“Was just playing in the downtown LA sushi place. Of course, they had a club mix I cannot find on these internets, but I like this concert version, where it looks like the shock of liberation is still new.”
Was just playing in the downtown LA sushi place. Of course, they had a club mix I cannot find on these internets, but I like this concert version, where it looks like the shock of liberation is still new.
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
1
I was a mere teen when Gabriel shocked the world by leaving Genesis. This single apparently explained this frame of mind. I just remember skipping school to go into the city to buy tickets at the Glasgow Apollo the minute the box office opened. Pete's voice, Fripp's Guitar, and Levin's stick bass. They walked down the aisles with miner's headlighted helmets &climbed; the considerable height of the Apollo's stage. A fabulous gig. A great set of albums (each one annoying called "Peter Gabriel"). He somehow made it OK. We forgave him for leaving Genesis, but more than that, & this single reminds me of it every time, he showed me that it was better to control your life & make your own decisions & moves in life. That it was more than OK to quit & go off in a direction that suited YOU, & to hack with what everyone else thought. This is not anarchy nor wanton irresponsibility, this is truth. I've climbed my own Solsbury Hills, & let me tell you it feels great when you get to the top.
17
"I was feeling part of the scenery. I walked right out of the machinery."
Oh, goodness me, yes.
If I focus, I realise that this song was pretty much my first exposure to the knowledge that I will never, in my life, write something this perfect.