Spanish Train and Other Stories
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Spanish Train and Other Stories is the second album by Chris de Burgh, released by A&M Records in 1975.
Track listing
- "Spanish Train" – 5:00
- "Lonely Sky" – 3:52
- "This Song For You" – 4:14
- "Patricia the Stripper" – 3:30
- "A Spaceman Came Travelling" – 5:10
- "I'm Going Home" – 3:34
- "The Painter" – 4:20
- "Old Friend" – 3:40
- "The Tower" – 5:22
- "Just Another Poor Boy" – 4:46
All songs written by Chris de Burgh.
Personnel
- Chris de Burgh – Acoustic Guitars, Lead and all Backing Vocals, Piano on The Tower and This Song For You
- Barry de Souza – Drums
- Ray Glynn – Electric Guitars
- Lennox Laington – Percussion
- Tony Hymas – Keyboards
- Tony Reeves – Bass, String Bass on A Spaceman Came Travelling
- Phillip Goodhand-Tait – Harmonium
- Chris Laurence – String Bass
- Ken Freeman – String Synthesizer
- Chris Mercer – Sax on The Painter
- Mick Eves – Sax on The Painter
Other credits
- The Strings, Choir, Recorders and Ocarinas on The Tower and Lonely Sky were arranged by Robert Kirby who also arranged the Brass for Old Friend and This Song For You
- David Hentschel arranged and performed Synthesizer on A Spaceman Came Travelling
- Richard Hewson arranged the Strings and Brass for Just Another Poor Boy and Spanish Train
- Mixed at Scorpio and A.I.R. Studios
- Engineered by Robin Groffrey Cable, assisted by Mark Dobson, Ian Major, and John Kelly
Chart positions
UK Chart Positions
| Date | Position | Comment |
|---|
| 31 August 1985 | 48 | New Entry |
| 7 September 1985 | 37 | Highest & Final Entry |
Controversy
The title track is a story about a train carrying the souls of the dead to the Underworld. God and Lucifer are playing Poker - gambling with the souls. The Devil cheats and wins the game. The song finishes with the stanza:
"Far away, in some recess,
The Lord and the Devil are now playing Chess.
The Devil still cheats and wins more souls,
as for the Lord - he's just doing his best."
The song was deemed blasphemous in South Africa, and a ban was ordered. A&M records sued to get the ban overturned - the suit was eventually successful. However, while the suit was in progress, A&M released the album under the title "Lonely Sky and Other Stories" (without "Spanish Train"). This album is considered a collector's item today - copies are extremely rare. Perversely, the ban only applied to the LP record, so the cassette issue of Spanish Train was always freely available.
See also
References
External links
