Peter Gabriel

• Did I dream this belief
  or did I believe this dream
  how I will find relief
  I grieve...
  • "I Grieve" from City of Angels (1998)

Biko

• 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

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

• And the eyes of the world are
  watching now.

Games Without Frontiers

• If looks could kill, they probably will
  In games without frontiers — war without tears.

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

• 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.

I Have The Touch

• 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'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.

• Wanting contact
  I'm wanting contact
  I'm wanting contact with you.

• I need contact
  Nothing seems to please
  I need contact.

Shock The Monkey

• Shock the monkey to live.

• Cover me when I run
  Cover me through the fire
  Something knocked me out' the trees
  Now I'm on my knees
  Cover me, darling please.

• 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.

• 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.

• Shock the monkey to life.

Red Rain

• red rain is coming down
  red rain
  red rain is pouring down
  pouring down all over me

• I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
  I cannot make a single sound as you scream

• I come to you defences down
  with the trust of a child.

Don't Give Up

Duet written by Gabriel, sung with Kate Bush; female role in italics

• 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
  '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
  'cause somewhere there's a place
  where we belong.

• 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.

In Your Eyes

• 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.

• 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
  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.

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

That Voice Again

• 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.

• What I carry in my heart
  Brings us so close or so far apart
  Only love can make love.

Mercy Street

• Looking down on empty streets, all she can see
  are the dreams all made solid
  are the dreams all made real.

• All of the buildings, all of those cars
  were once just a dream
  in somebody's head

• Dreaming of mercy st.
  wear your inside out
  dreaming of mercy
  in your daddy's arms again

• Dreaming of the tenderness — the tremble in the hips
  of kissing Mary's lips.

• Mercy, mercy, looking for mercy...

We Do What We're Told

• we do what we're told
  told to do

Shaking The Tree

Written with Youssou N'Dour

• Souma Yergon, Sou Nou Yergon, We are shakin' the tree

• Waiting your time, dreaming of a better life
  Waiting your time, you're more than just a wife

• It's your day — a woman's day
  It's your day — a woman's day

• Turning the tide, you are on the incoming wave
  Turning the tide, you know you are nobody's slave

• Make the decision that you can be who you can be
  You can be
  Tasting the fruit come to the Liberty 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.

• You had to be so strong
  And you do nothing wrong
  Nothing wrong at all
  We're gonna to break it down
  We have to shake it down
  Shake it all around

Love To Be Loved

• 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.

• I cry the way that babies cry
  The way they can't deny
  The way they feel
  Words, they climb all over you
  'Til they uncover you
  From where you hide.

• 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 ...

Fourteen Black Paintings

Full text online

• From the pain come the dream

• From the people come the power
  From this power come the change

Kiss That Frog

• 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

• 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, lady kiss that frog
  Get wet, get wet

The Time of the Turning

• 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

• 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 the next emerging
  Time of the turning and we'd better learn to say our goodbyes

• 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

More Than This

• I walked until I couldn't walk anymore
  to a place I'd never been
  there was something stirring in the air
  in front of me, I could see
  more than this

• more than this
  so much more than this
  there is something else there
  when all that you had has all gone
  and more than this
  I stand
  feeling so connected
  and I'm all there
  right next to you

• 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