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Who
is Chris de Burgh and what the work of Chris de Burgh means to me.
Below is a personal account of discovery and inspiration wriiten by the author
- Chris High.
Image: shows a photograph of the International singer songwriter Chris de Burgh in a new browser window.
I
was like that. Many a night was the time when The Secret Seven had just reached
the best bit, as my main light was extinguished and so forcing me to reach for
the torch once parental footsteps had receded.
As I grew older and things became more accessible, however, books were replaced
by television. A small black and white portable set was given to me one Christmas
and I used to spend my evening watching it in my room, whilst my parents ran
the pub in which I was brought up.
It was on that TV that I first encountered the music of Chris De Burgh and,
like my clandestine reading, it was way after a time of night when it should
have been turned off.
There used to be programme shown by the BBC called Late Night In Concert, hosted
by Annie Nightingale. This show, unsurprisingly, used to air concerts late at
night. What was unusual was that they usually featured bands that either nobody
but die hard fans had ever heard of or those who were permitted peripheral airings
on Radio 1. It was on such an edition of Late Night that I saw my only televisual
glimpse of Journey for example, who I believe have only ever toured this country
once.
But I digress.
Whilst huddled up in my bed, Annie appeared to announce that the evening's performance
was to be given by Chris De Burgh, somebody at the time I had only ever associated
with lift music at Christmas time. Something about a Spaceman listening to music
I remembered.
Devoid of anything else to watch (this was still at a time when TV shut down
at about midnight during the week) I waited for the show to start and on he
came. He sang songs about stranded ships, Satanic Spanish trains, evil ferrymen,
flirtatious strippers and a place where peaceful waters flowed. For half an
hour, I was transfixed to the point of almost getting caught ( a sin which may
well have resulted in the confiscation of my prized TV). But as the show ended
and the credits rolled, I thought I'd get to know a bit more of his stuff anyway.
At the time, I was more your average AC/DC, Led Zep, Deep Purple head-banger
sort for person. If it didn't have guitars to split your spleen, then I wasn't
really interested. So I suppose that watching that edition of Late Night In
Concert in around 1981, could be marked down as a sort of watershed in my musical
appreciation.
True to my word, I went out the next day and did precisely …. nothing!
No Chris De Burgh albums were to grace my record collection for around another
5 years or so and when they did, it was by chance.
By now I was married and, like most young females, my wife was besotted by a
tune that was currently at number one in the UK charts. It was about some woman
dressed in red dress at a dance or something. Further to this, Diana Princess
of Wales had given her seal of approval to the song's singer. This commendation
only added to the song's popularity and so lengthened its stay at the top.
One day I was walking around W H Smiths in Chester. They had a massive record
department at the time and I could often be found in there, mainly because it
was probably the cheapest place to get stuff that I really liked. Over the tannoy
system that they had playing the latest releases, was a song that I instantly
liked. Don't ask me why, I just did.
The song was about some boy coming home from the war, retiring to the seaside
with his wife and saying goodbye to everything. At this time I was impulsive
about music. If I liked a track, I bought the album. Consequently, I had a massive
album collection of which around half were stacked and destined never to be
played on any more than a few occasions.
The album was called Into The Light and the song Say Goodbye To It All. The
Lady In Red was also on the album and my wife thought that I'd flipped when
she saw that I'd bought it, because it didn't have guitars to split your spleen
on which were still my usual cup of tea. This despite the fact that Led Zep,
AC/DC and Purple had been replaced by Queen, Dire Straits and Genesis with Peter
Gabriel.
So that was the start. A chance encounter with his powerful performances when
little more than a child and bit of retail therapy in a newsagents, led to my
becoming a fan.
So
what do I like about his music? Well, as I've said already, Chris De Burgh's
is not the usual style of music that I listen to. I'm a huge fan of music such
as Peter Gabriel's or Dream Theater's. Yet CDB still manages to get me to listen.
How is easy, because he is a richly talented, thoughtful and provocative lyricist
with the ability to capture the imagination through a song.
Chris De Burgh doesn't just sing words, he paints pictures in your head and
allows your imagination to wander through Country Churchyards, across Crusading
Battlefields and over Borderlines.
He is also poignant, sentimental and musically articulate, being able to play
a host of different instruments. Oh, and his voice, both live and recorded,
is pretty darn good too!
Over the years that I've listened to his work, Chris De Burgh has been a constant
companion, which has been an inspiration to me - personally - in more ways than
one.
Chris High
This section of www.chrishigh.com is for the fans and fans to be of Chris de Burgh. Check out some of the amazing things here including:
Chris
de Burgh - A Child is Born
This truly amazing 2 minute video shows Chris de Burgh morphing from a baby
to the present day - awesome!
Chris
de Burgh - This is Your Life
The full quotes from the UK British TV show featuring Chris de Burgh in 1992.
Chris
de Burgh - Album Covers Game
How
well do you know the CdeB album covers? Why not test yourself here.
Chris
de Burgh - Picture Puzzles
Rearrange
these 5 CdeB single covers online - dynamic puzzles.
Chris
de Burgh - Competition
Fancy winning yourself a signed photo of CdeB? Why not
give it a try?
Chris
de Burgh - Links
We've scanned the Internet to bring you some of the best CdeB websites.
The Untrained Melodies Interactive CD-Rom
Image: shows a picture of the front cover of the interactive CD-Rom in a new browser window.
This amazing new CD-Rom containing 12 short stories in a full multimedia production is designed for ease of use for both fully sighted and visually impaired. Read, print or just listen to these fascinating tales narrated by the author - Chris High.
Untrained Melodies - the full interactive experience is available now!
More Information about the CD-Rom
Order your copy of Untrained Melodies CD-Rom
Quote from Chris High in 2003 “Writing gets me away for a while' from this world and into one where I, alone, can make or break the rules as I see fit.”
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