Man On (the) Line

September 9, 2002
Caroline and Michelle Hardwick (45 & 19) from Gloucester, England:
We think all your songs are fantastic and are looking forward to your new album. Do you have a personal favourite song from your new album?
Chris de Burgh:
This album is not in my opinion as deeply a spiritual album as the previous one may have been. It’s much more a fun album, not light hearted, but certainly upbeat and good humoured. But there is one song I like a lot: Lebanese Night, which reminded me of a recent trip to Beirut in the Lebanon, where I went to the same restaurant two nights running with the band. Outdoors under the stars, listening to music, listening to the waterfalls, watching the beautiful people, young men and young women, really good looking people, and they all were brought up, now here’s a familiar theme, during a war, the war in Lebanon. And I started thinking about children who grew up in war zone areas like Belfast, or Palestine or Israel, and how their fathers and mothers leave them with this legacy of hatred and pain. And Lebanese Night is also involving a duet with a wonderful singer from the Middle East, called Elissa, from Lebanon. I like the sentiments in this, I like the picture it creates, because it reminds me of somewhere I have been and I like the sentiment involved as well.
Editors's note:
And with this question the Man On (the) Line section is taking a break once again. We hope to be back with new questions and answers in a couple of weeks. In the meantime we hope that you all enjoy the new album and the upcoming concerts! Please keep the questions coming! Once again a big thank you to Chris de Burgh for taking the time to answer these questions and giving the fans a chance to get to know him and his music better.

September 8, 2002
Dave Doohan (36) from Ilkeston, UK:
Why do you always seem to wear black whenever you perform? Do you have many of the black tops or is it the same one??
Chris de Burgh:
Well, often the choice of what I wear comes down to the lighting technicians. And black is one of the colours that is good with light. And also, to be honest, it’s a very flattering colour. If you sweat, as I do, on stage and lose a lot of fluid, it’s not a very clever idea to have white or anything that shows it. There are a number of issues here. It’s got to be a light garment. It can’t be tightening the throat. It’s got to be lose. And black silk is often one of the best. I have many black tops here.

September 7, 2002
Alireza (18) from Iran:
What do you do for keeping your beautiful voice?
Chris de Burgh:
Thank you about my beautiful voice. I don’t know, but I suppose using it fairly regularly to sing and I drink lots and lots and lots of water to keep myself hydrated. And be prepared when you’re singing high notes, be mentally prepared at least a minute or certainly 30 seconds before hitting that note, otherwise you can hurt your voice. And that has a lot to do with it.

September 6, 2002
Deb (36) from Winnipeg, Canada:
How does it make you feel when you're performing and your audience sings with you? Emotional? Surprised? Is it a wall of sound coming back at you?
Chris de Burgh:
I feel extremely emotional when people sing back at me from the audience. I am very flattered and it’s almost like I’ve done my job. I’ve put across the idea and the emotion of my song, and people have come to the trouble of learning the words. It is an extraordinary feeling, there’s nothing like it. It’s a feeling of joy, I suppose. Not power, but in control. You’re not controlling the audience, but you are allowing them to receive back the energy they are giving me. I feel very much like a mirror on stage. I am just reflecting the energy that’s coming towards me. I reflect it and change it and send it back again. And that’s what happens.

September 5, 2002
Billy (36) from Düsseldorf, Germany:
Having a well-known face can possibly be difficult now and then – have you ever considered to wear a T-shirt with "No, I just look like him" on it, or is it okay for you to be prominent and are you able to keep up a good deal of your privacy?
Chris de Burgh:
Living in Ireland, people ignore you. It’s a funny thing. They make a big effort NOT to pay attention to celebrities. But when I go to other countries, recently I was in Portugal, you know, people come up and ask for autographs. Also in Germany and Switzerland, Canada, Russia, you name it. I always feel that if you’re going to put yourself out into public then you’ve got to take the consequences of being recognized. But there are ways of not being recognized. One of them is just walking round the streets as if you know exactly where you are. Keep your body language a minimum, as if you are a local. And that way you don’t walk with your head in the air, or surrounded by bodyguards. You can see lots. And every city I go to, I do that. Cologne is a favourite city. I always walk across the bridge to the cathedral and often go into the cathedral or just walk around into the museum. It’s my freedom too, I need to have that.

September 4, 2002
Sarah Brown (36) from Leeds, UK:
Chris, how’s your back these days? I was gutted to hear you had hurt your back and cancelled the 1st night of your Alton Towers gig years ago. Then joy as you managed the Saturday night with painkillers and a TENS machine and a man to help you lift off your guitar...that night was the best of my life - your most fantastic concert ever even when you sang some Beatles songs at the end notably 'Hey Jude'.
Chris de Burgh:
Standing on that stage was extremely painful, because I had hurt my back and I had actually been lying on my floor in my house for four days and anybody who has ever had lower back pain would know that it’s one of the most terrible of all. You literally can’t move. And any movement is just screaming agony. However I could still sing and so I was actually helped to my feet by a doctor and an assistant. I was put in an air ambulance and a helicopter with a stretcher at the other end. And I was helped onto the stage and I figured that, if I could still sing, that’s alright. And people said to me “you must do a shorter show tonight”. But I’m very stubborn and I said “No, I can’t do that. I’ve gone through all the effort and pain of coming here, I am gonna do a longer show.”, which is exactly what I did. And the painkillers and the tens machine.. yeah, you saw it all. But I am very pleased that I did that show. I do a lot of back exercise to strengthen my back, so it doesn’t happen again. And it hopefully won’t.

September 3, 2002
Lyuba (27) from Moscow, Russia:
Dear Chris, many of your songs concern "war-ache"(Sailor, Borderline, Love of the heart divine,...). Where did this deep insight come from? It looks like you have had some army or even war experience. Is that true?
Chris de Burgh:
I don’t know. I never had army or war experience, maybe in a previous life I was involved in something like that. But I have always had this terrible ache in my heart when it comes to the horror of war. It’s curious I’ve met a lot of people who have the same feeling about the First World War. It’s almost like there’s this club. And I wonder how many of the fan club also have this feeling that they are drawn into the First World War, into the mud and into the guns and the horror of the whole thing. And it’s almost like it’s an echo in the back of my head. And I suppose having been brought up fascinated by history in an old castle some of the time, it’s been something that’s been part of my emotional make up and I’m quite sure I will continue to write songs, not only on the new album about that. But I have already written some new songs for a future album which are very very strongly about that particular theme.

