♫ Lady In Red ♫ (Redux)

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I last played this one in 2019 … it wasn’t a huge hit among my readers, but most did like it.  For some reason, it popped into my head this evening, and knowing I didn’t have the energy to dig for a new song and set it up, I decided to redux this one. 

I just hopped out of the shower … yeah, yeah, I know that not everybody showers at 1:30 in the morning, but I am, um, unique and my schedule doesn’t mesh well with the bulk of society.  Anyway, if you’ll allow me to finish … where was I … oh yeah, the shower.  I had just finished writing my ‘good people’ post and was trying to think of what song I wanted to play tonight, and two songs came to mind:  Midnight Train to Georgia, and Lady in Red.  I checked, and found I had played Midnight Train in late October, so that left me with Lady in Red.  About that time, Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin popped into my head.  You can see why my mind is sometimes rather messy and goes bouncing off on its own.  Anyway, if you looked at the title of this post, you can see that I settled on Lady in Red.

Quite honestly, I could not remember who sang this song, only that I liked it.  Turns out, it is both written and sung by British-Irish singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh.  Released in June 1986, the song was responsible for introducing de Burgh’s music to a mainstream audience worldwide.

According to de Burgh, he started writing this song about his wife Diane, after an argument, but he was having a hard time finishing it. Part of the problem was that he needed a title: he didn’t want to use The Way You Look Tonight, because there there was already a song with that name. As de Burgh tells it, five months later he saw Diane, wearing red, across a crowded nightclub, which gave him the idea for the title. On the British TV series This Is Your Life, de Burgh said that the song was inspired by the memory of when he first saw Diane, and how men so often cannot even remember what their wives were wearing when they first met. On his website, he said the song was not specifically about Diane, but about appreciating the most important people in our lives, who we often take for granted; how we often fail to notice what attracted us to another person in the first place. In this account, he was already married to Diane but didn’t realize it was her when he spotted her across the room.

Chris de Burgh was born in Buenos Aires but moved with his family to Ireland when his diplomat father retired. He and Diane had two sons and a daughter named Rosanna Davison (Chris uses his mother’s maiden name for showbiz – his real name is Chris Davison) who was chosen Miss Ireland, 2003 and went on to win the Miss World pageant.

The Lady in Red
Chris de Burgh

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

Songwriters: Chris De Burgh
The Lady in Red lyrics © BMG Rights Management

28 thoughts on “♫ Lady In Red ♫ (Redux)”

  1. Pingback: Song Of The Day: Lady in Red. | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

    • It’s interesting that here, this was the song that put him in the limelight, but on your side of the pond, I’m finding most liked De Burgh but hated this song! Clive was quite adamant that it was maybe the worst song he ever heard!

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  6. This song is a love/hate relationship for me. I’m not going to look to see if I commented last time, I probably did. Today the music is wonderful, de Burgh”s voice is soothing, and his lyrics sound sweet, until I realize the only value the Lady in Red has is her beauty, and even that only when she is wearing this one dress! What is she the rest of the time, unsliced bread? (Lucky for me, I love unsliced rye bread, bought still warm right from the bakery. Now that is worth singing about!)

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  7. I like a lot of Chris De Burgh’s stuff, especially his early albums. This, on the other hand, is utterly execrable! It was #1 here, and the album it was on, Into The Light, reached #2, including the purchase my ex-wife cajoled me into. Fun fact: an old schoolfriend of mine played sax on the album.

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