Peter Gabriel

Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician who was formerly the lead vocalist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving the group, he had a successful solo career, and is also known for his involvement in various humanitarian efforts.

Quotes

The Kate Bush Story (2014)

Quotes from the BBC documentary The Kate Bush Story (2014)

The Man with the Child in His Eyes is still one of those things, which right from the get-go … has its own life, because it's just a great song. … For all the time that she or I or anyone spend decorating and creating moods, its actually the key element of what your saying, the melody and the chords which still speak louder than all the stuff around, on a great song.

Creativity comes from the freedom to fail. And freedom to fail comes from experimentation, and that's what gives something its individuality. And, you know, I think her courage, which is the positive way of interpreting it, or bloody-mindedness, which is the negative, is part of what gives her real value as an artist.
- On Kate Bush

It's extraordinary what that song has been used for — I think a lot of people who have gotten into trouble, have attached themselves to that song, and I think a lot of it is Kate's wonderful voice is there, in a sort of reassuring and loving way, and it just makes them think that perhaps there is going to be that type of love out there for them.
- On his duet with Kate on his song "Don’t Give Up", on his album So

Song lyrics

All songs written by Peter Gabriel, except as noted.

Peter Gabriel (I) (1977)

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill,
I could see the city light.
Wind was blowing, time stood still.
Eagle flew out of the night.
He was something to observe.
Came in close, I heard a voice.
Standing stretching every nerve,
Had to listen had no choice.
I did not believe the information.
I just had to trust imagination.
My heart going boom boom boom.
"Son," he said, "Grab your things, I've come to take you home."
- Solsbury Hill

Peter Gabriel (II) (1978)

D.I.Y., D.I.Y., D.I.Y., D.I.Y.
Don't tell me what I will do, 'cos I won't.
Don't tell me to believe in you, 'cos I don't.
Be on your guard, better hostile and hard, don't risk affection;
Like flesh to the bone in the no-go zone,
You're still looking for the Resurrection.
Come up to me with your "What did you say?"
And I'll tell you, straight in the eye:
D.I.Y., D.I.Y.
- D.I.Y

Peter Gabriel (III) (1980)

If looks could kill, they probably will
In games without frontiers — war without tears.
- Games Without Frontiers

Jeux sans frontieres
- French for "Games without frontiers" (background vocals throughout the song, sung by Kate Bush)
- Games Without Frontiers

Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names
— whistling tunes we hide in the dunes by the seaside
— whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle.
It’s a knockout.
- Games Without Frontiers

You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
- Biko

Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
— The man is dead.
- Yihla Moja are Xhosa words which can be translated "Come Spirit."
- Biko

And the eyes of the world are
watching now.
- Biko

Peter Gabriel (IV) / Security (1982)

The time I like is the rush hour, cos I like the rush
The pushing of the people — I like it all so much
Such a mass of motion — do not know where it goes
I move with the movement and... I have the touch.
- I Have The Touch

I'm waiting for ignition, I'm looking for a spark
Any chance collision and I light up in the dark
There you stand before me, all that fur and all that hair
Oh, do I dare... I have the touch.
- I Have The Touch

Shock the monkey to life.
- Shock The Monkey

Fox the fox
Rat on the the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey.
- Shock The Monkey

Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please.
Monkey, monkey, monkey.
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?
- Shock The Monkey

So (1986)

Red rain is coming down.
Red rain.
Red rain is pouring down,
Pouring down all over me.
- Red Rain

I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream.
It can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch.
This place is so quiet, sensing that storm.
- Red Rain

Red rain-
Putting the pressure on much harder now
To return again and again.
Just let the red rain splash you,
Let the rain fall on your skin.
I come to you defenses down,
With the trust of a child.
- Red Rain

You could have a steam train
If you'd just lay down your tracks.
You could have an aeroplane flying
If you bring your blue sky back.
All you do is call me.
I'll be anything you need.
- Sledgehammer

In this proud land we grew up strong;
We were wanted all along.
I was taught to fight, taught to win;
I never thought I could fail.
No fight left or so it seems;
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted.
I've changed my face, I've changed my name,
But no one wants you when you lose.
- Don't Give Up, Duet written by Gabriel, sung with Kate Bush

Don't give up
'cos you have friends
Don't give up
You're not beaten yet.
Don't give up
I know you can make it good...
- Don't Give Up

Rest your head.
You worry too much.
It's going to be alright.
When times get rough,
You can fall back on us.
Don't give up;
Please don't give up.

Don't give up.
You know it's never been easy.
Don't give up.
'Cause I believe there's a place,
There's a place where we belong.'
- Don't Give Up

I’m hearing right and wrong so clearly.
There must be more than this.
It’s only in uncertainty
That we’re naked and alive.
- That Voice Again, written by Peter Gabriel and David Rhodes

What I carry in my heart
Brings us so close or so far apart.
Only love can make love.
- That Voice Again

Love I get so lost, sometimes.
Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart.
When I want to run away,
I drive off in my car.
But whichever way I go,
I come back to the place you are.
- In Your Eyes

All my instincts, they return.
And the grand façade, so soon will burn.
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside.
- In Your Eyes

In your eyes,
The light, the heat.
In your eyes,
I am complete.
In your eyes,
I see the doorway to a thousand churches.
In your eyes,
The resolution of all the fruitless searches.
In your eyes,
I see the light and the heat.
In your eyes,
Oh, I want to be that complete.
I want to touch the light, the heat I see in your eyes.
- In Your Eyes

I get so tired of working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive.
- In Your Eyes

Looking down on empty streets, all she can see
Are the dreams all made solid
Are the dreams all made real.
- Mercy Street

All of the buildings, all of those cars
Were once just a dream
In somebody's head.
- Mercy Street

The place where I come from is a small town.
They think so small;
They use small words
-But not me.
I'm smarter than that.
I worked it out.
I've been stretching my mouth
To let those big words come right out.
- Big Time

We do what we're told,
Told to do.
- We Do What We're Told

Shaking the Tree (1990)

Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon, We are shakin' the tree.
Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon, We are shakin' the tree.
- Shaking the Tree, written by Peter Gabriel and Youssou N'Dour
- Translation: If we had known, if we only had known.