September 2, 2002
Kwashirai Chigodora (28) from Gaborone, Botswana:
Do you love the sea, solitude, the rain, the wind and down weather? You are soulful & loving but realistic, aren't you?
Chris de Burgh:
Interesting question. Well, the answer is yes, I used to and in fact I still do get a kick of going out onto a beach when it is really wild and the sea is roaring and it is foaming. And you can see sea gulls flying, trying to fly into the wind and not succeeding. And the rain is pelting down, it’s cold. You just feel like you’re in the middle of something so elemental. It’s like being caught in an absolutely amazing storm of nature and the natural forces. And it makes me feel almost like much more of a part of nature than I am when I’m in my house or car or something like that. And I do like it. I don’t like it too often now, but from time to time it’s fascinating to be involved in something like that.

September 1, 2002
Chantal (39) from Ottawa, Canada:
Borderline has always been my favourite song. The words have so many meanings. Could you please tell what inspired you to write this song?
Chris de Burgh:
The song “Borderline” was inspired in 1982 by watching all the veterans coming back from the Falkland Islands war and another example of two leaders Galtieri and Thatcher waving their fist at each other and threatening all sorts of things, but the people who get caught in the middle are the young soldiers. And some of the outrages that were done, for example the sinking of the ship General Belgrano was absolutely disastrous. Thousands of young men killed. And I watched this victory parade going on, and in the background, almost out of view, were the young men and women who were victims of absolutely terrible burns, in their wheel chairs, paralyzed, and also the families of those who’ve been killed. And they were kind of shuffled away to the background a bit. And I thought “no, this is not right”. And that touched my heart, and I suppose that’s why I sat down and wrote a song called “Borderline” about those who are on opposite sides but love is an all conquering feeling. And maybe, as you may have heard in the next song “Say Goodbye To It All”, the couple gets together and they go to the West of France and they have a child. That’s just the way things are for me in my head, and I get emotionally inspired by things like for example the song “The Last Time I Cried”, which I spoke about before.

August 31, 2002
Michel Pinard (40) from Montréal/Québec, Canada:
Chris, how do you prepare "psychologically" for a concert...? Is there any days where you don't feel like performing? Merci Beaucoup !!! All the best!
Chris de Burgh:
When I am on a long grinding tour, when I am doing like 5 or 6 nights on the trot, three hours a night, travelling a lot in between for 3 or 4 months in a go, yes there are some nights when I don’t feel like performing. But I usually manage to convince myself that however bad I am feeling, it’s not fair to go out on stage in front of thousands of people who have paid good money for their tickets and are now expecting me to be at my peak best. And that has always been my attitude and I am sure it always will be. As far as preparing for it, after a while of doing the shows I am fairly prepared anyway. But before the concerts I will always warm up my voice a little bit and I like to look out at the audience to get a feel for the night and the crowd to see how we are going to do. But apart from that I am very relaxed backstage, I am never nervous.

August 30, 2002
Susan (37) from Madison/Ohio, USA:
How did your parents react when you told them you wanted to sing for a living?
Chris de Burgh:
My parents had heard me singing at the castle hotel that we had during the 60s and 70s, and they supported me in as much as that they didn’t understand the music business, and neither did I, because I was really not supposed to be going into music business. But they said “Give it a try, see how you do, and if you fail, well, so be it. At least you have tried.” And that has always been one of my mottos, you know, give it a try. And I say to my kids if they want to try something “yeah, try it”. There’s no point being a grandfather and saying “well, I could have been a great singer, I could have been a great heart surgeon or an astronaut." Just give it a try. If you feel, you can try something or do something, go for it. And there’s no shame in failure as long as you have given it your best shot. And that was my parents’ reaction as well.

August 29, 2002
Daniela Braun (31) from Aachen, Germany:
Have you ever done a recording of Beatles' songs? (Apart from the one on Beautiful Dreams)?
Chris de Burgh:
I have never done a recording of any other Beatles song apart from “Girl” on Beautiful Dreams. But there was a time I think I could probably have sung every single one of them. And I have done “The Long And Winding Road” live with full orchestra for example, and in my concerts, as you may know, I usually finish up with “Hey Jude” and maybe with another Beatles song in there earlier.

August 28, 2002
Simon (42) from The Netherlands:
Many albums and /or songs are written by you...but what really makes me curious why you never wrote a complete Xmas album....Don't you just have the "drive" to do so, or is there a special reason why you don't?
Chris de Burgh:
As we all know, Christmas comes and goes very quickly. It’s also the time of extremely high commerciality. This is where those really interested in selling a vast volume of something over a short time, they really get into it with television advertising, radio advertising, press advertising. And the idea of me putting a lot of my effort and time into a short period where people might buy a Christmas album is not appealing. I just got lucky that I wrote “A Spaceman Came Travelling” that has been used very much as a Christmas song on hundreds and hundreds of compilation records.

August 27, 2002
Scott Whitaker (38) from Rockwood, Tennessee, USA:
Who would be your top ten pick of all time greatest songwriters?
Chris de Burgh:
I don’t really have a top ten, but I would suggest that Paul Simon is in there, Stevie Wonder, maybe Steve Winwood, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Paul McCartney, John Lennon. How is that for starters? And as you may notice all these guys that I mentioned are of the older school, the more classic school of song writing. And I really haven’t heard any absolutely fantastic, brilliant new songwriters, although I am quite taken with this girl Dido. But time will tell what a great song is and who a great songwriter is going to be.

August 26, 2002
Teddy Tsao (41) from Hong Kong, China:
Chris, you've composed a lot of songs either published or not. I just want to know which one is the most favourable song you've composed so far?
Chris de Burgh:
Well, I have written and recorded something about 165 songs. At the moment it is almost impossible for me to say, my favourite song would be such and such a song. I obviously have my own personal top ten list of favourites, but some of them, I suppose, are more spiritually inclined than others. Others tell a really good story like “Don’t Pay The Ferryman”. The one I mentioned “Love Of The Heart Divine” is a favourite. There’s no in particular one favourite song. I suppose, if I was asked what was my number one, it would be “Spanish Train”. Because it set in motion a whole series of styles of writing, primarily the story song and the allegorical song, where you are looking at a particular problem and creating an allegory which is another way of saying it in a different form, in a story form.

