Peter Gabriel I

Moribund The Burgermeister

Caught in the chaos in the market square
I don't know what, I don't know why, but something's wrong down there
Their bodies twistin' and turnin' in a thousand ways
The eyes all rollin' round and round into a distant gaze
Ah, look at that crowd!

Some are jumping up in the air - say "We're drowning in a torrent of blood!"
Others going down on their knees, seen a saviour coming out of the mud
Oh Mother! It's eating out my soul
Destroying law and order, I'm gonna lose control

What can I do to stop this plague, spread by sight alone
Just a glimpse and then a quiver, then they shiver to the bone
Ah, look at them go!

Bunderschaft, you are going daft? Better seal off the castle grounds
"This is Moribund, the Burgermeister, I'm gonna keep this monster down,
Somebody sent the subversive element; going to chase it out of down."
No-one will tell what all this is about
But I will find out.
<I will find out. I will find out.>

This thing's really outrageous, I tell you on the level
It's really so contagious must be the work of the devil
You better go now, pick up the pipers, tell them to play
Seems the music keeps them quiet, there is no other way.
Ah, close the doors!

"We've tried potions and waxen dolls, but none of us could find any cures,"
Mother please, is it just a disease, that has them breaking all my laws,
Check if you can disconnect the effect and I'll go after the cause
No-one will tell what this is all about
But I will find out
I will.

Solsbury Hill

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."

To keepin' silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
Open doors would soon be shut
So I went from day to day
Tho' my life was in a rut
"Till I thought of what I'd say
Which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey" he said "Grab your things
I've come to take you home."
<Back home.>

When illusion spin her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No on taught them etiquette
I will show another me
Today I don't need a replacement
I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey" I said "You can keep my things,
they've come to take me home."

Modern Love

Hey, I'm feeling so dirty, you're looking so clean
All you can give is a spin in your washing machine
I fly off to Rome to my prima bella
She leaves me in the rain with telescopic umbrella
Ooh the pain - Modern love can be a strain <repeated>

I trusted my Venus was untouched in her shell
But the pearls in her oyster were tacky as hell
For Lady Godiva I came incognito
But her driver had stolen her red hot magneto
Ooh the pain - Modern love can be a strain <repeated>

I don't know why they leave me in the lurch
To carry on the search
It's driving me up the wall
Pity when I have so much passion
Romance is out of fashion
Can't handle modern love at all

So I worship Diana by the light of the moon
When I pull out my pipe she screams out of tune
In Paris my heart sinks when I see the Mona Lisa
She gives me the wink, then she shows me the freezer
Ooh the pain - Modern love can be a strain <repeat till fade>

Excuse Me (By P Gabriel & Martin Hall)

Excuse me
You're wearing out my joie de vie
Grabbing those good years again
I want to be alone

Excuse me
I'm not the man I used to be
Someone else crept in again
I want to be alone

Excuse me please
I'm looking for Lost Angeles
Soaking up the sin again
I want to be alone

You got the money back, that's okay
Who needs a Cadillac anyway
I got the medicine, make you see the light
Call me in Alaska if it all turns out right <Allright>

Excuse me please
You're standing on my memories
Stealing souvenirs again
I want to be alone
<Leave me alone, I wanna be alone... repeated several times>

You got the money back, that's okay
Who needs a Cadillac anyway
I got the medicine, <to> make you see the light
Call me in Alaska, if it all turns out right

Humdrum

I saw the man at J.F.K.
He took your ticket yesterday
In the humdrum

I ride tandem with a random
Things don't run the way I planned them
In the humdrum

Hey Valentina, do you want me to beg?
You got me cooking I'm a hard boiled egg
In the humdrum

Empty my mind - I find it hard to cope
Listen to my heart - don't need no stethoscope

<It> Seem' to me that television
She come to cut me a deep incision
In the humdrum

Empty my mind - I find it hard to cope
Listen to my heart - don't need no stethoscope

Out of woman come the man
Spend the rest of his life gettin back where he can
As a bow, so a dove
As below, so above
>From the black hole
Come the tadpole
With the dark soul
In coal she burn, she burn

As I drove into the sun
Didn't dare look where I had begun
Lost among echoes of things not there
Watching the sound forming shapes in the air
>From the white star
Came the bright scar
Our amobea
My little liebe schoen

Slowburn

We're character actors from the Tower of Babel
Bewildered, burned out hardly able
To sit astride the high wire cable
It's hard to balance, a little unstable.

