American Top 40 PastBlast, 5/16/87: Chris de Burgh, “The Lady in Red”

Honestly, there aren’t that many songs I’m digging on this chart. Yes, I love “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” at #15, but I wrote about it last year. Fleetwood Mac’s “Big Love,” at #7, is pretty decent, and “With or Without You,” all the way at the top, is one of my favorite U2 singles.  While there were several pop hits later in the year that I found quite appealing, listening to this show reminds me again that my Top 40-listening days were getting to be fewer in number by the end of that first year in Illinois.

But I can find one at least one more tune here worthy of consideration. It’s definitely a sappy love song weekend here at PastBlast Central, ‘cause here comes “The Lady in Red.” I thought Chris de Burgh’s “Don’t Pay the Ferryman,” from early summer 83, was a great song, and I really liked “High on Emotion,” the next single I heard, even if it didn’t quite make the 40. This ballad, though, was by far his biggest success, going top 5 in at least eight countries (#1 in four of them), and deservedly so. (It made to #3 in the US; it’s still climbing, at #5 here.) It’s a tender, beautiful track, as understated as “Love’s Grown Deep” is overdone. I’ll take the low-key approach 95 (or more) times out of 100 these days.