August 25, 2002
Cleopatra (52) from Australia:
Hello again! A little bird told me that you are very partial to fudge, and it got me thinking about the song 'I want it and I want it now', which I call the chocolate song! Everyone knows you are a football fan, so I wondered if this song is in some way a self portrait? Best wishes, Cleopatra
Chris de Burgh:
Yes, Cleopatra. I love fudge. In fact, my Mom used the make the best fudge. It was really white and crumbly and tasted of butter and sugar and it was delicious. And in fact when I was younger I used to make it myself. ”I Want It And I Want It Now” which you may call the chocolate song is really about nowadays kids who just can’t wait for anything. It’s a very fast moving world. And I was thinking about these days when people say “I don’t want it tomorrow, I don’t want it next week, I want it and I want it now”.

August 24, 2002
Alireza (18) from Tehran, Iran:
Do you like football (soccer)? If you do which team do you like and who is your favourite player?
Chris de Burgh:
I love football, absolutely love it. My team that I support for many many years is Liverpool. And I’ve gone to many matches at Liverpool, met a lot of the players. And I’m friends with people like Markus Babbel, Michael Owen, Dietmar Hamann, Robbie Fowler who used to play for Liverpool. A lot of these guys have been to my concerts in the past and I love to meet them after football matches in the players lounge at Liverpool.

August 23, 2002
Marion Bressel (23) from Regensburg, Germany:
Has your 1984 song "Sight and Touch" been inspired by George Orwell's novel "1984"?
Chris de Burgh:
The song “Sight and Touch” wasn’t really inspired by George Orwell’s novel “1984”, more it was, I suppose, in the back of my head was a film that I had seen called “Fahrenheit 451” which is an absolutely tremendous film about a future time when books have been banned because they cause people to deviate from what the state wants them to think. And in “Fahrenheit 451” we have this hero in it who believes that books are right and must be preserved. And in fact away in the forest there are people learning books by heart to pass on to the next generation. And I like that film a lot. I didn’t say to myself “yes, I must write a song about this film”, it just kind of drifted to “Sight And Touch”. And again like a clue I thought about a time when “Sight And Touch” was such a rare thing that people had babies by state control and emotion and sexuality was crushed. It’s a future time and of course I hope this never happens.

August 22, 2002
Les Partridge (54) from London, UK:
Hi Chris, I am one of your older fans who has loved your music since the very early days. However, the song that touches me most is Love Of The Heart Divine. Every time I hear it, I get that lump in the throat and I would love to know what inspired you to write such a beautiful song.
Chris de Burgh:
I’m glad that you like “Love Of The Heart Divine”. It’s one of my very favourites, actually not just from the Quiet Revolution album but possibly of all time. What happened was, I was playing the piano and this idea, this sentence came out “And he laid her down in a field of corn and the sun was on his back”. And immediately I started getting this vision of a couple obviously in a field. A hot summer’s day, a field of corn, an innocent world, and the idea of a young couple who had grown up in the same village somewhere in the Southwest of England started coming into my mind. In about 1911, don’t ask me why, but this is what happened. And they grew up, and during their teenage years they had been to school together, they were very friendly, they became boyfriend and girlfriend. And just before the First World War broke out, they get married. It’s a very pretty country wedding. And then the war breaks out. And at that famous scene, I am sure we have seen in many movies, with the soldiers leaving on the trains, leaning out, waving their hats, and everybody is on the platform, their wives and the children and the mothers and fathers waving. It’s a very emotional scene, plenty of tears. At that point, as the train pulls out of the station on this great adventure that all these young men thought that the first world war was gonna be, she felt the first kick of the baby. And I think the irony of this is that we now know with history that the First World War for everybody involved was an absolute disaster. So this was an age of innocence where, you know, getting ready to fight for Lord Kitchener. And it’s young love. What isn’t expressed is what happened next. It doesn’t really matter what happens next but for me it’s a very emotive song and, as I said, one of my favourites.

August 21, 2002
Tillman Graach (22) from Augsburg, Germany:
There's an allusion to smoking pot in "Watching The World". Have you ever made experiences with drugs?
Chris de Burgh:
When I was in University, just about everybody was smoking weed or cannabis or grass. And I certainly was one of the people who tried it. I enjoyed it, I suppose, but it was a fairly limited experience with this particular drug. I have absolutely no problem with anybody else smoking it, and however I do have a problem with anything more serious, particularly chemical drugs. I would never ever try them. I wouldn’t be interested. I think life itself is a drug that I can get high on just about any time. Smoking anything, if you are a singer, is pretty disastrous, in my opinion. It not only affects the voice, but more importantly it affects your breathing.

August 20, 2002
Martin Travers (34) from Farnborough, Hampshire, England:
On the sleeve of the Getaway album you say: "For Diane - A VERY special MWA!". What does this mean ?!
Chris de Burgh:
This is just a private and secret message.

August 19, 2002
Naomi Barrett (21) from Sheffield, England:
Chris, have you ever thought of writing a novel instead of song lyrics? Many of your songs seem to be telling different stories and I wondered if there was a bigger picture behind some of them, like Spanish Train for example? Looking forward to seeing you in Sheffield in November!
Chris de Burgh:
I love telling stories, but I am also using the skills that I have developed as a melody writer and as a lyricist, which means condensing ideas into much smaller and more precise forms instead of writing a novel which is a very big portrait, a very large way of telling and expressing an idea. What I try to do is the absolute opposite, trying to condense it into a small area. I don’t think I’d be a particularly good novelist. Maybe but I haven’t tried, I suppose. Who knows, I might turn my hands to novel writing one day, but it is a different skill which I have not trained at.

August 18, 2002
Billy (36) from Düsseldorf, Germany:
Hi Chris, do you have a favourite movie that you can watch all over again without getting bored?
Chris de Burgh:
There’s a film that’s gonna be the first film that I watch when I get finally to my new home, having spent six years working on this place, and it will be “2001 – A Space Odyssey”. In my opinion one of the greatest films ever made, and I never get bored or tired watching it.

