Peter Gabriel - Disco: 'Peter Gabriel I'

Moribund the Burgermeister

Gabriel

Caught 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 his plague, spread by sght alone

Just a glimpse and then a quiver,

then they shiver to the bone

Ah, look at them go!

Bunderschaft,
you going daft?

Better seal off the castle grounds

"This is Moribund, the Burgermeister,

I'm going to keep this monster down,

Somebody sent the subversive element;

going to chase it out of town."

No-one will tell what all this is about

But I will find out.

This thing's 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 about

But I will find out

I will.

Moribundo, el Burgermeister

Solsbury Hill
Gabriel

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 never
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."
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 one 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."

La Colina de Solsbury

Modern Love
Gabriel

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

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

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 o'it 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.

Amor moderno

Excuse Me
Gabriel

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

Excuse me please
You're standing on my memories
Stealing souvenirs 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.

Perdóname

Humdrun
Gabriel

I saw the amn
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

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 amoeba
My little liebe schon.

Monotonía

Slowburn
Gabriel

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

Through broken
eyes and contact lenses
'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
Don't 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 our skies.

A fuego lento

Waiting for the Big One
Gabriel

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 be waiting for the big one.

Once I was a credit
to my credit card
spent what I hadn't got, it wasn't hard
No trust in judgements 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
-waiting for the big one.

Esperando el momento grande

Down the Dolce Vita
Gabriel

'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 year goes, they're out 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 easy prey,
Trying to find a way to make it alive'.

Bajo la gran vida

Here Comes the Flood
Gabriel

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 the 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.

Lord, here comes
the flood
We'll say goodbye the 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.

Aquí llega el diluvio