4:00
New Light Through Old Windows, 1988
Written by Chris Rea and Stuart Eales
Chris Rea died today. I must admit here that I thought I knew who Chris Rea was, but to my shame it seems I was confusing him with Marc Cohn. Listening to his raspy voice now, I fee I must have heard him before, but can't think what songs I might know. Anyway, this is a massively popular Christmas song with over half a billion plays, yet I've never heard of it. It's a dreamy, elegantly produced pop song. Rea’s weary, sandpapered voice is the perfect vehicle (ha ha!) here: unshowy, conversational, slightly worn down by the road. The arrangement barely nudges the song along: gentle keys, soft percussion, a gentle sense of forward motion trough a traffic jam ("Oh, I got red lights all around / But soon there'll be a freeway / Yeah, get my feet on holy ground"). It's not festive in the traditional sense; there are no bells, no choirs, no forced cheer. Yet it draws quiet power from emotion. Rea doesn't romanticize the journey; yet that very ordinariness becomes the point. When he sings that he can't wait to see the faces of those he loves, it hits home.
No comments:
Post a Comment