August 17, 2002
Delia (41) from Thorne, South Yorkshire, UK:
Hi Chris, have you ever thought of doing a duet with Cliff Richard? Lots of luck with the new album!
Chris de Burgh:
Well, I am quite a good friend of Cliff Richard. In fact at a private dinner at the Bayrische Hof in Heidelberg last year, Cliff and I did actually do a duet with a piano accompanist, Peter Oxendale. And we were singing “The Long And Winding Road” and Cliff was not too familiar with the words. So every line I whispered in his ear what the next line was and we sang it together. That was great fun. But yeah, maybe one day.

August 16, 2002
Rebecca Bright (27) from London, UK:
Chris, many of your songs contain a theme generally relating to a quest or an adventure or a situation where good is trying to overcome evil. I've always wondered if you have a love for fiction/fantasy books such as 'Lords of the Rings' for example? Any words would be inadequate for all the joy you have brought me but thank you, I love your work and your concerts are fabulous!
Chris de Burgh:
Well, I brought this theme in initially with Spanish Train, the struggle between God and the Devil. And, you know, if you believe that this cosmic struggle is going on, it is quite likely that evil is getting the upper hand and those of us who believe that good will win must keep on fighting for this to happen. I have never actually been mad about Lord Of The Rings, although I saw the movie and I quite enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Harry Potter, which is in its own way, I think, more believable I suppose in the fight between good and evil, and that’s what it represents anyway: the dark forces against the forces of light. I think this is present in everybody’s lives.

August 15, 2002
Brice Johnson (39) from Dubuque, Iowa, USA:
I noticed your fascination with rain, is that your favourite weather, or do you just like the mood it creates? Your biggest US fan since 1982.
Chris de Burgh:
My fascination with rain isn’t particularly a wanted fascination. It comes from the fact that here in Ireland it just rains a lot. Because we are close to the prevailing weather fronts coming in from the Atlantic and that’s why Ireland is known as the country of the forty shades of green.

August 14, 2002
Neb Abed (30) from Tehran, Iran:
Is it true that your mother always wanted you to become a priest or is it just a rumour here in Iran? R.S.V.P Thanks
Chris de Burgh:
My mother never wanted me to be a priest, it’s just a rumour. No, I have never had any interest in becoming a part of organized religion. Although I am sure a lot of people do, I have different believes.

August 13, 2002
Chris Raymond (51) from Whitton, Twickenham, UK:
Hi Chris! Ages ago we heard that you were having a property in Wicklow refurbished as a new family home. We never heard the outcome... Have you moved and settled in there? Also would you ever return to Bargy Castle and make it your home?
Chris de Burgh:
Yes, I am refurbishing house in Wicklow and I hope to move in very soon and Bargy Castle will remain in the family as long as possible, as long as I have anything to do with it. Because I have spent a considerable amount of time and money making it comfortable for my mother to live in and as a family home for the future. Because I am firmly committed to the idea that architecture and beautiful homes must be protected for future generations.

August, 12 2002
Colette Gifford (29) from Whitby, Canada:
One incredibly witty question (or attempt at such): You've obviously done a lot of live shows around the world, what's been the craziest thing to happen to you on stage?
Chris de Burgh:
Just about everything that could possibly have happened, has happened. From equipment failing in the Cardiff Ice Hockey Arena. One side of the system failed. So I climbed off the stage, walked through the audience, had a word with the sound technician, threatened him with a chair (in a very light-hearted manner I might say), and walked back to the stage again, got on and it worked. I think, as a stage performer, you have to be ready for just about anything. As they say about coming to Ireland to visit: “You’ve got to expect the unexpected.” I’ve had people jump onto the stage in Russia for example, and I suddenly found somebody pushing flowers into my face and hugging and kissing, unexpected things like that. I often have arguments with security men, who refuse to let people get up and dance and sing and express themselves. Even now I have to remind them that it’s not their concert, it’s your concert, you people out there who have come to the concert. And one bossy security man, walking round with headphones on and earpieces can actually ruin the vibe for everybody in a concert. So I’ve actually clipped people over the head, I’ve shouted at the security men to let people go. And I always ask my assistant Chris Andrews to make sure, if that happens, that the security men are pulled off from the front of the stage to the side, so that people can come up and dance. It’s very important for me to have that happen. But apart from that, just about everything that could have happened has happened.

August, 11 2002
Morten Rose (27) from Denmark:
Hi Chris, when did you record your first music video/clip ? And what song was it ? - It is very hard to find your music videos, couldn't you take a serious talk with A&M Records, so we could get a video with all your clips?
Chris de Burgh:
Hi Morten! I’ve been into your website, and it’s very interesting! Thank you for all the help that you’ve given me and to all the fans out there on the internet. It’s a very good site, congratulations!
My first music clip was a short film. I believe that was my first one, if I can remember correctly, it was for the whole song “Crusader”, the nine minute epic, or whatever it was in length. We have a plan to get all the videos together that I have done, starting from there up to the present day and present them on a DVD. And by the way, A&M Records no longer exist, it was bought over by another company which was then bought over by another one and another one and another one. So there are fond memories from A&M Records, but they no longer exist.

August, 10 2002
Christine (26) from Portland, Oregon, USA:
First and foremost, I have to say that I have been a voracious fan since 92' and been completely in love with the power and honesty I feel and hear in your music. If you were to suggest one of your songs as a wedding song for a couple, which would you choose? I am getting married next year and would love any ideas you might have. Best to you, Chris, and know that your US fans LOOOOOOOVEEEEEEEEEE YOUUUUUUUUU!!!
Chris de Burgh:
Thank you for support, I am glad you’re a fan. Well, I think “In A Country Churchyard” is often played at weddings. And more recently, one of my favourites is “Love Of The Heart Divine” from the album “Quiet Revolution”.

