"I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight," Richard and Linda Thompson
This coming Tuesday (April 30) marks the fiftieth anniversary of the British folk rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson's debut album, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight. My Music Video Of the Week this week is a clip of the Thompsons performing the title song on the BBC program "A Little Night Music," in August 1981.
After leaving the esteemed group Fairport Convention, guitarist Richard Thompson set about pursuing a solo career, but his first album, Henry the Human Fly, from 1972 went nowhere. In the aftermath of that failure, he stared a personal relationship with backup singer Linda Peters, who graduated to lead singing when she married Richard (the folk rock singer Teddy Thompson is their son). Together they cut an album together, and it was eventually dubbed a masterpiece. A lot of people still think it is.
"I Want to See the Bright Lights TOnight" is about wanting to shake off the humdrum aspects of everyday life and have a good time - that's it, and that's all but it expresses those sentiments beautifully. Enjoy.
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