Today's song

I picked up a new CD today for the drive to VT.  Peter Gabriel's New Blood, which is a set of orchestral workings of many of the songs he's written over the years.  He's made some really surprising choices about which songs to include, like Intruder.  Never would have guessed that one.

I usually cringe when rock musicians do orchestrated stuff (or worse, when some pay-for-play orchestra "interprets" their material).  Part of why rock music works is because of its urgency, not because of it's sophistication and density.  But PG's stuff is dense; every time you listen, you can pick out some other thing that's going on.  Plus, he's been doing movie scores for a decade or so, too, so he's got the gift of rich textures. 

New Blood really works.  The lyrics stand forth even more than in the originals, and his choices as a singer are different in the new settings.  Even though some of the songs are 30 years old, they really are new ideas in this circumstance.

I heard a song of his on my drive today that had never quite been one of my favorites before.  I liked it well enough, but today I heard it in a different way.  In Your Eyes.  Thanks, Pete.

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 facade 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

Love, I don't like to see so much pain.

So much wasted, and this moment keeps slipping away.
I get so tired of working so hard for our survival.
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive.

And all my instincts, they return; and the grand facade 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