August, 9 2002
Cesar D. Quintero (29) from Madrid, Spain:
Hi Chris! I've noticed that in your late albums you explore a little less the Medieval/fantasy/historic side on songs like "The girl with April in her eyes", "Crusader", "The tower" that in your first albums, which had this magic feeling overall... Have you lost interest on these themes? Can we expect to see some more of this in the future? Thanks for being there! Cesar. P.S. Give a hug to Diane, Rosanna, Michael and Hubie! :)
Chris de Burgh:
In earlier albums I did the medieval, fantasy, historic side. I suppose to a certain extent I was getting caught up in attempting to be a little bit more aware of my obligations as a live performer. In the later albums I was very much writing songs for a live performance in big venues, because I was doing the football arenas and big places, like the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund. And that coloured the way I wrote songs. It doesn’t mean that I no longer want to go into these medieval themes, but perhaps, most likely in fact, I will return to those areas. I found that I was getting branded as some kind of weirdo, medieval sort of religious freak or fanatic because of my interest. But that didn’t cover the whole spectrum. Stuff like “Crusader” and “The Girl With April In Her Eyes”, they were just gentle looks into the past. And I think having been brought up in an old castle, it certainly helped me to fantasize about those times and put their romantic feelings into my songs. When I go back to listen to songs like “The Tower”, it’s such a beautiful old-fashioned, medieval feeling. It is tempting to return their one day. Perhaps on the next album. I have already got plans for the next album and am writing songs for that one.

August, 8 2002
Gabriele Krzemien (45) from Hannover, Germany:
I tried to buy your biography written by Tony Clayton-Lea, but it was out of print very soon after it was published. I looked for it in so many book-stores in Germany and even in England. Will it give a new edition in the foreseeable future?
Chris de Burgh:
I’m sorry but I have no idea what the background is, whether it is available for sale or not.

August, 7 2002
Andy Claridge (21) from Warwickshire, England:
I'd like to know, when you are recording tracks in the studio, how much of the backing (keyboards/bass etc...) is notated? Do you give the musicians a lead sheet and they do the rest, or do they play what's written note for note? Are there any instances where you wish they had played things slightly differently!!?
Chris de Burgh:
Well, unfortunately I can’t read or write music. So what I do in that circumstance is something completely different. On my most recent album “Timing Is Everything” I stood in the middle of a small recording home studio with Chris Porter, surrounded by a drummer in a sound booth closely, a keyboard player, a guitar player, and subsequently a base player. And the base player in fact was the drummer, so when I said subsequently, I meant that he put his part on afterwards. And I stood in the middle of the room with a guitar, shouting into a microphone as loudly as I could with as much emotion as I could get into all the songs. And hopefully got across the feeling and the intentions that I wanted to get into the music. There’s something I’ve also done on a frequent basis which is write out for the musicians the story that I have in my head for the song in question, so they can have a better understanding of what I’m trying to achieve. Then subsequently, at a completely different place, elsewhere in the world, I put the vocals on.
The last part of your question, well this always happens. Even if I listen back to some of my older records, I think “oh, what a pity I didn’t do such and such”. But what you do is, on a certain date, for example when I finished “Timing Is Everything”, I walked out of the studio, gave Chris a hug and said “Right, that’s it. Finished, mixed, on this day, at this time, at this moment in time. We cannot come back and change anything. That’s it.” You have to make a decision, and you stick with that decision. And there might be a few moments of regret in years to come, but very very few.

August, 6 2002
Barbara Murrell (34) from Hertfordshire, England:
Hi Chris, Have you ever thought of writing a song from a gay perspective? You are so perceptive in your writing I think you could do all your gay fans a real service by writing such a song. Or do you feel that could be seen as promoting the wrong thing?
Chris de Burgh:
Actually, curiously enough, I never have seen me writing a song from this perspective. It has never occurred to me until this very minute. But it certainly appeals to me, because I have absolutely no problem about how people’s genetic make up has turned out, or how they want to live their lives. It’s completely up to them. And I must admit I always get very offended by how the media attempt to align our points of view with their own, which is to raise a lot of fuzz and drama about, you know for example, how couples split up. What happens in somebody private life is utterly private. And if that’s the way they want to live, we must let them live like that and be tolerant. And this applies to so many things in life. For example religion. If people stopped killing each other because they disagreed with somebody else’s religious faith and point of view, the world would be one hell of a safer place. So, Barbara, that is an interesting question and I will certainly address it. And another thing somebody once asked me to write about, which was from the point of view of an adopted child. The child who has been given away for whatever reason by the father and the mother, usually the mother for adoption. And how this particular area in their lives can haunt some adopted children for a long time.

August, 5 2002
Modestas (33) from Lithuania:
Dear Chris, do you like to go for an angling or hunting?
Chris de Burgh:
Well, unfortunately, although I was brought up in the country, I never showed much of an interest for fishing. Although I did a bit of coarse fishing off boats out at sea. And certainly killing birds or animals just for sport never appealed to me. I think it’s despicable in my opinion to actually people enjoy killing little birds and beautiful deer. There is a necessity in some cases for what we call cull, which means that if there are too many animals to support all of them on a section of land, then you have to unfortunately remove some of them so that the others survive. Hunting, I am wondering if you mean horse hunting as well. I did a bit of that when I was young, ponies and horses. But I never was that drawn to it.

August, 4 2002
Gabriele (35) from Heilbronn, Germany:
One of my favourite songs is "Discovery". What made you write this song? And now that it’s possible, would you like to fly as a tourist into space to see the world from outside?
Chris de Burgh:
I wrote this song from the point of view of a sailor in the 15th century who is about to leave his love. It’s a very visual song for me. I can see him getting out of the bed at dawn, going down to the harbour to board his ship that would take him round the world and away from home for maybe a year. And this was a time of enormous courage, also it was driven by commercial interest, but nobody really knew what was on the other side of the world. This was also a time when a lot of people thought that the world was flat and you fell off the edge. And that’s referred to is when they discovered that their horizon was limitless as they went further West in their ships like Columbus and Vasco de Gama. They found that of course the world must be round because of the way it was shaped with the horizon. And round from the East Indies where spices were the currency of trading. And it’s just a gentle song. And then when they return on the ship, as the ship founders in the bay, he realizes where he is at night, as the storm comes. And he looks up, and his girlfriend or his wife has left a candle in her window every night to show him the way home. It’s a love song as well as everything else. And then we have the feeling that one day Galileo, one of the great thinkers of his time, said “One day man will leave the planet and look down from the outside”. Of course that’s exactly what happened, when the Apollo missions went up and the Soyus and the Sputniks from Russia and America. And it’s a looking forward way of looking at how our world is developed. And the point behind it is that without these brave men, heading off to space or heading off to unknown worlds, we would really not discover anything which is why I called it “Discovery”.

