Peter Gabriel Builds Up 'In Your Eyes (Live in Athens 1987)'
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Rocker reveals inspiration for 'So' hit
Armando Gallo
Peter Gabriel releases a remastered, 25th anniversary edition of his classic 1986 album So today. In this exclusive stream, you can hear the rock great perform that album's hit "In Your Eyes" in Athens, Greece in 1987. It's an emotional delivery, and not surprisingly: the song holds a special meaning to Gabriel that resulted from what he calls a "long gestation period."
"There had been this earlier track which I never got to release called 'Sagrada Familia.' I'd played it live a few times but it hadn't really taken off," Gabriel tells Rolling Stone. "The lyrical idea was about two very different types of people that were building for very different reasons."
"One of them was Antoni Gaudi building his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona – which was a very organic, slow process and was still only partially finished when he was knocked over and killed outside the cathedral," the former Genesis frontman reveals. "He stepped out into the road so he would have a better view of the massive spires on top of the giant building and was hit by a tram."
"The other was Sarah Winchester, who was the heir to the Winchester rifle fortune," Gabriel continues. "After the death of her daughter, she became incredibly depressed and, after seeing a medium, became convinced she was being haunted by all the people who had been killed by Winchester rifles. She started adding rooms to her mansion to house these ghosts, a task which went on nonstop for 38 years until her death."
"I liked the idea and I liked the song, but it didn't make the grade and it didn't feel like we'd quite got the chorus to work," says Gabriel. "I'd always liked the emotion of the verse, so when we were looking for something else to try at the front of 'In Your Eyes,' I started working around with the melody from 'Sagrada Familia.'"
Listen to Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes (Live in Athens 1987)'
© Rolling stone
"One of them was Antoni Gaudi building his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona – which was a very organic, slow process and was still only partially finished when he was knocked over and killed outside the cathedral," the former Genesis frontman reveals. "He stepped out into the road so he would have a better view of the massive spires on top of the giant building and was hit by a tram."
"The other was Sarah Winchester, who was the heir to the Winchester rifle fortune," Gabriel continues. "After the death of her daughter, she became incredibly depressed and, after seeing a medium, became convinced she was being haunted by all the people who had been killed by Winchester rifles. She started adding rooms to her mansion to house these ghosts, a task which went on nonstop for 38 years until her death."
"I liked the idea and I liked the song, but it didn't make the grade and it didn't feel like we'd quite got the chorus to work," says Gabriel. "I'd always liked the emotion of the verse, so when we were looking for something else to try at the front of 'In Your Eyes,' I started working around with the melody from 'Sagrada Familia.'"
Listen to Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes (Live in Athens 1987)'
© Rolling stone
Last modified onThursday, 18 October 2012 13:18
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