Line #4 Music/ChrisDeBurgh


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cdebugh.jpg]]
2
3	->''Oh my heart is spinning like a wheel,\
4	Only she can see the way that I feel,\
5	Eyes are holding right across the room,\
6	High explosion coming out of the blue.''
7	-->-- "High on Emotion"
8
9	Chris de Burgh is an Anglo-Irish singer-songwriter, born in Argentina. He has been active since 1974, mainly in the genres of soft pop, soft rock and easy listening. SmallReferencePools know him by his 1986 hit "The Lady in Red" and by extension other SillyLoveSongs, but his output is actually quite a bit more varied than that. He often uses religious themes in his songs, sometimes explicitly and sometimes more of the EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory variety. He is also known due to his daughter Rosanna ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the subject of the song]] "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Rosanna]]") winning Miss World in 2003 (as Miss Ireland) and for being the ArchEnemy of musical comedian Music/BillBailey.
10
11	----
12	!!His songs contain examples of:
13	* AfterlifeExpress: ''Spanish Train'', sort of.
14	* AncientAstronauts: In ''A Spaceman Came Travelling'' the Christmas angel is an alien astronaut and the Star of Bethlehem is his starship.
15	* ArtifactOfHope: ''The Mirror of the Soul'' feature one that fell from the skies - a gem that shines on its own which OnlyThePureOfHeart can use. A CorruptChurch tries to use it to sell forgiveness, and has to fraudulently use to the sunlight to make it shine.
16	* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The opening of ''This Waiting Heart''.
17	* ChessWithDeath: Variation in ''Spanish Train'', in which Christ and Satan play poker to decide the fates of souls. [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] later in the outro of the very same song:
18	--> And far away in some recess\
19	The Lord and the Devil are now playing chess\
20	The Devil still cheats and wins more souls\
21	And as for the Lord, well, he's just doing his best
22	* CoolGate: The "doorway to another world" in ''Heart of Darkness''.
23	* CoverVersion: He has done a number of covers; the album ''Footsteps'' consists entirely of them, showcasing his musical influences, save for short BookEnds songs at the start and end ''about'' how these songs have influenced him.
24	* CrazyJealousGuy: The narrator of ''The Painter''.
25	* EldritchAbomination: In ''Heart of Darkness''.
26	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The subject of the "Leader Trilogy" (''The Leader''/''The Vision''/''What About Me?'').
27	* EnglishRose: Referenced by "Rose of England", where the title character is a young UsefulNotes/ElizabethI.
28	* FrankensteinsMonster: ''Making the Perfect Man'' starts out as a pastiche of the classic origin, complete with the MadScientistLaboratory and TorchesAndPitchforks.
29	* GreenAesop: ''Shine On'', although it's less {{anvilicious}} than most, being more generally about being aware of history and preserving the world in general for future generations.
30	* TheGrimReaper: Implied in ''Don't Pay the Ferryman'' (the Charon/Styx version).
31	* HistoricalDowngrade: Given to Saladin in ''Crusader'', where he is depicted as an arrogant brute who [[ShootTheMessenger struck a messenger down for delivering bad news]], rather than the common historical depiction of a noble knight.
32	* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Despite being Anglo-Irish, he was actually never popular in the UK to the same extent as that of most of mainland Europe and Brazil.
33	* ThePowerOfFriendship: ''Snows of New York''.
34	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: The Revolution trilogy (''The Revolution''/''Light a Fire''/''Liberty''), until the end at least when it's asked if anything has really changed to justify the bloodshed.
35	* TheRoaringTwenties: ''Patricia the Stripper'' is set in 1924.
36	* RousseauWasRight / PatrickStewartSpeech: ''The Spirit of Man''.
37	* SanitySlippageSong: ''The Painter'', in which the narrator is driven insanely jealous due to suspicions his wife is being seduced by the titular painter.
38	* {{Sequel}}: ''Five Past Dreams'' is effectively a sequel to ''Lady in Red'', while ''Say Goodbye to it All'' is a sequel to ''Borderline''.
39	* ShoutOut: Fairly often to Music/TheBeatles, who are one of his major influences.
40	** The title of his album ''Footsteps'', as is made explicit in the original BookEnds songs at the start and end, is a reference to the famous disputed-authorship poem [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footprints_%28poem%29 "Footprints in the Sand"]]. This is also referenced in the song ''Snows of New York'':
41	--> ''In my dream we walked, you and I, to the shore''
42	--> ''Leaving footprints by the sea''
43	--> ''And when there was just one set of prints in the sand''
44	--> ''That was when you carried me''.
45	** ''Where We Will Be Going'' consists almost entirely of oblique references (compare Music/DonMcLean's ''American Pie'', which de Burgh covers as one of his influences on ''Footsteps''). The readily identifiable ones include the Apollo moon landing, the assassinations of UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy and Music/JohnLennon, and ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.
46	* SillyLoveSongs: Has done quite a few of these, and SmallReferencePools would suggest it's ''all'' he's done.
47	* SmallReferencePools: Often known only for his hit ''Lady in Red''. Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 gets some props for instead referencing ''Don't Pay the Ferryman''.
48	* StalkerWithACrush: ''Talk To Me''.
49	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The song ''I'm Not Crying'' consists almost entirely of this trope.
50	* UnitConfusion: A fairly famous example in ''A Spaceman Came Travelling'', which explicitly refers to "light-years ''of time''".
51	* WarIsGlorious: ''Last Night'', although it's subverted at the end.
52	* WarIsHell: Most of his war songs use this trope, such as ''This Song for You'' and ''Borderline''.
53	* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: ''Shine On'', ''Discovery'', ''The Connemara Coast'' among others.
54	* UsefulNotes/WorldWarI: The setting of ''This Song for You''.
55	* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: The subject of ''Borderline'' and ''Say Goodbye To It All''--most of the war happens between the two songs; in some performances this is indicated by an interlude in which the sounds of marching and explosions are heard.

Context Music / ChrisDeBurgh