It is no stretch of the imagination to consider that The Lady in Red is Chris De Burgh’s crowning achievement. Back in 1986, the irish sex-symbol seduced a nation of willing men and women in 4 minutes 6 seconds with this schmaltzy ballad; its popularity ensuring it was number one when I was born, beating long-forgotten, now charity-bin regular singles such as ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ and ‘Panic’, ‘Venus’ and ‘Happy Hour’ to the honour.
I’ve always (in the last fifteen minutes) wondered whether anybody has really considered the lyrics and what they mean. Inspired by ‘The Poetry Thread’ I invite you lot to analyse the words of Monsieur De Burgh and let me know what this song is about. Who is the Lady in Red if not Melisandre of Asshai? Is Chris De Burgh the nom-de-plume of Stannis Baratheon?
I’ve never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight
I’ve never seen you shine so bright
I’ve never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
They’re looking for a little romance, given half a chance
And I have never seen that dress you’re wearing
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes
I have been blind
The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me
It’s where I want to be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight
I’ve never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight
I’ve never seen you shine so bright, you were amazing
I’ve never seen so many people want to be there by your side
And when you turned to me and smiled, it took my breath away
And I have never had such a feeling
Such a feeling of complete and utter love, as I do tonight
The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me
It’s where I want to be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight
I never will forget the way you look tonight
The lady in red, the lady in red
The lady in red, my lady in red
I love you
TRMagicWords says
Perhaps “Lady in Red” is just Chris’s pet name for his cock, which makes the whole song an ode to masturbation. It would explain the lyrical content.
JustB says
“Never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight / never seen you shine so bright”
God, if Little Chris was literally glowing he must’ve been GOING for it.
Uncle Wheaty says
Bloody large cock if he can bend it round to dance cheek to cheek.
Mavis Diles says
He put highlights in the hair. You can never be too well groomed, I think.
Moose the Mooche says
You’re correct – the song is utter wank.
TRMagicWords says
“There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me/It’s where I want to be…”
Martin Hairnet says
Erm, what’s going on here then:
‘I’ve never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
They’re looking for a little romance, given half a chance’
Evidently, his ‘Lady in Red’ had broad appeal.
Uncle Wheaty says
Slapper!
Mavis Diles says
I wonder how his ‘lady’ might respond to the fact that he had not actually fancied her until this point? And that his outpouring of love might just be jealousy due to attention from others? Perhaps she was very good at cooking and cleaning.
Carl says
The Lady In Red was Mrs DeBurgh.
Yes, it was not addressed to a femme fatale but to his nearest and dearest.
Sorry to bring things to an abrupt end.
Martin Hairnet says
I think the lyrics are quite decent. Nothing wrong with them. And a sweet and innocent sentiment.
But I don’t really like the song, or his voice, and perhaps the lyrics are unfairly exposed by it’s slow tempo and sparse arrangement.
retropath2 says
Wasn’t there some hubris at the time tho’, as, well she may have eventually become Mrs Davison, when he wrote the song to her, was she not the nanny to the then Mr and Mrs D and their sprog?
Sewer Robot says
Chris says: Ouch! Thanks for raising that subject, Retro. In fact the song was written about my wife and how stunning she looked one particular night and how this realisation was like falling in love with her all over again. However, as you sort of indicate, shortly afterwards I was aboard “The Spanish Train” (and other positions) with the help. (Thought we’d put that behind us so, really, cheers Dude).
As regards the assonarnce, I’ve always portrayed myself as a bit of a posho, at one time hinting at links to foreign royalty. One of my “sprogs” as you call them was only bloody Miss World, but get this – although she was named after Toto’s smasheroo of the same name, that flat “a” sound won’t do at all – because she is a De Burgh, her name is pronounced Rosarna. You can bet she likes to darnce when given half a charnce..
Sewer Robot says
Meant to add to Chris’s comments by way of colour that over here we like to prick his posho pretensions by usually referring to the DPRFH as “Christy Burke”. Also, before TLIR was released, Christy debuted the song on Irish tv and I remember thinking “that sounds really half arsed – it won’t do well”. Shows what I know..
Junior Wells says
hmm, I prefer to think of it as a cock song
chiz says
The complex internal rhyme of ‘romance’ ‘dance’ and ‘chance’ is a classic example of assonance. In live performances – trust me, I’ve checked this – he adopts a more Northern ‘dance‘ but the original is definitely ‘daance’ and therefore more in the tradition of Coleridge than Cleethorpes.
attackdog says
Can you not just recognise it for the crap it is?
Moose the Mooche says
Surely assonarnce.
bungliemutt says
H’mmm, personally I regard A Spaceman Came Travelling as Chris’s crowning achievement. I believe I shed a tear in the toilet paper aisle when they played it in Sainsburys last Christmas.
Moose the Mooche says
When 2000 sheets of your time have passed by…
Moose the Mooche says
In what universe is Panic a charity shop regular?
Tony Japanese says
It is in the charity shops Steve Wright frequents.
Black Celebration says
Hells teeth – do you think John Lennon is actually a walrus?*
You guys wouldn’t know poetry if it metaphored itself right up your iambic pentameter!
As with all great lyric writing, all is not what it seems. The “Lady” is Britain and in the song Chris is assuming the role of the young, charismatic new leader of the Labour Party – Neil Kinnock – dancing cheek to cheek to with the country itself.
This didn’t come from Chris’s imagination – it was inspired by TV’s Hugh Scully, who presented the scenario in a political item on BBC 1’s Nationwide on the evening of October 4th 1985 and – due to the Paul Squires Show being on ITV – it accidentally attracted an audience of over 20m.
To supplement Scully’s piece to camera – which considered how Britain might look with a Labour Government – Ask the Family’s Eric Coates created a large risqué graphic that showed Britain as a “lady” in a plain looking jumper resembling Thelma from Scooby Doo.
However – accompanied by the amusing sound of a swan whistle (think Dee Lite) – the lady image is transformed by the cardboard arrival of a dashing Neil Kinnock, dressed in a tux, which simultaneously replaces the lady’s clothing. We now see the lady revealed as a near-naked Victoria Principal (a popular starlet of the time) now clothed in a tiny red dress.
The image was racy by the pre-watershed standards of the day and collars steamed all over the nation – including over in Ireland, where Chris De Burgh was watching, energetically. Hugh Scully stood next to the image – and continued his opinion piece on economics, job security and the power of the unions – but Chris’s mind was elsewhere. The song appeared from nowhere, fully formed, as he enjoyed the last 4 minutes of Hugh Scully’s item.
So you’re right – it is about wanking.
*yes I know the walrus was Paul, apparently.
bungliemutt says
Mr Celebration is said to be doing as well as can be expected.
TRMagicWords says
Here’s a slighty unorthodox version of the Chris De Burgh classic: