Chris De Burgh Warns Gothic Travelers To ‘Don’t Pay The Ferryman’
I have to admit, I was not all that familiar with Chris de Burgh’s work when I was given the suggestion to evaluate the music video for his 1982 song ‘Don’t Pay The Ferryman’. But leave it to Sam Stegemann over at How Rare Can It Be When I’m Right Here? to pull out a music video & song that perfectly walks the line between 80s Long Island Rock & Roll and early 70s British Art Pop.
‘Don’t Pay The Ferryman’ is a dark, brooding video full of gothic imagery and costumes left over from the movie Amadeus. Much like Amadeus, actually, there’s a nice sheen of camp baked into the whole thing.
Chris de Burgh himself comes riding into the scene on horseback, dressed like some kind of deathly caretaker. He skulks around hallways and large campfires warning us not to pay the ferryman. He looks like he’s having a blast hamming it up and giving us his best Dracula audition.
Of course the song itself is referring to the long-standing Greek mythology of the ferryman. A guide between our world and the afterlife. Shepherding the newly deceased across the fires of the river Styx. Only by paying the ferryman can you gain passage to the other side. Except! Don’t pay him too soon or he’ll take your payment and leave you stranded as a wandering ghost among the living.
This video is all about the ambiance. From the ghostly figures at the altar of a church to the smoke and candles, to say nothing of the cutaway shots to big wooden boat wheels and fake skulls. ‘Don’t Pay The Ferryman’ is like if someone took the idea of ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’ and mashed it through a sieve of Greek Mythology, then threw it a college stipend.
That’s not to say what’s here is bad. Quite the opposite. The low budget grit plays well with the vocal theatrics de Burgh is able to pull off here. And if you’ve already seen the video and feel like you’ve heard his voice before, you certainly have. Despite whatever you may think of Chris de Burgh based solely on this one music video, he has also blessed your ears as the singer-songwriter behind the Soft Rock classic ‘Lady In Red’.
From haunting warnings of an eternity in purgatory to being the soundtrack to Weight Watchers & diet frozen dinners, Chris de Burgh has an insane range.
This isn’t a video that tries to reinvent the wheel. In fact, it’s just trying to get by with what it’s got to work with. It’s a very economic video that does a good job at conveying the core details of the song it’s based around. Using literal smokescreens and the strength of Chris de Burgh’s vocal range to power its engine, ‘Don’t Pay The Ferryman’ ultimately succeeds by playing up their small production. Them buying in equates to us buying in. It’s a video I wouldn’t skip out on paying the ferryman for.
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