Top 75 Chris de Burgh Quotes

Being hydrated is a key thing for a singer, especially if you’re spending three hours on stage five nights a week, and wine dehydrates me faster than beer.

I remember years ago hearing a top band talking about a song of theirs that was a monster hit and they were really dissing it, saying that they hoped they’d never have to play it again. I thought: ‘That’s not right. If people love a song, play it.’

I am happy in my own skin.

I studied French and English literature because I liked it.

Americans are much easier to please than Canadians. The American taste is less critical. Canadians are more cultured, they are more aware of the arts than Americans.

I would hate to go out as a legend on tour just playing all the back hits.

When you have children, you almost feel like you’ve made your contribution to the survival of the human species. It’s your way of passing the baton.

I will never forget seeing Alien when it came out in 1979. I’m not that big a fan of horror, but I remember the slow build, the claustrophobic feeling on the spacecraft, this tremendous sense of impending doom.

Canada has a great tradition of supporting songwriters.

After university, I set out to see if I could make a career in music. It was a tough journey at first, but by the time I was 23 I’d been signed by A&M Records.

I’ve been to Australia, Russia and many of places I wanted to see as a child. But I’ve never visited India. I’ve had many invitations to play there but it hasn’t worked out. People say it’s beautiful, but I think I’d react badly to the poverty.

I regularly visualise my body from head to toe, and wait for it to tell me if there’s anything wrong.

I went to Bethlehem in Christmas 2015 to do a television show for German TV and we filmed in the Church of the Nativity, literally above the place where Christ was born.

As a song-writer I have always written with one instrument – either guitar or piano – because I believe that if a song is strong enough to be performed completely stripped down then it is a good one to go on and record.

I love myself. I’m not saying this in a narcissistic way.

I am much loved.

I developed my armour at prep school. I was the smallest guy in the school. I got bullied a lot. So I developed broad shoulders.

Most years, I do 70 or 80 concerts.

Quite simply, to win Miss World is not a ticket to millions and I’ve read that so many times.

When I’m home I love to get the wellies on and take the dog for a walk.

My dad had a dream of living in an Irish castle, even when we were in Argentina, and in 1960 he found a place without any heat or running water. We had no money, so it was tough.

I struggled for so many years.

I have found myself able to cure people with my hands.

We are not politically naive.

I have always had a long term view on records as I want them to be books and not magazines and newspapers that you discard very quickly.

Singing in a restaurant is very demeaning and humiliating but you learn from it, because people aren’t there for a show, they’re there to eat.

I’ve 300 other songs, but ‘Lady In Red’ is just one of them. Funnily enough, in America, it is massive, but most people wouldn’t have a clue who Chris de Burgh was.

I don’t spend much on myself. It’s a bit of a joke within the family.

You get tarred with the brush of ‘Lady in Red.’ I play Russia or China or places all over the world. They don’t even speak English but they know the words. You get a big song like that, and people love it or hate it. And if they don’t like it, they don’t like anything at all by the artist.

I like to be subtle, without being too obvious.

I’m far more interested in putting a little more meat into the lyrics than some people are.

My house is a very calm and beautiful place and is full of positive energy.

I know it sounds glamorous, but it was bloody cold growing up in a castle.

It’s every songwriter’s dream to come up with a standard.

When I held my first album in my hands, I tell you, there were tears falling down my face. I thought ‘This is it. I’ve arrived. I’m going to be an overnight world star.’

I find it amazing when I get letters from people in Israel and people in Lebanon and they both love the music, but in real life they hate each other.

I am a humanist.

People just love stories.

I’m very good to my wife. I never go home.

Vanity is not high on my list of priorities.

I know journalists like to think that they are read by people like me, but I don’t read them.

I can fix dishwashers. I was brought up in a castle with no money and lots of imagination. I learnt a lot about plumbing at an early age.

Robert Browning – I like his dramatic revelations, his allegorical form.

When you’re a solo artist and you’re not doing well, it can be pretty tough. So when success does come, it feels like you’ve earned it.

I know every side of the industry after all these years.

I thought I would be an overnight star when I had a hit record in Brazil with my first album – but things didn’t work out quite like that.

Music was my first love, and at Marlborough we put bands together and sang the pop songs of the day. Although I couldn’t read or write music – I still can’t – I taught myself to play the guitar and piano by listening to songs and working out the chords.

I’m not a big consumer at all. I’m very happy with enough.

Love songs are the most complex to write because everyone knows about it.

A lot of people think they can become world stars overnight.

I come from the school of thought that if you want to succeed and stay successful, you’ve got to put in the hard work at the beginning.

I believe that music is an international language and deserves to be heard all over the world.

I can rock along with the best of them.

It’s tough going out as the opening act of a band especially when you’re solo.

I think it’s the Canadian spirit that encourages people to dream a little bit.

I generally write the songs accidentally. They generally come out of nowhere.

I read about wine every day.

The first confrontation I had with an Aussie wine was a well-known Cabernet/Shiraz and it reminded me of boiled sweets. I find a lot of Australian wines unsubtle.

My wife and I are rock solid together and, curiously enough, always have been.

When I left university, I didn’t want to jump into anything right away. Music certainly wasn’t a burning ambition.

Songs don’t just suddenly arrive like a taxi you have to work on them and you have to put a lot of time and energy and self discipline into creating that kind of thing.

I’m not a fool with my money. I’ve known what it’s like to be poor and I don’t splash it around stupidly.

The role of Miss World is one that my daughter has fulfilled to the best of her abilities.

I know what it’s like to go to a concert, wait to hear your favourite song – and then they don’t play it!

You know what happens if I walk out on the stage in Montreal? They stand up and they cheer for three or four minutes. It just brings tears to your eyes, because it’s a love affair.

I made loads of English and Irish friends at university and all they wanted to do was have a good time.

You get pigeonholed. It’s a kind of safety device for people who don’t really want to look any further outside of the box, but I’m actually impregnable as far as what people say about me.

I’m a strong believer in the importance of energies – ley lines, energy streams, whatever you wish to call them – within a house. They can affect your health as well as your happiness.

I always have to have what I believe are the pillars of an album – songs which I can go back to and admire personally as a piece of writing.

People always try to pigeonhole you, especially the media, who are happy if they can label you as a particular kind of artist. But the spectrum of songs I write and record is vast.

I spent a lot of my childhood saying goodbye because I went to boarding school. I didn’t resent my parents for sending me there so young as I understood the limitations of the education system in Africa, where we lived at the time.

I think that every songwriter would give their right arm to come up with a standard that is going to be played long after they’re dead.

I’m emotionally untouchable.

Canada was one of the first countries that took an interest in my career. Apart from a freak hit I had in South America, Canadians took my ‘Spanish Train’ album to heart and have stuck with me ever since. They’ve been very loyal, and it’s been a long and rewarding affair.

I’ve got a room full of gold and platinum records, a lot of them are Canadian, and I’ve got a very soft spot for that country.