Through broken eyes and contact lenses
<I> Watched you draw your future tenses
See kisses of flame blow out of your lips
You're back telling me your Apocalypse.

Don't get me wrong, I'll be strong
When the slowburn sunset come along
You've gotta stay the night
I gotta think that you might.

We've tried a handful of bills and a handful of pills
We've tried making movies from a volume of stills
[But] the words fell like hailstones,
bouncing at our feet,
Covering our feelings with a frozen sheet.

A chance to move, I take a shot
I get cold - you get hot
We look outside, lyin' awake
See birds breaking surface on a silent lake.

But don't get me wrong, I'll be strong
When I'm back on the Isle of Avalon
Dont get me wrong, I'll be strong
When the slow burn sunset come along
You've got to stay the night
I've got to think that you might.

Don't try <to> make it easy, it'll cut you down to size
Darlin' we've got to trust in something
We're shooting down our skies
shooting down <shooting down> our skies
<shooting down our ...>

Waiting For The Big One

The wine's all drunk and so am I
Here with the hoi-poloi, don't ask me why
We're celebratin' anticipatin'; end of the year
everybody come, everybody here
- well more or less
Some already in a mess
I guess they're waiting for the big one.

Wonder why I'm cold. How did I get this far?
Had no money, had no car
I pray the snow goes, be bad if it settles
'cos I follow my nose and the dried up rose petals
- like the man says,
Sure hope Moses knows his roses
Or we'll all be waiting for the big one.

Once I was the credit to my credit card
spent what I hadn't got, [it] wasn't hard
No trust in judgement no trust in money
Someday I'll find myself like a bee finding honey
But in the meantime
I'm gonna have me some fun
Waiting for the big one.

One too many, where ego I go too
Looking for the real thing
It don't come from what I do
No real communication moves out of my face
I'm beginning to think I'm just out of place
Won't get in too deep, I want to get some sleep
To be ready for the big one
To be ready for the big one

Down The Dolce Vita

"Hey Mac, see you down the Dolce Vita!
"Get back, we don't have time
'Cos I hear we're sending off the heroes
When the yera goes, [they're] out of the bay,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive"

"So long," said four men to their families
"Be strong till we get back home
And if not, take care of all the children
Until then just hope and pray
We're gonna find a way
to make it alive"

"You guys are crazy!"

They shout and then we leave the harbour.
In doubt, they're acting weird
And the sea is whipping up a welcome
If hell come we're all easy prey,
Trying to find a way
to make it alive"

"You guys are crazy!"

The captain's hand shook for
the guys to get in place
He said, "Let's look behind your face".
With each corner covered, they were all around
Waiting for the midnight bell to sound.

"Out of sight," cried Aeron through his glasses
"Don't fight" said Gorham's smile

All the while, his hand was on my shoulder
I was scared of being an easy prey,

Trying to find a way
to make it alive"

<I won't be easy prey trying to find a way to make it alive.>

Here Comes The Flood

When the night shows
the signals grow on radios
All the strange things
they come and go, as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
still waiting for the swollen Easter tide
There's no point in direction we cannot
even choose a side.

I took the old track
the hollow shoulder, across the waters
On the tall cliffs
they were getting older, sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky
and as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain
was warm and soaked the crowd.

Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
in any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

When the flood calls
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
You're a thousand minds, within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actors gone, there's only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, they'll
use up what we used to be.

< Repeat chorus once >