Chris Rea was a bit of an anomaly, and possible quite misunderstood, until you get under the hood of his real passions. My uncle met him once in England at a classic car rally, and the sound of a racing engine, themes of driving, the freedom of the road thread their way through his work. WaterSign (1983) was one of the first albums I bought. At 14, When I was listening to Deep Water, I Can Hear Your Heartbeat and Nothing's Happening by the Sea, I felt I was listening to grown up music. I have picked songs for a very particular reason, read on...

Let's dance, Working on it, Daytona, Auberge

Written by Daragh Henchy on 03 February 2025. Posted in Racing with Rea.

Racing with Rea - Let's dance

Let's Dance

Let's Dance's guitar motif has real rhythmic impact

Let's dance has some lovely orchestration and arrangement, and thougtful lyrics, but the heart of this songs is the cut through that happens with the riff that comes in over the I to IV chord change (D to G).

I'd recommend playing this like Chris does, with right hand fingers rather than with a pick. As always the trick is to start slow and pick up speed. Some of Chris' live versions are at a fair 'aul pace. (Even faster that 160 bpm)

There is quite a bit of palm muting as you plck the 2nd and 3rd string. This is essential to get the crisp percussive effect that emulates the 'stabbing' of a horn section. Basically think of your self as playing 2 notes notes as though you are two trumpets harmonising.

You can add the 'D' note on the open 4th string at the beginning of each bar also. There are a lot of the strikes on the off beat so there is a continual sense of syncopation. (We're dancing, right?)

Getting inside the tune

Link to Higher Resolution Youtube video

Hits: 476

Written by Daragh Henchy on 03 February 2025. Posted in Racing with Rea.

Racing with Rea - Working on it

Working On it

Working On It

Working on it

Somebody above is in a desperate state
Some kind of urgency, the kind that won't wait
I say tomorrow, he say today
And the man in my head well he tell me no way, Keep working

I got eight little fingers and only two thumbs
Will you leave me in peace while I get the work done
Can't you see I'm working
Oh, oh I'm working on it, Oh, oh I'm working on it

This feels like a classic 'working-man-blues' song and it sneaked on to the New Light Through Old Windows record, essentially a compilation of Rea's songs from the 80s

For me this demarkated his career. From here on in, he really seemed determined to be true to his blues influences. The slide guitar gets used a lot more, and so the lyrics seem very poignant. Like Let's Dance the riff cuts through, but this time like an axe. It's tough, gritty, determined.

After a bit of experimentation, you'll see from the transcription there's a quick bend on the A note (6th string) up to the B on the 5th string. This will take a little time to get but it's worth it for that country blues effect.

You can also play the A chord rather than just the open A (bass) note for a rounder effect, although if you set up you distortion pedal, with a noise gate it is enough to just play the power chord notes and avoid muddy-ing the sound. It should be crisp!

Getting inside the tune

Link to Higher Resolution Youtube video

Hits: 370

Written by Daragh Henchy on 03 February 2025. Posted in Racing with Rea.

Racing with Rea - Daytona

Daytona

"Twelve wild horses in silver chains..."

Okay, this is an out and out love song to a car, the Ferrari Daytona. (The twelve wild horse are the 12 cylinders of the engine).

This song is essentially in the key of C, but moves about a bit and makes use of the Flat3 and Flat 7 chords (Eb, Bb). For me it's the outro where Rea takes this song out onto the open road. The harmonic movement from C to Am is left behind in the garage and the roar of the riff of tonic to flat 7 takes over, with the slide moving dynamically, like an accelerator pedal.

This rhythmic figure and motif leads us into the title track of the album following The Road to Hell (1989), Auberge (1991). that is the focus of this lesson.

There's echos of Knopfler and Clapton all over this, but Chris's vocals and themes makes it all his own. There are some great versions out there. This concert in Aberdeen UK, 1993 on BBC Radio One is worth a listen. (Daytona features as the second song. (Auberge is the first, so perhaps they were well connected in chris' mind.))

Rea Tames the Sound of Thunder at 4mins 07secs

Getting inside the tune

Link to Higher Resolution Youtube video

Racing with Rea - Auberge

Auberge

Let's get it away from it all, the traffic, the pollution, the city...

Auberge extends the familiar set up of a Chris Rea song before bringing the riff in.

This is a super familair pentatonic scale riff, it's been done a thousand times, but Chris brings a twist to it, starting on the subdominant (the '4' note, in this case the 'd', as compared to the root, 'a').

This is allows him to paly around with little variations that focus around the false resolution of the dominant ('e') and create some tension as the harmony moves from the i to the iv chord. We sort of know we are in a minor key but it's not that strong.

All is revealed when we hear the andalucian cadence (Am, G, F, E) in the verse, and suddenyl we are safe at home again, in Auberge.

What is important here is the syncopation, and the ghost notes that kick this along over the rhythm section which brings a degree swing to the medium beat of 85bpm. As this is not that fast it's essential to practice staying in the groove.

Getting inside the tune

Link to Higher Resolution Youtube video