Chris Rea reveals he was banned from driving when he wrote ‘Driving Home For Christmas’
Though we all know the familiar notes of ‘Driving Home For Christmas‘, this holiday season it comes with a new context after Chris Rea admitted that he wrote the song while under a driving ban.
The festive track was released in 1986 as a simple B-side track on the release Hello Friend. Two years later, he released a re-recorded version on the compilation, New Light Through Old Windows.
Quietly appreciated for some time, it was only in 2022 that the song entered the top ten of the UK singles chart for the first time.
Now, in a new interview with Daily Express, singer-songwriter Rea has admitted that, to him, “It’s a frustrating song, but it’s also hopeful and comforting.”
He added, “It’s funny, because I’d just been banned from driving when I wrote it. But I was feeling good at the time too, and people say they can hear that infectious feel-good mood when they hear it.”
Rea partakes in the Christmas tradition surrounding the song, too, confessing, “I still sing it at other drivers when I’m stuck on the motorway.”
For this reason, says Rea, the song is one everyone can “relate” to, the universal experience of being stuck in traffic during the holiday season. He said, “Everyone in the country is doing the same thing at the same time.”
Rea hasn’t performed publicly since 2017, when he returned to the stage after suffering a stroke in 2016. Unfortunately, the musician collapsed on stage at the Oxford show.
Currently, the race for Christmas number one is underway; Wham!’s 1984 festive hit ‘Last Christmas’ is the one to beat, as it has claimed the UK top spot for the last two years. Kylie Minogue’s festive release, ‘XMAS’, and the Gaza charity song, ‘Lullaby’, are both strong contenders.
Listen to Rea sing ‘Driving Home for Christmas’, which was originally written for Van Morrison, below.
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