The Lady In Red

Album

Voice: The Complete Season 6 Collection,The (Christina Grimmie)

Label

A&M Records

Genre

Blue-eyed soul

Composer(s)

Chris de Burgh

Entered Chart

Feb 14, 1987

Peak Date

May 23, 1987

Released

20 June 1986

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

A&M 2848

B-Side

"Borderline"

De Burgh started writing this song about his wife Diane, after an argument, but he was having a hard time finishing it. Part of the problem was that he needed a title: he didn't want to use "The Way You Look Tonight," because there there was already a song with that name. As de Burgh tells it, five months later he saw Diane, wearing red, across a crowded nightclub, which gave him the idea for the title. On the British TV series This Is Your Life, de Burgh said that the song was inspired by the memory of when he first saw Diane, and how men so often cannot even remember what their wives were wearing when they first met. On his website, he said the song was not specifically about Diane, but about appreciating the most important people in our lives, who we often take for granted; how we often fail to notice what attracted us to another person in the first place. In this account, he was already married to Diane but didn't realize it was her when he spotted her across the room. Some interesting stuff about Chris de Burgh: he was born in Buenos Aires but moved with his family to Ireland when his diplomat father retired. He and Diane had two sons and a daughter named Rosanna Davison (Chris uses his mother's maiden name for showbiz - his real name is Chris Davison) who was chosen Miss Ireland, 2003 and went on to win the Miss World pageant. De Burgh has talked about his "healing hands," and how he can sometime cure maladies by laying his hands on people as a form of alternative therapy. "Lady In Red" was a huge worldwide hit, going to #1 in 25 different countries. In the UK, it became a huge part of the cultural landscape, with listeners divided over whether it was the sweetest love song ever written or a pile of treacly musical mush. De Burgh was never able to duplicate the success of this song, but he developed a loyal following in Europe, where there was modest but lasting demand for his music. In America, his only other trip to the Top-40 was with his 1982 song "Don't Pay The Ferryman." Some of the movies this song appeared in are American Psycho, Dodgeball, Baby Mama and Working Girl. The real life love story of this song took a hit in the mid-'90s when de Burgh revealed that he had an affair with the 19 year old nanny he employed while his wife was recovering from a horseback riding accident. After some public contrition, with de Burgh saying "I don't want to gamble with my marriage and my family," he and Diane remained together.

I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight,
I've never seen you shine so bright,
I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance,
They're looking for a little romance, given half a chance,
And I have never seen that dress you're wearing,
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes,
I have been blind;

The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek,
There's nobody here, it's just you and me,
It's where I want to be,
But I hardly know this beauty by my side,
I'll never forget the way you look tonight;

I've never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight,
I've never seen you shine so bright, you were amazing,
I've never seen so many people want to be there by your side,
And when you turned to me and smiled, it took my breath away,
And I have never had such a feeling,
Such a feeling of complete and utter love, as I do tonight;

The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek,
There's nobody here, it's just you and me,
It's where I want to be,
But I hardly know this beauty by my side,
I'll never forget the way you look tonight;

I never will forget the way you look tonight.
The lady in red, the lady in red,
The lady in red, my lady in red,