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Said in one of his last interviews John Lennon when asked which songs he likes to listen to: “Fool If You Think It’s Over” by Chris Rea.
Chris Rea played the song shyly on Top Of The Pops in 1978. He sang: “New born eyes always cry in pain.” The song was so big and beautiful that Rea needed a few records to write such great songs again.
But nothing against “Tennis”, against “Water Sign”, against “Wired To The Moon”!
The masterpiece
In 1985, Rea released Shamrock Diaries, his masterpiece. He was an Italian-Irish man born March 4, 1951 who didn’t learn guitar until he was 20 years old. Now he remembered the “Stainsby Girls”. Wonderful “Josephine” – a song not about a lover, but about his daughter. This song was everywhere back then.
A year later, “On The Beach” was everywhere. The motif, the unforgettable one, was originally played on the keyboard. Rea then played it on the guitar. A video was shot showing the shy and modest man, blonde and tanned, on the beach and in front of sunrises.
“The Road To Hell” made him even more famous. Rea hardly appeared anywhere, but he defined the 80s.
The later years
When the ’80s were over, he recorded “God’s Great Banana Skin.” I had the opportunity to talk to him. He explained the banana peel and talked about the happiness of driving a racing car. He made the album “Auberge” out of it.
“Driving Home For Christmas” is played on the radio every year. Also this year.
When he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Chris Rea went on a tour of Russia and took the necessary injections in his stomach. Since “Stony Road” he only played Delta blues and painted blue guitars.
When I go home for Christmas I see a picture of a blue guitar in my old room.
Today the silent master Chris Rea died at the age of 74.