The self-titled album Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross of San Antonio, Texas was reportedly released on December 20th, 1979. To recognize the artistry of this pop/rock, adult contemporary and soft rock album, let’s have a look back and listen to the songs of this debut effort.
Say You’ll Be Mine opens the album with an uplifting, harmonizing upbeat expression of romantic love interest. A clear attraction exists from the outset of the song, with Cross offering a common sense and heartfelt invitation to engage more fully.
I Really Don’t Know Anymore mediates on the nature of romantic love. The meditation reveals a man who has lost confidence in the possibility and promise of love following an experience that has left him lonely and alone.
Spinning flips the script on the preceding two songs. Cross finds himself reluctant in love yet suddenly awash in the passionate possibility of a new beginning. The point-of-view advances a narrative that to find himself here must be to doubt himself and the romantic love interest with suspicion in the face of opportunity.
Never Be the Same takes another bite of the apple of love. As singer, Christopher Cross feels the sting of lost love in coming to terms with emotionally moving on. The sweetness of the song rests in that effort while Cross still bringing balance to a viewpoint of seeing the optimism and beauty present from the beginning of the romance.
Poor Shirley takes the notion of moving on from romance to the feminine perspective, with demands to hold back tears being heard sympathetically by Christopher Cross. The nature of the pain is compared, darkly, to the experience of soldiers losing friends to the hostilities of warfare. The depth of the feeling is clear, if the metaphor seemingly harsh.
A condemned man on the run to Mexico from the United States brings us to Ride Like the Wind. Per the link here that seems to reference LSD, “Christopher Cross was on acid when he wrote the lyrics.”
The central metaphor of The Light Is On is the consolation offered a friend and potential romantic love interest who fears the risk of engaging in love. The consoling wisdom of this song is pointing out the safety of home, indoors, where the light is on and separate from the storm of lost love.
As quoted here, the song Sailing “evokes sailing on the open sea, leaving any troubles on the shore.” Cross would go on to explain of the writing for the song that “[i]t took about two years before [he] came up with the bridge that changes all the keys to where [the song] lifts, but it was a pretty special moment.”
Minstrel Gigolo closes the album with a semi-autobiographical sense for what performing is like for some ladies in the audience and the performer. The sense of traveling from one place to another in performance leads to the temporary intimacy of the stage performance followed by a separate temporary intimacy for women wishing to feel love. The feeling is sad yet introspective at the same time.
Musicians who performed on the Christopher Cross album include Andy Salmon on bass, Chuck Findley on trumpet, flugelhorn and horn, Don Henley on vocals, Don Roberts on saxophone, Eric Johnson on guitar, J.D. Souther on vocals, Jackie Kelso on saxophone, Jay Graydon on guitar, Jim Horn on saxophone, Larry Carlton on guitar, Lenny Castro on percussion, Lew McCreary on trombone, Marti McCall on vocals, Marty McCall on vocals, Michael McDonald on vocals, Michael Omartian on keyboards, piano, synthesizer, and vocals, Myrna Matthews on vocals, Nicolette Larson on vocals, Rob Meurer on celeste, keyboards, organ, piano and synthesizer, Stormie Omartian on vocals, Tommy Taylor on drums, Tomás Ramírez on saxophone, Valerie Carter on vocals and Victor Feldman on percussion and vibraphone.
Matt – Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Matt Lynn Digital 