Really, though, who doesn’t like Chris de Burgh? With songs like “Spanish Train” and “Patricia the Stripper” going for him, he’s got it made. I mean, he’s not an amazing artist, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it.
Unfortunately, there’s a whole slew of his songs that are sleazy, creepy, and yet still fun to listen to. Take “Timing is Everything,” a song about a guy who follows a woman around until she leaves her fiance at the altar for him. Or “Guilty Secret,” which is a peek into the cheater’s rationalisation process. More than a few of his love songs are a little… unpleasantly unconventional.
I saw him when he was almost completely unknown and supported Supertramp almost exactly 33 years ago!
He did a solo set and really got the audience on his side with, I’m pretty sure, all three of the songs mentioned above… I preferred his set to the headliners.
I think it was about a year later that his first lp, Spanish Train, came out… excellent stuff, and I also bought his 2nd lp when it came out, but I thought it was pretty mediocre and I gave up on him. Nothing I’ve heard by him since has been as good as him on his own and a guitar.
When I was in high school, my family’s house was broken into. The stereo was gone, and they scooped up all of the CD’s as well. No, wait - not ALL of them! The robbers who ransacked our house, even stealing a half a bag of Doritos out of the pantry, had stopped for one last thing.
In the dustless square on the shelf where the stereo had been, they had pulled my mom’s Chris deBurgh CD out of the stack and left it behind.
For the record, I’ll point out that I don’t see why “Lady in Red” is his most famous song. “Spanish Train,” to pick another at random, is way more fun.
No problem! even in a stressful and traumatic situation, you have to laugh sometimes. My mom wasn’t so amused - “First they rob me, now they’re judging me? Come on!”
Sadly that only cracked me up more. Sorry, mom!