August, 3 2002
Katherine Paiva (16) from Ontario, Canada:
My English group is analysing your song, "The Sound of A Gun" and were wondering if you could give us some insight on the construction of the poem and how you came about writing such a powerful piece of work?
Chris de Burgh:
“The Sound Of A Gun” really is a song I wrote during a lot of the very troubled times in Ireland. And I think that song came from the album “Man On The Line, so that would have been the early 80s. And there was a lot of terrorist activity going on, a lot of people being shot at random, people’s families being destroyed, the children getting caught up in it all. And the keyword in this song, Katherine, is the word “only”, the word “Only the sound of a gun”. It’s an ironic use of the word “only”. Because it’s a shocking thing to hear gunfire, particularly in a country certainly where I live, where guns are virtually banned apart from sporting activities. And to hear it in streets for example, particularly when the weapon is used to kill, it’s a shocking thing. And it’s like the mother is saying to the child “hush child, go to sleep, it’s only the sound of a gun”. It’s like they got so used to this going on that they are trying to live through it. It’s a bit obscure at the beginning: “I have seen the diamond stylus, cut a groove from north to south”. That is an oblique reference to what was happening in the country that I live in, how it tears people apart, how one murder on one side of the divide can cause the same happening on the other side, as we see at the moment in this Palestine-Israel conflict.

August, 2 2002
Seth Phipps (20) from Bath, Somerset, UK:
I am really keen on the Spanish version of The Lady in Red, but confused by one of the lines, "mis calves del amor". The closest translation I can work out is 'My bald spots of the love'. Is this what it means? (If so, is it a joke or a euphemism?), or have I got it totally wrong? Also, is it fair to say the tone is remarkably different to the English version? I've only just got into your music, so I don't know if I'm missing something obvious.
Chris de Burgh:
“Mis calves del amor” – I really don’t think that’s what I sang. Because “my bald spots of the love”..? I nearly sang the translation. But I haven’t got a copy of this unfortunately. I probably have to find it somewhere to check, but I think the tone is different to the English version. But I’ll have to check it again to find out what it was exactly. I may have been mumbling there or got it wrong.

August, 1 2002
Gabi Knobloch (34) from Berg-Starnberger See, Germany:
Hey Chris, my question is very simple: Do you speak German a little bit and can you write in German language?
Chris de Burgh:
I speak German only a very little bit. But having been there so many times during the last 20 years or so, I do understand quite a bit. So if I am in a bar for example, and I am listening to conversations, or in a restaurant, I can actually understand a lot of what’s being said. So this is aimed at all you German fans: I do know what you’re talking about, and I am just smiling about that. I think it’s nice to be able to get a smattering bit of a foreign language. I speak French fluently, and I am not so bad at Spanish. And English I am quite good at too, as you may have noticed. And no, I can’t write in the German language.

July, 31 2002
Chris and Stewart Williams (50/52) from Essex, England:
What kind of books do you normally read and what book are you currently reading?
Chris de Burgh:
The book I am currently reading is called “Bird Song” and I love reading. But I must admit, because I am so busy at the moment, I find it difficult to find the time to sit down and read, because, I am sure like a lot of people, I feel guilty about giving away the time to sit down and read. But bedtime reading is always nice. Although there is another thing I like to do at bedtime, and no, I am not talking about that. I am talking about just lying back and reviewing the day, running it through my head to ensure that nothing jumps out of my dreams to disturb me. But yeah, I read quite a bit. Thank you for the question.

July, 30 2002
Ana (22) from Santiago, Chile:
Dear Chris, first of all thank you for your wonderful songs, it's nice to see that someone sings to love the way you do! I would like to know something about the song "you look beautiful" did you really run into an ex girlfriend before writing it? Cause it happened to me and I have to tell you that every word you say in your song applies to what I felt then... Thanks for making, through your songs, our lives better.
Chris de Burgh:
I am just trying to remember why I wrote this. No, it wasn’t about an ex-girlfriend, but again I am referring to my rich imagination. If I were to run into an ex-girlfriend, this is, I am sure, how I would react. It’s really about two people who are in love in their late teens, say early 20s, and they fell apart, because they just weren’t ready for one another. And they meet again, say 4 or 5 years later, and they both had different experiences with different people. And suddenly they are both more mature and realize the spark that brought them together in the first place is still a spark that could easily turn into a flame, as I said one time in the song “High On Emotion”.

July, 29 2002
Rayan Chibani (17) from Lebanon:
Hi Chris, I am Lebanese and I heard that you made a song named "Lebanese Night" with Elissa (Lebanese singer). Is that true and did you enjoy working with her? Waiting to see you in Lebanon soon.
Chris de Burgh:
Yes, Elissa does appear on my song “Lebanese Night”, which I wrote following a visit to Beirut. It is nothing necessarily just to do with Lebanon. It’s actually about children being caught up in terms of war, which I referred to earlier. It was terrific to work with Elissa, a very talented lady, and it was a pleasure to meet somebody like her, who is so well known in her area of the world.

July, 28 2002
Jorn Wagemakers (18) from Odijk, The Netherlands:
What is the name of the first single of your new album Timing Is Everything?
Chris de Burgh:
The first single of the new album is called “Guilty Secret”.

July, 27 2002
Ian McDonald (37) from Surrey, BC, Canada:
I imagine a lot of thought goes into choosing a name for an album. How do you come up with the names and do you have any interesting stories about how an album name was chosen?
Chris de Burgh:
Coming up with the title for an album has been sometimes extraordinary difficult. It means writing down as many thoughts as you possibly can on a piece of paper. What I try to do is reflect the feeling of the album, the mood of the album. Tied into that, it is very important to be able to give the marketing people some kind of phrase or tool that they could use to create a strong visual image. Back in the good old days of vinyl records, you could have a very nice big visual image, but now the CD is smaller, more limited, and has to be more powerful and direct. For example in the 80s, I had two albums with the titles of songs on it, which actually reflected the album. One was “The Getaway” and “Man On The Line”. And the next ones were “Into The Light” and then “Flying Colours”. “Into The Light” was the feeling of this music erupting from a box in the colours that were actually on the cover. And it is the feeling of the music was in the dark, and now it’s been born into the light. And “Flying Colours” is that feeling of going through turbulence, particularly when you’re flying. You know the feeling when you are flying up through heavy dense clouds and suddenly you burst through into the sunshine and it’s absolutely cloudless and it’s a blue sky. Kind of colours that you never even imagined in the greyness underneath. That’s the feeling I was trying to convey with “Flying Colours”. Subsequently we had “This Way Up”. That was a feeling. And it is also something you see frequently on boxes and freight, which is a sign saying “this way up”. Then we had “Power Of Ten”, which was the tenth album, and it is also a mathematical word “the power of ten”. The most recent ones, “Timing Is Everything” and the one before that “Quiet Revolution”, both of which are title tracks.

