This Way Up

CdeB Mailing List Review
Copyright (c) 1996, Dave Doohan
All rights reserved

This Way Up

Chris de Burgh
1994
A&M Records

This Way Up was recorded and mixed between December 1993 and March 1994. The events preceding the recording of this album have much to do with the album's content. Few cannot be aware of the tragic accident involving Diane (Chris' Wife) falling from her horse and badly breaking here neck. Fortunately she survived, but in the emotional weeks that followed this accident Chris found himself pouring out his feelings to another person, his children's nanny, who he is subsequently alleged to have had an affair with. This album then should be seen as a very personal statement from Chris, about the state of affairs at the time of its creation.

The CD version contains 11 tracks, each of which is discussed in turn, starting with (in my opinion) the strongest, then the weakest, and finally all the others.

The Strongest of TWU

This is Love: (Track 2)

"It's the way that you move, it's the way that you smile, it's your skin on my skin.."

I can remember this kind of feeling well. This is a very good song about the feelings you get when you are really close to someone and you slowly realise that this is more than just friendship, 'this is love.' You can almost picture Chris standing at his love's door, his heart beating, waiting to see if he'll be invited in, anticipating the night ahead!

Here Is Your Paradise(Track 4)

"I Never knew love could be a silence in the heart, a moment when the time is still. And all I've been looking for is right here in my arms.."

Another song reflecting on love, but this time, instead of focusing on the internal emotions, they are poured out to the one you are in love with. It is almost as if Chris is trying to apologise with this song and say look, I may not show it, and you may not see it often enough, in fact "maybe you will never know, how much I love you…" but I feel that you and I are right for each other for life and I need you to understand that. This is a lovely slow, soft lilting tune, of the type that Chris does well.

Oh My Brave Hearts(Track 5)

"They take it from our sons, swear it on my hand. We will return to run here like the wolf. And see the hunter's moon, and watch our river flow..."

A powerful song about being driven from your homeland but vowing one day to return - a great concert song, it has the power of High On Emotion - and the images are well conjured if you let yourself get into the song. Some of the lyrics are suggestive (to me - a Brit remember!) of the American Indian, having to leave the plains and live in a foreign place called a City, but longing to return to the way they knew for centuries, and determining that, one day, they will take back that land that is rightly theirs.

Up Here In Heaven: (Track 8)

"Up here in Heaven, we stand together, both the enemy and the friend, 'til the end of time..."

Back to Chris' favourite theme - war and the eventual pointlessness of it. Witness the lyric "there is nothing worth dying for;". Up here In Heaven starts with a loud rhythmic drum beat, and continues on to conjure images of memorial stones to the dead of many wars, and the talk of the widows thinking of what could have been achieved if these lives had not been taken. As the song progresses you come to realise that the singer is one of those whose lives have passed ("We Can Hear You whisper our names") It finishes by asking, what do you really achieve with these wars, when Up Here In Heaven we are all as one.

The Snows of New York: (Track 11)

"I can see you now, by the light of the dawn, and the sun is rising slow. We have talked all night, and I can't talk anymore, but I must stay and you must go;.."

All about close friendship this one, and persistence of people who hold a strong belief in something. Almost definitely a quote from the poem Footprints is in this song. This version has the guitar "plinking along" in the background and lacks a little of the quality of the version on the Beautiful Dreams Album, but it is still a good example of his slow ballad type song. There have been many interpretations on the lyrics of this song but whatever the real meaning, this remains a powerful song and a great concert closer, taking the place of Peaceful Waters.

The Weakest Of TWU

Blonde Hair, Blue Jeans: (Track 6)

"Blonde Hair, Blue Jeans, best thing I've ever seen. She looks great, she feels good, live in my neighbourhood..."

I'm sure this song has been discussed to death. It's not actually about anyone in particular, it's just that the nanny had blonde hair, blue denims and remarkable though it may seem, lived nearby. This is a much disliked song the fans, not I think because of its content but because of the way it plays. Once again we have the guitar, but this time it is being strummed in that "I only know two chords and these are they!" style. It is sung in a rather breathless way. The suggestion is that he can't get this woman out of his mind, and that never mind what he's said, he's going to be with this woman at any cost.

This Weight On Me: (Track 3)

"He was good and he was famous and a hero to us all, and his name was known and loved all over the world. But the moment he's dead and buried, they are digging up the dirt, they've got newsmen looking through his life for mud"

Chris has never made much of a secret about his feelings towards the general media. I think this song just about shows that feeling!!<g> This song is all about the information overload and the resultant reduction in the quality of news items this has brought about, with newsmen prepared to pry in to every little aspect of someone's life if they think they can just "create" a story that way to fill news time. This song says it's time to stop it - we don't actually want this rubbish that we are getting, and maybe it's time to make ourselves heard and switch off this news. Chris literally shouts this song - I was reminded of Tourist Attraction Or Record Company Bash to some extent.

The Rest of TWU (The Jam In The Middle!)

"I would give anything to be with you now..."

This track opens the album, it's quite a fast paced track - if I was reading in to the lyrics I would say he is hurting from a dose of silent treatment at home, even though he realises his mistakes and wants desperately just to hold his love tight. This is quite a fast paced track to open the album.

The Son And The Father: (Track 7)

"You must have heard me crying, you must have dried my tears, but you know I just can't remember..."

Chris returns to imagery and Father/Son relationships. A little like "One More Mile To Go" on the newer Beautiful Dreams album in the way it tells a story of returning to the place you called home, and your memories of your childhood, and your father in particular, and how, although you are sure he must have been there for you it is difficult to remember too many times.. It then returns to the present, and you are the father now, and you talk of how you will not repeat the mistakes of the past and will make sure your son always remembers you being there when he needed you.

You Are The Reason: (Track 9)

"You are the reason I'll stay in the fight, when I can't take it anymore.."

When the weight of the world feels like it is on your shoulders and yours alone, you have the feelings in this song. It goes on to say that a relationship between a woman and a man is the thing that can give you the strength to continue on when otherwise it would be easy to quit. I can easily picture Chris thinking of Diane when he wrote this one.

Love's Got A Hold On Me: (Track 10)

"Too Many Heartaches, too many tears, Too many women, too many years.."

I feel this is about someone who has, how do I put it, "played the field", been around, had many dates but never had them mean anything and has never been too bothered either and then suddenly, he meets someone special and BAM, love hits him, and he suddenly realises how good that feels, and regrets his previous ways.

So there we have it - that's This Way Up, an album with, I feel a lot more to offer than many give it credit for. It has a fairly good balance of fast, loud songs, and slow story telling ballads, plus the odd love song. Give it a chance - listen beyond the first track, skip "This Weight On Me" if you hated the sentiment of Record Company Bash, and this album MIGHT surprise you!