Take A Chance With Me

Album: Avalon (1982)
Charted: 26 104
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Take a Chance With Me" was the last single Roxy Music released before breaking up in 1983. Written by frontman Bryan Ferry and guitarist Phil Manzanera, the song is a plea for devotion and allegiance, with the protagonist having grown tired of short-lived love affairs and non-committal relationships:

    As they say, two can play
    But keep that song away from me
    In my time, too much love
    Has made me sad for so long

    I was blind, can't you see
    Through the long, lonely night
    Heaven knows I believe
    Won't you take a chance with me
  • Following "More Than This" and the title track, Roxy Music planned to release the ballad "While My Heart Is Still Beating" as the third and final single from Avalon. When the upbeat "More Than This" fared better than the slow and sumptuous "Avalon," however, the band shelved "While My Heart Is Still Beating" for this song, believing it to be more of a radio hit. Nevertheless, "Take a Chance With Me" charted lower than "More Than This" and "Avalon," reaching #26 in the UK and #104 in the US.
  • "Take a Chance With Me" was performed live throughout the Avalon tour. It was then retired until 2013, when Bryan Ferry brought it back for his solo tour. Speaking to BBC Radio 2 on January 17, 2011, Ferry described it as "a great song to do live, it just has a different feel from any of the other songs."
  • American industrial band Nine Inch Nails hid a sample of this song in "Closer." Frontman Trent Reznor took the introduction of "Take a Chance With Me," reversed it, sped it up, and placed it at the end of the sexually charged Downward Spiral cut.

    In 2011, Reznor's band How To Destroy Angels covered the Ferry song "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" for the David Fincher film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Reznor worked on the soundtrack with Atticus Ross, with whom he'd previously won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network (2010).
  • Avalon was Roxy Music's eighth album. Even though it was the band's final release, it was a huge success, topping the charts in the UK, Canada, and Australia, and going Platinum in the US.

    Photographed on a lake in Ireland by Neil Kirk, the album cover stars Ferry's future ex-wife, Lucy Helmore, as a medieval warrior queen. Ferry added on his official website: "She is carrying on her wrist a Merlin – the bird of prey favored by lady falconers."

    The mythical Avalon is said to be where King Arthur went to die after the Battle of Camlann. The legendary monarch's sword, Excalibur, is also rumored to have been forged there.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in Rock

Does Jimmy Page Worship The Devil? A Look at Satanism in RockSong Writing

We ring the Hell's Bells to see what songs and rockers are sincere in their Satanism, and how much of it is an act.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot

Jon Foreman of SwitchfootSongwriter Interviews

Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.

Sugarland

SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Meet the "sassy basket" with the biggest voice in country music.

Butch Vig

Butch VigSongwriter Interviews

The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.

Tony Banks of Genesis

Tony Banks of GenesisSongwriter Interviews

Genesis' key-man re-examines his solo career and the early days of music video.