July, 26 2002
Helen (28) from London, UK:
Martyn Joseph supported you at the first live concert I went to (Birmingham, 1992). When will he support you on tour again?
Chris de Burgh:
I am very fond of Martyn Joseph. Indeed I spoke to him a few weeks ago. I hope it might be an opportunity for us to work again in the future.

July, 25 2002
Louis Picotte (39) from Granby, Quebec, Canada:
Do you find it easier to write songs when you are sad or unhappy or experiencing tougher times or do joyful events inspire you more? Thanks for taking time to answer.
Chris de Burgh:
Sometimes I get emotional about things. Like I said earlier in “Carry Me Like A Fire In My Heart”, or even earlier, I got very emotional about “The Last Time I Cried”, because that was a song that came out during a plane flight when I was reading about the butcher of Lyon, who was being trialled for his part in eliminating a lot of people who go to these prison camps. And by the time I got there I had already written down a lot of the words. Generally speaking, I need to be in a fairly even mood. But I’ve got a very strong imagination, where I can imagine myself being very sad or the opposite, very happy. And I can put myself in those moods through the songs and indeed that’s what I am trying to convey in my music.

July, 24 2002
Malcolm Wilkes (49) from Cornwall, England:
When and where was the very last concert you did with your former band? Danny, Jeff and the others? They went so quietly I would have given anything to see them for the last time had I known? Have you played with them since the sad death of Glenn Morrow?
Chris de Burgh:
That would have been, I think, Dortmund at the end of our concert tour of 94/95. And it was a very tough time for everybody, because Glenn Morrow was very ill. In fact, he was in such pain from his cancer that he found it very difficult to even walk up onto the stage and play the gig. So he showed immense courage right to the very end. And since then I have briefly met most of them in Toronto a few years ago. I know that Jeff is living in California, Ian Kojima is in Toronto, Al Marnie is down in Florida and Danny McBride is living as an artist successfully at the West Coast of Canada. And Glenn of course died.

July, 23 2002
Mehrnoosh F. Ordoobadi (15) from Iran:
Hi Chris, I’ve always wondered what are the three books you’d bring to the solitude island with yourself?
Chris de Burgh:
I would take #1 the London Times World Atlas, because I’d want know where I was, and I am fascinated by the world, having travelled so much around it, and this is one of the most amazing atlases of all. It covers the stars as well as the planets and the world itself. Very interesting.
The second choice would be the collective works of Oscar Wilde, who I feel is the greatest writer in English, in my opinion. He is not only a fantastic playwright, he also wrote wonderful children’s stories like “The Selfish Giant”, and I just love his books and his poetry. He also wrote the play “Salome” in fluent French which is an astounding achievement for such an extraordinary play.
And the third one I would bring, it would be my favourite childhood book which is “Moonfleet”, which you have probably read about in the past.

July, 22 2002
Marie (23) from Tehran, Iran:
Hi, Chris. This is a very special moment for me. I loved your music the moment I heard it, when I was around 12. But your first song that really touched and spoke to me was "Carry Me". It was so sad and glad at the same time, and so eternal, to me it sounded like a "tribute to life" , its ups and downs, the pain and the joy of it. My question is this: Does it come from a personal experience? Is it dedicated to anyone in particular? What were your own feelings when you wrote it? There's one more thing I want to say and that is: thank you so much for the gift of your music.
Chris de Burgh:
Let me say at this point, I am really thrilled by the amount of messages I read on the website from people all over the world and from Iran. Not just in particular, but I know that this is a country that I am popular in and I was speaking to some Iranian people recently about my desire to go back there and they gave me the feeling that it may not be possible at the moment. Certainly not to go there and play and sing. But it’s certainly a dream I will like to continue with, and I would love to do it some day. And again I want to point out that I read everything that goes on the website, including the chatrooms, the messages, the Man On The Line section and the guestbook. It is just great to see the interest, and I very much hope that people will carry on doing this, and acknowledge that I am reading what they are saying, and I hope they like the new album.
The song “Carry Me Like A Fire In Your Heart” was written for a friend of mine, whose wife was killed in a riding accident, where she and a companion drowned in a river, which had become flooded. My friend’s wife, who was also a friend of mine, her body was found 3 or 4 days later. I remember going to see my friend Mark and he believed that she may not have died. She may have been kidnapped, because he was a high profile businessman. And he was trying to be the strongest man in the country, as it were aware all around him. The grief flowed, because most people really believed that she had gone as it transpired. What I was saying to him in that song “Carry Me Like A Fire In Your Heart” is to say that “I am always here to you, after you have stopped grieving, you’ve got to let the love flow through your life. And we need you here. I know she’s gone and you will meet her again in the next life, but you are currently still in this one and we reach out for you.” And it’s been used a lot, this song, during funerals, and it’s great to hear that it provides comfort to those in distress. In fact, I played it after the funeral. I never thought I’d record it, but I did it on a piano to 40 or 50 people. And the only people in the room who weren’t crying were me (because when you try to sing and cry at the same time, it’s difficult), and my friend Mark who didn’t cry. But when I finished the recording, and I sent him a copy, I heard subsequently that he and his family found great comfort from it, and wept a lot and it helped them to grieve.