Waiting your time, dreaming of a better life.
Waiting your time, you're more than just a wife.
You don't want to do what your mother has done,
She has done.
This is your life, this new life has begun.
It's your day - a woman's day.
It's your day - a woman's day.
- Shaking the Tree

Turning the tide, you are on the incoming wave.
Turning the tide, you know you are nobody's slave.
- Shaking the Tree

There's nothing to gain when there's nothing to be lost.
There's nothing to gain if you stay behind and count the cost.
Make the decision that you can be who you can be,
You can be.
Tasting the fruit come to the Liberty Tree.
- Shaking the Tree

Changing your ways, changing those surrounding you.
Changing your ways, more than any man can do.
Open your heart, show him the anger and pain, so you heal.
Maybe he's looking for his womanly side, let him feel.
- Shaking the Tree

Us (1992)

The wretched desert takes its form, the jackal proud and tight.
In search of you, I feel my way, through the slowest heaving night.
Whatever fear invents, I swear it makes no sense.
I reach through the border fence.
Come down, come talk to me.
- Come Talk to Me

And in this moment, I need to be needed.
With this darkness all around me, I like to be liked.
In this emptiness and fear, I want to be wanted.
'Cause I love to be loved.
I love to be loved.
I love to be loved.
Yes, I love to be loved.
- Love to Be Loved

This old familiar craving.
I've been here before, this way of behaving.
Don't know who the hell I'm saving anymore.
Let it pass, let it go, let it leave.
From the deepest place I grieve.
This time I believe
And I let go...
- Love to Be Loved

I caught sight of my reflection;
I caught it in the window.
I saw the darkness in my heart;
I saw the signs of my undoing.
They had been there from the start,
And the darkness still has work to do.
The knotted chord's untying.
They're heated and they're holy.
Oh they're sitting there on high.
So secure with everything they're buying.
- Blood of Eden

In the blood of Eden,
Lie the woman and the man.
With the man in the woman,
And the woman in the man.
- Blood of Eden

Give me steam.
And how you feel to make it real;
Real as anything you've seen.
Get a life with this dreamer's dream.
- Steam

Don't talk back;
Just drive the car.
Shut your mouth;
I know what you are.
Don't say nothing;
Keep your hands on the wheel.
Don't turn around;
This is for real.
Digging in the dirt.
Stay with me, I need support.
I'm digging in the dirt
To find the places I got hurt.
Open up the places I got hurt.
- Digging in the Dirt

From the pain come the dream.
From the dream come the vision.
From the vision come the people.
From the people come the power.
From this power come the change.
- Fourteen Black Paintings

So what's one little kiss, one tiny little touch?
Aah, he's wanting it so much.
I swear that this is royal blood, running through my skin.
Oh, can you see the state I'm in?
Kiss it better, kiss it better.
- Kiss That Frog

Don't you know that I'm not joking?
Aah, you think you won't, I think you will.
Don't you know that this tongue can kill?
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon.
Lady kiss that frog.
- Kiss That Frog

City of Angels: Music from the Motion Picture (1998)

I grieve for you
You leave me
So hard to move on
Still loving what's gone
They say life carries on
Carries on and on and on and on...
- I Grieve

Life carries on
In the people I meet
In everyone that’s out on the street
In all the dogs and cats
In the flies and rats
In the rot and the rust
In the ashes and the dust
Life carries on and on and on and on.
- I Grieve

Did I dream this belief
or did I believe this dream
how I will find relief
I grieve...
- I Grieve

OVO (2000)

In the big house,
Where the sun lives,
With the walls so white and blue.
In the red soil,
All the green grows.
And the winds blow across your face.
They blow across your heart.
It's the time of the turning and there's something stirring outside.
It's the time of turning and we'd better learn to say our goodbyes.
- The Time of the Turning

It's the time of turning and there's something stirring outside.
It's the time of turning and the old world's falling.
Nothing you can do can stop by the next emerging.
Time of the turning and we'd better learn to say our goodbyes.
- The Time of the Turning

If we can stand up
When all else falls down,
We'll last through the winter.
We'll last through the storms.
We'll last through the north winds
That bring down the ice and snow.
We'll last through the long nights
Till the green field's growing again.
Growing again.
- The Time of the Turning

Up (2002)

I'm scared of swimming in the sea,
Dark shapes moving under me.
Every fear I swallow makes me small.
Inconsequential things occur,
Alarms are triggered,
Memories stir.
It's not the way it has to be.
- Darkness

Now we're busy making all our busy plans
On foundations built to last.
But nothing fades as fast as the future
And nothing clings like the past, until we can see.
More than this,
More than this.
So much more than this.
There is something out there
More than this.
It's coming through
And more than this.
I stand alone and so connected
And I'm all there,
Right next to you.
- More Than This

External links

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Peter Gabriel

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Peter Gabriel