Beautiful Son
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{{unreferenced|date=November 2007}}
{{Infobox Single <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Songs -->
| Name = Beautiful Son
| Cover = Beautifulsoncov.jpg
| Caption = The single's cover, featuring a picture of [[Kurt Cobain]] at age 7
| Artist = [[Hole (band)|Hole]]
| from Album =
| A-side =
| B-side = "[[Old Age]]", "20 Years in the Dakota"
| Released = {{Start date|1993|4}}
| Format = CD single, 7" and 12"
| Recorded = Winter 1992
| Genre = [[Grunge]]
| Length = 2:30
| Label = [[City Slang]]
| Writer = [[Courtney Love]], [[Eric Erlandson]], [[Patty Schemel]]
| Producer =
| Certification =
| Last single = "[[Teenage Whore]]"<br />(1991)
| This single = "'''Beautiful Son'''"<br />(1993)
| Next single = "[[Miss World (song)|Miss World]]"<br />(1994)
| Misc =
}}
"'''Beautiful Son'''" is [[Hole (band)|Hole's]] only single released in 1993, this collection of three songs reveals an interesting progression between Hole's first and second albums.
The single was released by european label [[City Slang]] in April 1993 and was released as a CD single and in 7" and 12" format. The 7" version only includes "Beautiful Son" and "Old Age".
Love is reported to have written "Beautiful Son" about [[Kurt Cobain]]'s love of wearing dresses. The single's front cover features a picture of a young Cobain, at the age of around 7.
The song "20 Years in the Dakota" combines ideas regarding [[Yoko Ono]]'s retreat/retirement after [[John Lennon]]'s murder and the 1990s [[riot grrrl]] movement: "Riot grrrls think you can stop me, you're forever in her debt."
The song "Old Age" was taken from a tune that was first used by [[Kurt Cobain]], to which Love added her own distinctive lyrics. The version on this single was recorded in the winter of 1992 and the song has gone through various versions over the years. A later version appears on ''[[My Body, the Hand Grenade]]'' a b-sides and outtakes album.
The credits on the "Beautiful Son" single go to Hole, but officially "Beautiful Son" and "20 Years in the Dakota" were written by [[Courtney Love]], [[Eric Erlandson]] and [[Patty Schemel]] (who had by this time replaced [[Caroline Rue]] as drummer in the band).
Having replaced [[Jill Emery]], [[Leslie Hardy]] was bassist for this single, and this recording is the only one she made with the band. Leslie left the band not long after the recording of the "Beautiful Son" single and was replaced by [[Kristen Pfaff]].
==Track listing==
#"Beautiful Son" - 2:30
#"Old Age" - 4:20
#"20 Years in the Dakota" - 2:54
==Charts==
{| border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 width="550px"
!align="left"|Year
!align="left"|Single
!align="left"|Chart
!align="left"|Peak Position
|-
|align="left"|1993
|align="left"|"Beautiful Son"
|align="left"|[[UK Singles Chart|UK]]
|align="left"|#54
|-
|}
{{Hole}}
[[Category:Hole songs]]
[[pl:Beautiful Son]]
{{1990s-rock-song-stub}}