Fever Ray have covered Mercy Street, which is one of my all-time favorite Peter Gabriel songs. Apparently, Fever Ray have been playing it live from time to time, but I sadly did not get to witness it when I saw them in San Francisco last year. In any case, we have the tune now. I love it and it's going to drop on 7" before the end of the year.
I convinced D, the other day, to listen to some of the earlier Peter Gabriel albums. She was checking his new album, Scratch My Back, which is on my playlist. She had told me her dad used to listen to Genesis and Gabriel in the car when she was young, but she wasn't overly familiar with it. So I brought in a few albums for her to peruse. My favorite is the one with Peter Gabriel's melting face, which is his third self-titled solo album.
In any case, the point of this is that I listened to this album again, and it brought back a flood of memories. Lying on the bed and reading while listening. Studying the personnel list, which eventually and inevitably led to other exciting musical discoveries.Tony Levin and Robert Fripp pointed the way to King Crimson. Paul Weller opened the door to The Jam. In addition to producing this album, Steve Lillywhite produced U2, Big Country (laugh if you must, but I loved those first couple albums), and XTC, who were other bands I was getting into around that time.
Although I vaguely knew her name from singing backup on Gabriel's melty face album, a few years would pass before I discovered who Kate Bush really was. We didn't have cable television back then, my dad refused to pay for TV. I used to go over to Peter's, his mom was pretty cool and she worked nights which meant she was generally asleep during the day and we could watch whatever we wanted, usually some retarded horror flick or a baseball game. This one particular day, I think Peter was distracted by something. Maybe a girl on the phone, or whatever. I was flipping through the channels when I stumbled upon this gorgeous girl wearing chain mail and brandishing a sword. I was captivated, and when Peter was done with his distraction, I wouldn't let him change the channel until I found out the name of this warrior woman. The song was Babooshka, the name of the program was The Single File(which was a compilation of her videos), and the singer turned out to be Kate Bush. Amazing. I rushed out as soon as I could and picked up Hounds of Love, which was her current release at the time.
Strange how the mind works, this started out as an ode to Peter Gabriel, and I end up gushing over Kate Bush. Complete lack of discipline. I'm gonna leave it as it is, however, and I'll leave with these tunes. Peter Gabriel's No Self Control, on which you can hear Kate Bush singing backup. Kate Bush's Babooshka, which pretty much is the starting point of my lifelong Kate Bush odyssey. I actually have to belatedly thank the USA Network for airing that video. Who would have thought that one could see obscure Kate Bush videos on American network television?
And sometime soon, I will have to write up a little post on my favorite duet ever, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush singing Don't Give Up, which appears on Gabriel's 1986 album, So. I'll save that one for later.
Peter Gabriel > No Self Control
Kate Bush > Babooshka
Lastly, as a little bonus, here is the video for Kate Bush's spellbinding Babooshka:
Over the course of the years I've lived so far, I haven't been much of a politically minded person. That said, I have been getting into it more and more over the past couple years. I've been trying to keep up with issues and general shit that's going on with the world. Like a lot of people, this Iran election debacle has been holding my interest for the past week or so and everyone is waiting to see the outcome. If you've been following it, you know the details. If you don't know what's going on and are interested, you can start with some info here.
In any case, I found myself this morning wanting to listen to some old Peter Gabriel. I especially love the first few albums. You know the third album, the one with Peter Gabriel's melted face on the cover? Did you know that Kate Bush sings backup on that album? Pretty cool, eh? So yes, I was listening to that when the song Biko came on and it reminded me of what is going on now in Iran. I don't know much about Stephen Biko except that he died many years ago and that he was an anti-apartheid activist. Some of the lyrics in the song, though, apply to the Iranian situation.
Tenuous connection, you might say, but that's what came to my mind when I heard it today. Especially the first few lines of the second verse, and the blow out a candle lines in the third verse. I guess you could say it's all about the spirit of revolution, or rising up and striking back at the oppressors. I dunno, those lines are pretty powerful to me, like a call to arms. Check out the lyrics and listen to the song. Oh, and apparently "Yihla Moja" means "Come Spirit" in Xhosa, which is one of the official languages of South Africa.
September '77 Port Elizabeth weather fine It was business as usual In police room 619 Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja -The man is dead
When I try to sleep at night I can only dream in red The outside world is black and white With only one colour dead Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja -The man is dead
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
And the eyes of the world are watching now watching now
