from the final edit because their appearance looked "naff".
Remixes
Remixes of "You Look So Fine" were completed for the band by DJ Eric Kupper and New York hip-hop crew Fun Lovin' Criminals. Garbage had 'traded' remixes with them earlier in the year - Garbage had remixed the Fun Lovin' Criminals 'Korean Bodega', which Shirley Manson had also sang on.The band also issued an edited version of the song for radio airplay.
Live performances
"You Look So Fine" was first performed live on May 15th 1998 in Combined Locks, Wisconsin on the first date of the Version 2.0 tour. It continued to be the closing song for most dates on the 'Version 2.0' tour. On most live performances of "You Look So Fine" the outro was extended to nearly 8 minutes long. Shirley also plays guitar during the instrumental outro.During the beautifulgarbage tour the song was not performed, although Shirley would sometimes sing a few verses and chorus accapella, and on the 'Bleed Like Me' tour it was scarcely performed.
On some of the 1999 performances of the song Shirley ad-libbed the lines "It's the bright candle in a pin-sized space, it's the greatest castle in this god-forsken place" at the end of the track. It is unknown where these lines are taken from.
You Look So Fine was performed live on TV shows Top Of The Pops, TFI Friday, Later With Jools Holland (UK), the Canadian MusiquePlus and on a Gala Regazza special in Spain, live in front of 6 million viewers.
Trivia
- Reportedly, US actors Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston walked down the aisle at their August 2000 wedding ceremony to this song.
- "You Look So Fine" appeared on the US TV show Queer As Folk's soundtrack album.
- "You Look So Fine" was to be licensed to appear on the soundtrack to the 1999 Sean Connery thriller 'Entrapment' but the deal fell through at the last minute and the song did not appear on the movie. Apparently Sean had played the 'Version 2.0' album every day on set.
- "You Look So Fine" has been covered by movie actress Jennifer Love-Hewitt.
- Vocal samples from the song were set to be included on the West London Deep track "You're Taking Me Over", released over the summer of 2002. When Garbage had a change of mind about the use of the vocal, the song was withdrawn, and re-recorded without the vocal as "Gonna Make You My Lover". Promotional copies of the original song are still available, albeit a rare find.
You Look So Fine quote, unquote
Shirley Manson: "I wrote it about someone I was madly in love with who unfortunately did not feel the same way about me."Butch Vig: "We had an idea that we wanted to break down the album and build it back up again. We wanted something meditative and calming at the end. It's like The Carpenters, that rush of vocals."
Comprehensive charts
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "You Look So Fine" | UK Singles Chart | #19 |
External links
| Garbage |
| Butch Vig | Shirley Manson | Duke Erikson | Steve Marker |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums and extended plays: Garbage | Version 2.0 | beautifulgarbage | Bleed Like Me | Absolute Garbage |
| Singles: "Vow" | "Subhuman" | "Only Happy When It Rains" | "Queer" | "Stupid Girl" | "Milk" | "Number One Crush" | "Push It" | "I Think I'm Paranoid" | "Special" | "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" | "When I Grow Up" | "You Look So Fine" | "The World Is Not Enough" | "Androgyny" | "Cherry Lips" | "Breaking Up the Girl" | "Shut Your Mouth" | "Why Do You Love Me" | "Bleed Like Me" | "Sex Is Not the Enemy" | "Run Baby Run" |
| Related articles |
| Alternative rock | Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie | Angelfish | The World Is Not Enough | Mushroom Records | Almo Sounds | Interscope Records |
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