July, 21 2002
Debra Gardner (47) from San Antonio, Texas, USA:
You once said that the name de Burgh is in your family and that you are descended from the twelfth-century ones. I gather that since you named one of your sons Hubert that this must include that twelfth-century Hubert de Burgh. Have you run across any other de Burghs in your travels that you know you are related to or is it a rather small bunch by now? Also, I gather that your other last name is Davison. Are you descended on that side from Queen Elizabeth I's poor secretary who got no thanks for carrying out her wishes but spent some time in the tower and lost a lot of his savings? As you can tell, I'm a bit of a history buff and have wondered this ever since I heard your name. Best wishes.
Chris de Burgh:
There is well documented family history on the de Burgh family which starts by Pippin the Great, who was, I believe, the father of Charlemagne, Charles The Great, or possibly the son of, I have to check my book. That name really stamps from about the ninth century, and it goes on through Norman, English and Irish history, as Burgh, de Burgh, de Burgo. They were kings and barons and earls. A lot of marriage into the de Burgh family, like for example King William the I, William the Conqueror, who conquered England in 1066, was married to a de Burgh from Normandy. And he name Hubert de Burgh is very much a family name. In King John’s time, his chief justitior, the chief lawmaker and basically top man after the king, was Hubert de Burgh and the name is very much a family name. The Davison name, I am unaware of what happened to Queen Elizabeth’s secretary. But that is from my father’s side of the family and I believe it originated in Scandinavia.

July, 20 2002
Dirma (22) from Rimbey, Canada:
Where in Nigeria did you live, and do you still follow the country's news?
Chris de Burgh:
I lived outside of Lagos, and I have to point out that I was really only 7 or 8 years old. I don’t remember an awful lot about it, well, a fair bit. Certainly the heat and the market places and so on. Yes, I am interested in how the country is progressing and I hope to go back to Lagos one day.

July, 19 2002
Francine Carriere (38) from Cornwall, Ontario, Canada:
Do you have any special interests or hobbies that do not pertain to the music industry?
Chris de Burgh:
Well I’m a very well rounded person and in that respect I am interested in a lot of things, in politics, in history, in sport. When we were in the middle of the world cup, I watched every single match I think. I enjoy playing the odd round of golf, although it is not as much as usual because I have been very much involved in this building project in County Wicklow in Ireland of this old house. We have renovations going, and it’s really a gift for future generations, I think. The work that we’ve done there will ensure that it will be enjoyed by families yet to be born for the next 250 years. But generally speaking I am not like a stamp collector or anything like that, but I do have wide interests. And when it comes back to music, I listen to music but not a lot. I don’t think about it too much, unless I am actually working on something. I am not obsessive about playing the piano or the guitar. Days can go by, if not weeks, without me touching either of those instruments.

July, 18 2002
Billy (36) from Düsseldorf, Germany:
If you really like a new song and people around you don’t like it that much, will you put it on an album, and did you ever regret to have released a song?
Chris de Burgh:
Well, if I really like something and others don’t, I usually listen to opinions, but also I listen to my own heart as well. Ironically I had it the other way round, early in my career. I never forget, during a playback of my album “Spanish Train And Other Stories”, or actually prior to that, I never thought “Lonely Sky” was a good song, because a couple of people, right early on in the recording process, they didn’t like it very much. So I thought that it’s a lot of rubbish, but we record it anyway. But at the playback to the record company, they thought it is fantastic, and now it has gone on to become a very popular kind of classical Chris de Burgh song. So, without sounding big-headed, I have to say that I’ve got skill in song writing now, to the point where I think it’s unlikely that I ever turn out a really bad one. But it’s turning out the really good ones that’s the difficult part.

July, 17 2002
Susan from Madison, Ohio, USA:
I am curious about a song (?) title I ran across somewhere on the web several months ago attributed to you called "Michael and Me". No one seems to know about it, so is it a possible title for a song that changed (Like The Son and the Father, as in it changed to that), or am I experiencing a bad Weird Al moment?
Chris de Burgh:
It was never actually called “Michael And Me”. But the song “The Son And The Father” was basically, I had my newborn at that time son Michael in my head. Because I wrote a song for Hubie called “Just A Word Away”, my older boy. And of course for my daughter who is now 18, Rosanna, “For Rosanna” in 1986 on the album “Into The Light”.

July, 16 2002
Mark Stepanuik (30) from Winnipeg, Canada:
I was just wondering in your earlier music what made you use biblical references and history in your music?
Chris de Burgh:
I have always been fascinated by biblical references, not only in literature but also in church music obviously, and in icons and pictures. And it’s only actually relatively recently in the last few centuries that we’ve drawn away from virtually every painting that you find in the renaissance time for example wasn’t just... It only became naked ladies later on. But a lot of them, in fact the majority were of Christ in various scenes, you know the cross, or being born with his mother, the Virgin Mary, and so on. It’s kind of very much around us. And historical and biblical references, I think, bring an extra dimension for example in my song “Crusader”, “Spanish Train”, loosely based on a poem by John Milton, the English poet. The poem was called “Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained”. I am kind of fascinated and interested in that period and I think it brings a colour to music that gives it far more than just one dimension.

July, 15 2002
Deborah Thompson (30 something) from Belleville, Ontario, Canada:
If you could affect change on just one issue, what would it be, and what song would be the catalyst?
Chris de Burgh:
This is a very difficult and deep question. Particularly because of the fact that I am just a songwriter and it’s not possible, in my opinion, for individuals to change the world. It’s collective thoughts that perhaps individuals can put into painting or poetry or music that attracts the attention like a magnet can of other people’s opinions. I suppose in the past I’ve been drawn to the way that war affects individuals. When you see statistics of the numbers of people killed in wars, millions and millions for example in the last century in various kinds of wars. These are all individuals. They were all once upon a time little babies, they grew, they were loved by their parents, brothers and sisters. And so my interest has always been in children in times of war. And one song I wrote from the album “Flying Colours”, called “The Last Time I Cried”, preceded by a song called “The Risen Lord”, they were together, what I had in my head was a man watching a video, 50 years after the second world war, of what happened during that terrible time. And he watches a scene where a train is being packed with refugees to head off to the prison camps. And the soldier is pointing his gun at this small boy. And as this man looks at the soldier, he realizes with horror that that actually is him, it looks just like him. But it could not have been him, because obviously he was only a baby when all this happened. But it looks like it could be him. And when he looks at the little boy that’s having a gun pointed at him, he realizes again with horror that that looks like it’s his own child, who is asleep in his arms at that point, maybe aged about 6 or 7.
And I suppose the answer to this question is I would be really interested to know how the change of the warlike aspect of human beings, particularly in men, that would be a prime and most brilliant thing to achieve. I know it’s in our genetic structure and our make up why we fight, but if there was a way of dissolving that, particularly in this enlightened time that we are living in, where there is a much more spiritual attitude towards life. I think that would be the major change I would go for.