100 Great Songs to Publish a Book to, #28: Chris de Burgh, Say Goodbye to It All

Seldom has such a promising rock-music career been so spectacularly self-immolated.  The year was 1986, and the album was called Into the Light.  Over the preceding decade, de Burgh had been getting better with each album and was finally beginning to enjoy some popularity as a purveyor of pretty decent rock songs.  Then, the fourth track on side one of Into the Light changed everything.

I shan’t despoil my list by mentioning its name, but you know the song I’m talking about: one of the lamest, most syrupy, cloying, stomach-churning “love” songs ever written.  And, in a twist of the richest irony, it became a huge global hit and made de Burgh the star he actually deserved to be.  Thereafter, however, the pretty decent rock songs were ditched in favour of more of the same mushy tripe, and those of us who care about these things were left to wonder what great songs de Burgh might have written but for that one, awful track.

Nevertheless, before the disaster of the song-which-shall-not-be-named, de Burgh delivered some highly respectable work.  Ironically enough, Say Goodbye to It All actually followed the song-which-shall-not-be-named to round out side one of Into the Light, although little did we know that we were indeed saying goodbye to de Burgh’s best work.

Onslaught is out now at the special introductory price of $2.99 in the US here, in the UK here, in Canada here, and in Australia here.