“While living in a loft in New York in the 1980s, I wrote some songs with no one particular in mind. I was so pleased when, in a series of recitals beginning in 1998, Frederica von Stade included ‘Not Everyone Thinks That I’m Beautiful.’ It delights me that Sasha Cooke has made this song a part of her repertoire and that Jean-Yves Thibaudet could join her to record this song for Grace.”
—Michael Tilson Thomas
Text
Not Everyone Thinks That I’m Beautiful
Not everyone thinks that I’m beautiful
Only just a special few
Headed up by fools like you
It takes one to know one, ooh,
You lucky fools
Not everything works like I hoped it would
Just when I start wanting to stay
I see it’s time that I was on my way,
Tomorrow gone, here today
Dear lucky fools
Well I don’t have a fortune to give
All I have are leftover dreams that are far out of fashion
Once I wore my heart on my sleeve
Now I try and not call attention
To things that I treasure
’Cause I found out
not everyone thinks what I think is beautiful
So, when I see you see it too
I think we might just make it me and you
So here’s to the tried and true
Dear, lucky fools,
Oh, lucky fools,
Dear, lucky fools …
Lyrics by Michael Tilson Thomas