Bound By the Beauty is a 1989 album by Jane Siberry. It received better reviews than her previous album, The Walking, and the title track received more extensive radio airplay than Siberry had seen since "One More Colour" in 1985.

The track "Half Angel Half Eagle" was controversial. Siberry used the images of an angel and an eagle soaring over a city to depict a view of both the beauty and the ugliness of city life; the ugliness was apparent in the lyric "fucking honky

Honky

Honky is a racial slur for white people, predominantly heard in the United States...

 nigger

Nigger

Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...

 Jew/WASP

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...

 Jap

Jap

Jap is an English abbreviation of the word "Japanese." Today it is generally regarded as an ethnic slur, although English-speaking countries differ in the degree to which they consider the term offensive. In the United States, Japanese Americans have come to find the term controversial or...

 dago fag/fucking homeless

Homelessness

Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

 preacher dyke

Dyke (slang)

Dyke is slang terminology referring to a lesbian or lesbianism. It originated as a derogatory label for a masculine woman, and this usage still exists. However, some attempt to use it in a manner they see as positive, or simply as a neutral synonym for lesbian...

/cabbie fucking union scab

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

". Siberry was commenting on the prevalence of this type of offensive language on the streets of a big city.

"Something About Trains" also appeared (as "This Old Earth") on The Top of His Head

The Top of His Head (soundtrack)

The Top of His Head is a soundtrack by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, of the 1989 Canadian comedy-drama film, The Top of His Head. Frith wrote and composed all the music, with the exception of "This Old Earth", which was written and sung by Jane Siberry, and a cover of "The...

, the soundtrack to Peter Mettler

Peter Mettler

Peter Mettler is a Canadian film director and cinematographer.-Biography:Peter Mettler was born in 1958 to Swiss parents and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

's film The Top of His Head

The Top of His Head

The Top of His Head is a Canadian comedy-drama film, released in 1989. Written and directed by Peter Mettler, the film stars Stephen Ouimette as Gus, a satellite dish salesman whose life is turned upside down when he meets Lucy , a politically radical performance artist.The film's soundtrack, The...

. He was also responsible for the cover photograph.

Track listing

All tracks written by Jane Siberry.

1. "Bound by the Beauty" – 4:41
2. "Something About Trains" – 3:44
3. "Hockey" – 3:58
4. "Everything Reminds Me of My Dog" – 4:17
5. "The Valley" – 6:04)
6. "The Life Is the Red Wagon" – 4:12
7. "Half Angel Half Eagle" – 3:55
8. "La Jalouse" – 3:59
9. "Miss Punta Blanca" – 1:38
10. "Are We Dancing Now? (Map III)" – 6:1

Personnel

• Jane Siberry – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s, piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Teddy Borowiecki – piano, accordion
  Accordion
  The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
  
  
• Ken Myhr – guitars
• John Switzer – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
• Stich Wynston – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Additional personnel

• Wendell Ferguson – pedal steel guitar
  Pedal steel guitar
  The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
  
   on 5
• Dave Pilch – acoustic bass
  Acoustic bass guitar
  The acoustic bass guitar is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar...
  
   on 8
• David Ramsden – vocals on 6, 7
• Rebecca Jenkins
  Rebecca Jenkins
  -Acting:She had starring roles in the 1990s CBC series Black Harbour, and the films Bye Bye Blues, Marion Bridge, Wilby Wonderful, Whole New Thing, South of Wawa and Supervolcano. She also had a supporting role in the 1992 film Bob Roberts, as Dolores Perrigrew...
  
   – vocals on 6, 7
• Anne Bourne – vocals on 6
• Gina Stepaniuk – vocals on 6
• Cheri Camp – vocals on 6
• Don Freed
  Don Freed
  Donald Freed , is a Canadian singer and songwriter best known for his works about life on the Western Canadian prairies and the province of Saskatchewan in particular.-Life and career:...
  
   – vocals on 4

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Peak position	Weeks on the chart
1987	RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... Top 100 Albums	80	6