"Everything Is Beautiful" is a song written, composed and performed by Ray Stevens. It has appeared on many of Stevens's albums, including one named after the song, and has become a pop standard and common in religious performances. The children heard singing the chorus of the song, using the hymn "Jesus Loves the Little Children", are from Oak Hill Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, this group included Stevens's two daughters, Suzi and Timi.
"Everything Is Beautiful" is viewed as a major departure for Stevens, as the song is a more serious and spiritual tune, unlike some of his previous ("Gitarzan" and "Ahab the Arab") and subsequent ("The Streak") recordings, which were comedy/novelty songs. The record's success allowed Stevens (while still recording his comedy and novelty songs) to devote much of his 1970s work to more serious material, before pivoting back almost exclusively to comedy in the 1980s.[5]
Neil Sedaka performed a version on his 1976 album Live in Australia.[13]
Dana named her 1980 album after the song. It made #43 in the UK chart. In 1986, her single reached #42 in Ireland.
Foster & Allen recorded a version of the song for their album Songs We Love to Sing (1994),[citation needed] which reached number 41 on the UK Albums Chart[14] and number 66 on the Irish albums chart.
In 2005, American Idol season 4 top-ten finalists covered this song during the top-ten results show.
Stevens re-recorded the song in 2020.[1] This "50th Anniversary" re-recording includes a spoken prologue and epilogue noting how much progress had been made since 1970, while calling out those who use diversity to divide society and beseeching Americans not to fall apart.[15]
