Chris Rea: Auberge
10/16/2015
More Chris Rea, who is very under-rated. I admit I don't really understand what this song is about. The artwork shown in this video is relevant in part because the album cover has one of the same artist's pictures, and also because in the full version of the title song there is a sort of sound-effects intro in which you hear someone walking back and forth across a garage (or so it sounds), opening a door, saying he's "Just popping out," closing the door, and starting a car. Also, Rea is into race cars.
There is an official video for this song, which is shorter, dropping not only the non-musical intro but the long slow instrumental intro. I'm including it here because it is so extremely weird, and seems to have so little to do with the song. You wonder if they thought "You know, music videos are basically a dumb idea, so let's just do something completely silly."
I wonder if that little girl (I think it's a girl) is his daughter. Rea seems to be something of a family man. I don't know whether he actually got himself one of those Stainsby girls or not, but he married someone "with whom he has been in a relationship since they met as 16-years-olds in their native Middlesbrough." There's a song on the same album as "Stainsby Girls" (Shamrock Diaries) called "Josephine," which I always assumed to be a basic love song ("Josephine, I'll send you all my love..."), but which is actually to his daughter. And there's a song, I can't remember which one now, in which he denounces the people who've made the world a place where his little girl has to be afraid.
Here's some clarification as to the song's meaning. You've probably heard "Road to Hell", but here it is in case you haven't.
I don't think I'd ever heard of Chris Rea until you started posting about him. I'm going to have to listen to these songs when I get a chance.
Posted by: Craig | 10/16/2015 at 09:16 PM
Does anyone know if there's an etymological relationship between auberge and aubergine? It would seem there must be, but what could be the connection?
Posted by: Craig | 10/16/2015 at 10:01 PM
No, but it surely is the same word as albergue, the hostels where pilgrims stay on the camino.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/17/2015 at 07:36 AM
Well, there's this. How we got from eggplants and peaches to inns is a great mystery.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/17/2015 at 07:42 AM
Back to the music. I really like this music. I haven't bought any music in a while, but I may have to now.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/17/2015 at 07:43 AM
We stayed in an auberge outside Metz on the drive back from Italy last year. It was a filthy, grotty place, but cheap, and when you're just too tired to drive the three more hours that would get you home it's a relief to find one.
Posted by: Paul | 10/17/2015 at 08:28 AM
The two words auberge (peach) and auberge (hostel) are unrelated: the former is a French loan of the Spanish for apricot, the latter of the Dutch/German word for an inn, which as Janet says also made it into Spanish as albergue.
Posted by: Paul | 10/17/2015 at 08:39 AM
For some reason I always got Chris Rea and Chris DeBurgh confused. May have been because "The Road to Hell" and DeBurgh's "Don't Pay the Ferryman" were popular at roughly the same time (at least in my head). They don't really sound anything alike.
Posted by: Rob G | 10/17/2015 at 09:21 AM
I had actually avoided Chris Rea under the mistaken impression he was Chris DeBurgh. Foolish of me.
Posted by: Paul | 10/17/2015 at 11:59 AM
That black and white cideo is a criss between silent comedy and surrealism
Posted by: Grumpy | 10/17/2015 at 01:37 PM
Yes. Kind of surreal spelling there, too. :-)
The word "solid" always comes to mind for me regarding Chris Rea. Nothing spectacular, but just fine solid stuff in every respect. The two albums from which these songs are taken are both good.
Posted by: Mac | 10/17/2015 at 05:05 PM
I love it when Grumpy posts from her phone. It's both a comment and a cryptogram.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/17/2015 at 05:12 PM
Zorry?????
Posted by: Grumpy | 10/17/2015 at 08:52 PM
I said I love it. A love a good challenge.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/17/2015 at 09:02 PM
Soinh by nest jere
Posted by: Grumpy | 10/17/2015 at 09:33 PM
Nobody could doubt that, Grumpy!
Posted by: Paul | 10/18/2015 at 07:11 AM
That's funny, last night I coudn't make heads nor tails of that, and this morning it's perfecty clear.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/18/2015 at 08:05 AM
"Soinh by nest jere."
LOL!
Posted by: Louise | 10/18/2015 at 02:18 PM
It took me a few seconds.
Posted by: Robert Gotcher | 10/18/2015 at 04:50 PM
Kept thinking I should be able to translate it from French.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/18/2015 at 05:10 PM
After several looks several hours apart I'm still baffled.
Posted by: Mac | 10/18/2015 at 05:29 PM
S is next to d, etc.
Posted by: Robert Gotcher | 10/18/2015 at 06:00 PM
But all the letters aren't wrong.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/18/2015 at 06:21 PM
Yes I thought of that but still didn't get it. Now suddenly I do tho.
Posted by: Mac | 10/18/2015 at 07:10 PM
Of course, it could be that we are all seeing something different. ;-)
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/18/2015 at 08:42 PM
I am doing my best
Though a statistician might argue otherwise
Posted by: Grumpy | 10/19/2015 at 05:22 AM
"my best *here*", right? I think the reason it took me so long is that my brain kept trying to interpret it phonetically rather than typographically, and kept suggesting things like "year" for "jere."
Posted by: Mac | 10/19/2015 at 07:07 AM
Im doing my best here
I just used the keys slightly to the side as one does using a phone so that paul is often psul
Posted by: Grumpy | 10/19/2015 at 11:10 AM
I think Psul is a bit slack. Has he signed up to do a saint or movie next year?
Posted by: Louise | 10/19/2015 at 11:35 AM
Yes, he did.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/19/2015 at 11:42 AM
I am confused. Where do we sign up for things? I see Janet has entered me for Augustine, Aquinas and Bonaventure, but I do not see any signing sheet. And I don't see a signing sheet her for movies either.
Posted by: Grumpy in Manhattan | 10/19/2015 at 02:49 PM
I haven't gotten that far yet. Busy weekend.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/19/2015 at 02:58 PM
Where do you see that, Grumpy?
Posted by: Paul | 10/20/2015 at 05:46 AM
Paul, It's on the sidebar on my blog. There's nothing else on the list, and I'm the only person that can write there. I just stuck it there to remember what Grumpy said.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/20/2015 at 07:01 AM
I haven't started the movies list, either. I'll probably do it this week, maybe not till the weekend. If anyone wants to go ahead and start claiming movies, let me know.
My tentative plan is that I'll do one on the first of every month. So that leaves 40 open for everybody else. But if that's not enough, if people are saying "I really wanted to do such-and-such, too, but the schedule is full," I'll cut back on mine.
Posted by: Mac | 10/20/2015 at 07:21 AM
No, Janet, I meant Psul, not Paul.
Posted by: Louise | 10/20/2015 at 02:20 PM
Just to be clear, I did not mean literally "sign" up. Just meant "give some indication."
Also, Psul is now my favourite fake member of this commbox, not to be confused with Paul, a real member of the commbox.
Posted by: Louise | 10/20/2015 at 02:24 PM
I see. Well, I don't want Paul to sign up because I can't help but think that he would be pusillanimous.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 10/20/2015 at 03:29 PM
Pshaw said Pa
Posted by: Grumpy | 10/20/2015 at 05:05 PM
Auto correct makes me want to cuss! It changed psul to Paul! Sorry Paul, you know I would never say such a thing about you!
AMDG
Posted by: jcupo | 10/20/2015 at 05:35 PM
I read it as Psaul anyway!
Posted by: Grumpy in Manhattan | 10/20/2015 at 06:02 PM