You may be surprised to learn thay "Don't Pay The Ferryman" was not a major hit in the UK, given that the song was played on the radio many times and that it has such a memorable chorus. It's a tune I like very much, so to discover it only reached #48 on the UK singles chart in
1982 was disappointing.
Thankfully, the song reached #5 in Australia (Kent Music Report), #9 in Ireland (Irish Singles Chart) and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. The song featured on the album The Getaway, (released as the lead single) which was #1 in Germany and peaked at #30 in the UK album charts. The track includes lines from Shakespeare's The Tempest spoken by Anthony Head.
The Getaway features a pleasant mix of rock, pop and power ballads, and synthesizers feature quite heavily to add a wonderful atmosphere to many of the tracks. Don't Pay The Ferryman is particularly haunting, and like many of the songs on the album it has a story to tell. Thankfully, there aren't too many sugary songs which feature on his later albums.
The video was directed by Maurice Phillips and doesn't actually feature a ferry. Instead, we see an old-fashioned, wooden ship's wheel, lots of mist and a hooded man who rides a white horse. There is a also an eerie scene inside a church with a woman and a boy both dressed in white standing motionless in front of an arched stained glass window. Chris De Burgh is dressed in period clothes. It's a low budget affair, but very atmospheric.
German vinyl sleeve front
