Yesterday, Van Canto asked their followers on Facebook to name their top 5 songs (incl. at least one cover and at least one original song). I aggregated the first 337 responses (excluding those that contain less than two songs). Here is the overall hit list (along with the number of votes):
You can find some more results below.
What’s your favourite Chris de Burgh song of all time?
I fed the responses into Stata, removed duplicate entries and cleaned up typos etc. – and here is the final list:
SONG TITLE | VOTES
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the lady in red | 138
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borderline | 62
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spanish train | 44
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in a country churchyard | 32
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carry me (like a fire in your heart) | 26
don't pay the ferryman | 26
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a spaceman came travelling | 25
missing you | 25
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the snows of new york | 23
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patricia the stripper | 20
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where peaceful waters flow | 19
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sailor | 17
the same sun | 17
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crusader | 15
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go where your heart believes | 14
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lonely sky | 13
separate tables | 13
the words i love you | 13
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satin green shutters | 12
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a woman's heart | 11
for rosanna | 11
the head and the heart | 11
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high on emotion | 10
revolution | 10
the tower | 10
transmission ends | 10
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diamond in the dark | 9
fatal hesitation | 9
the girl with april in her eyes | 9
up here in heaven | 9
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say goodbye to it all | 8
the last time i cried | 8
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sailing away | 7
the road to freedom | 7
the traveller | 7
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here is your paradise | 6
just a word away | 6
lebanese night | 6
natasha dance | 6
people of the world | 6
ship to shore | 6
the leader | 6
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carry on | 5
forevermore | 5
i'm not scared anymore | 5
leather on my shoes | 5
love of the heart divine | 5
songbird | 5
the journey | 5
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a rainy night in paris | 4
discovery | 4
eastern wind | 4
everywhere i go | 4
fire on the water | 4
here for you | 4
hold on | 4
so beautiful | 4
the getaway | 4
the simple truth | 4
why mona lisa smiled | 4
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always on my mind | 3
broken wings | 3
flying | 3
i'm counting on you | 3
last night | 3
living on the island | 3
moonlight and vodka | 3
perfect day | 3
raging storm | 3
read my name | 3
something else again | 3
the mirror of the soul | 3
the storyman | 3
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brother john | 2
every drop of rain | 2
footsteps | 2
have a care | 2
heart of darkness | 2
i love the night | 2
i'm going home | 2
it's me and i'm ready to go | 2
just another poor boy | 2
leningrad | 2
love is my decision | 2
man on the line | 2
moonfleet bay | 2
my heart's surrender | 2
old friend | 2
one more mile to go | 2
one world | 2
pure joy | 2
saint peter's gate | 2
seven bridges | 2
suddenly love | 2
tender hands | 2
the ballroom of romance | 2
the devil's eye | 2
the son and the father | 2
when i think of you | 2
where we will be going | 2
you'll never walk alone | 2
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africa | 1
all the love i have inside | 1
another rainbow | 1
brazil | 1
by my side | 1
crying and laughing | 1
danny boy | 1
don't look back | 1
every step of the way | 1
goodnight | 1
hotel california | 1
i'm not crying over you | 1
in love forever | 1
let it be | 1
much more than this | 1
my father's eyes | 1
oh my brave hearts | 1
old-fashioned people | 1
once upon in time | 1
one word (straight to the heart) | 1
riding on a rainbow | 1
rose of england | 1
shadows and light | 1
she means everything to me | 1
shine on | 1
sin city | 1
snow is falling | 1
sos | 1
spirit | 1
taking it to the top | 1
the grace of a dancer | 1
the painter | 1
the storyman theme | 1
there's a new star up in heaven tonight | 1
there's room in this heart tonight | 1
this song for you | 1
timing is everything | 1
two sides to every story | 1
waiting for the hurricane | 1
what's a nice guy like you doing in a...| 1
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Total | 956
That’s 142 different songs! I’m surprised – in a very pleasant way – about the variety of choices: old, new, hits, epics, ballads, love, stories, history, loss, war, peace, family. I’m also surprised that “The Lady in Red” is such a clear winner. On the other end of the list you find my favourite song – or at least my favourite song title as I have never heard “What’s a Nice Guy Like You Doing in a Face Like That?” – of course, I’m glad that other fans mentioned almost all my semi-favourite songs (“Transmission Ends”! “Crusader”! “The Last Time I Cried”! “A Spaceman Came Travelling”! “The Same Sun”!).
Notes: When multiple songs were mentioned I took the first one (unless another one was clearly labelled as favourite). I deleted a couple of songs that didn’t sound like anything Chris de Burgh every performed. Another 23 people indicated that they couldn’t or wouldn’t make a decision. This list is based in the responses I could see with my account; no idea if that’s all. Oh, and here’s the album statistics:
album | votes no. of songs
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into the light | 208 10
the getaway | 135 10
spanish train | 120 10
flying colours | 61 9
the road to freedom | 40 9
the storyman | 17 9
man on the line | 40 8
moonfleet | 36 8
the power of ten | 24 8
at the end of a perfect day | 47 6
quiet revolution | 43 6
crusader | 35 6
far beyond these castle walls | 21 5
this way up | 39 4
eastern wind | 29 4
timing is everything | 9 4
beautiful dreams | 7 4
footsteps 2 | 5 4
footsteps | 3 2
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(single tracks) | 10 5
the love songs | 11 3
(unreleased songs) | 3 3
best moves | 3 2
spark to a flame | 9 1
notes to planet earth | 1 1