Something Beautiful Remains” by Tina Turner

Tina Turner’s 9th solo album, “Wildest Dreams,” released in 1996, features the song “Something Beautiful Remains.”
Courtesy: Virgin Records

Although most of us may be familiar with iconic singer Tina Turner’s rockin’ repertoire, “Something Beautiful Remains” is one of the artist’s lesser-known songs that gently soothes the soul. Turner died in her Switzerland home on May 24, 2023, at the age of 83 after a several-year battle with intestinal cancer. The sultry and soulful Turner was beloved by fans spanning generations. Although the lyrics to this song were written nearly 20 years ago, they eloquently express the sentiment many fans may feel about her death, while also serving as a testament to the life she once lived.This mournful song opens with the refrain below:

Tears will leave no stains
Time will ease the pain
For every life that fades
Something beautiful remains

Turner was no stranger to pain. She was born and raised as Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tennessee, and was abandoned by her parents at age 11 and raised by her grandmother. In 1957, at the age of 18, she launched a musical career as a member of Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm. Tina later married Ike and adopted her famous stage name, Tina Turner. They formed the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, performing unique renditions of covers including “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and original songs like their well-known hit single, “River Deep-Mountain High.”

Ike and Tina Turner released their debut song, “A Fool in Love,” in 1960.
Courtesy: Sue Records

After the couple’s divorce in 1976 and the years of silence that followed, Tina publicly shared details of her abusive marriage in a 1981 People Magazine tell-all interview. She even recollected a suicide attempt. The accounts of physical abuse by Ike were later highlighted in her 1986 autobiography,”I, Tina: My Life Story.” The abusive relationship was also depicted in the 1993 Oscar-nominated film, “What’s Love Got to Do with It” and a subsequent 2018 Broadway production “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” in 2018.

But much like the lyrics “tears will leave no stains and time will ease the pain” dictate, Tina’s life seemed to follow a difficult path. Regardless of her Grammy-award winning career that ensued after the divorce, the performer often noted she felt as if she were living in the shadows of Ike. But in a 2023 HBO Max documentary entitled “Tina,” she said her life story could not be told without noting the difficult times: “I had an abusive life. There’s no other way to tell the story. It’s a reality. It’s a truth.” Turner went on to say that she had forgiven the now deceased Ike Turner for the abuse. “Forgiving means not to hold on. You let it go.” Perhaps letting go is the something beautiful that ultimately remained for Tina in the final years of her life.

The lyrics of the song continue on as an homage that affectionately memorializes the muti-generational musical sensation, herself:

We’re living in a world of stars and dust
Between heaven and all that surrounds us
We’re travelers here, spirits passing through
And the love we give, is all that will endure

Hey now, what we had is gone
But I still remember you
Just like a rose after the rain
Something beautiful remains

“Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” closed on Broadway in New York City August 14, 2022. The production is currently on tour in the U.S. through August 2024.
Courtesy: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Tina Turner,a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will forever reign from heaven as the Queen of the music genre that marked the majority of her time on earth. And as her signature songs seem to profess of herself, Tina will always be considered by many to be “Simply the Best.”

You can watch Tina Turner perform “Something Beautiful Remains” in the video below.