Chris De Burgh – Don’t Pay the Ferryman

April 12, 2016

Track: Don’t Pay the Ferryman
Artist: Chris De Burgh
Album: The Getaway
Year: 1982

Lyrics:

It was late at night on the open road,
Speeding like a man on the run,
A lifetime spent preparing for the journey

He is closer now and the search is on,
Reading from a map in the mind,
Yes, there’s the ragged hill,
And there’s the boat on the river.
And when the rain came down,
He heard a wild dog howl,
There were voices in the night – Don’t do it!
Voices out of sight – Don’t do it!
Too many men have failed before,
Whatever you do

Don’t pay the ferryman,
Don’t even fix a price

Don’t pay the ferryman,
Don’t even fix a price,
Don’t pay the ferryman,
Until he gets you to the other side
In the rolling mist, then he gets on board,
Now there’ll be no turning back,
Beware that hooded old man at the rudder,
And then the lightning flashed, and the thunder roared,
And people calling out his name,
And dancing bones that jabbered and a-moaned
On the water. And then the ferryman said,
“There is trouble ahead,
So you must pay me now,” – Don’t do it!
“You must pay me now,” – Don’t do it!
And still that voice came from beyond,
Whatever you do,

Don’t pay the ferryman,
Don’t even fix a price,
Don’t pay the ferryman,
Until he gets you to the other side

Don’t pay the ferryman!

This 1982 hit remains one of my favorite tracks from the era, not only because the track itself is pure gold, but because the lyrics touch deeply upon the Greek mythology of the river Acheron (also known as the River Styx) in Hades, and the ferryman, Charon, who will take you to the other side of the river—for a price. Those who are unable to pay an obol (a Greek coin) were doomed to remain as ghosts on the plane of Mare as the restless dead for a period of 100 years.

Ancient Greeks buried their dead with obols on their tongues so that when they reached Hades, they could pay the ferryman,

Greek obol — An obul–the price owed the ferryman

Charon. Mythology has it that Charon will try to persuade the dead to pay before reaching the other side of the river, at which point, Charon might refuse to take the dead all the way across, hence the lyric, “Don’t pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side.” Strangely (at least to me) is that as much as this song rocks, De Burgh wasn’t known for his rock chops. In fact, his highest charting single other than Don’t Pay the Ferryman was 1986’s The Lady In Red (blech).

Video:

Here is the official video for Don’t Pay the Ferryman:

And here is a “live” version of De Burgh performing Don’t Pay the Ferryman. I find it amazing that acoustic sounds come from his guitar while he’s not playing and that when he is playing, there’s no acoustic part in the song. Now that’s artistry.