PETER GABRIEL:   2

On The Air

Built in the belly of junk by the river my cabin stands
Made from the trash I dug out 'the heap, with my own
fair hands
Every night, I'm back at the shack and I'm sure no one is there
I'm putting the aerial up, so I can go out on the air

On the air
On the air
On the air

Every morning I'm out at dawn with the dwarfs and the tramps
For a silent communion lit from above by the sodium lamps
Everyone I meet on the street acts as if I wasn't there
But they're all going to know who I am 'cos I can go out
on the air

On The Air
On the air
On the air

Leaving the car down leafy lane
Turning out Tarzan for my Jungle Jane
anyone at all
From Captain Zero and his brand of superhero
standing by a call
Oh it's not easy
No it's not easy
Making real friends

Don't give me your steak-reared milkboys, milkboys
Half alive on empty white noise, white noise
I got power, I'm proud to be loud: my signal goes out clear
I want everybody to know that Mozo is here

On the air
On the air
On the air

D.I.Y.

D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y.

Don't tell me what I will do, 'cos I won't
Don't tell me to believe in you, 'cos I don't
Be on your guard, better hostile and ha
-don't risk affection
Like flesh to the bone in the no-go zone
you're still waiting for the resurrection
Come up to me with your "What did you say?"
and I'll tell you straight in the eye

D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y.
do it yourself

Everyone want to be what he not, what he not
Nobody happy with what he got, what he got
You function like a dummy with a new ventriloquist
do you say nothing yourself?
Hanging like a thriller on the final twist
-you know you're getting stuck on the shelf
Come up to me with your "what did you say?"
and I'll tell you straight in the eye

D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y.

When things get so big, I don't trust them at all
You want some control -- you've got to keep it small

D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y. D.I.Y.
do it yourself

Mother Of Violence

Walking the street with her naked feet
So full of rhythm but I can't find the beat
Snapping her heels clicking her toes
Everybody know just where she goes

Fear, fear - she's the mother of violence
making me tense to watch the way she breed
Fear, she's the mother of violence
you know self-defense is all you need
it's getting hard to breathe
it's getting so hard to believe
to believe in anything at all

Mouth all dry eyes bloodshot
data stored in microdot
Kicking the cloud with my moccasin shoes
TV dinner, TV news

Fear, fear - she's the mother of violence
don't make any sense to watch the way she breed
Fear, she's the mother of violence
making me tense to watch the way she feed
The only way you know she's there
Is the subtle flavour in the air
Getting hard to breathe
hard to believe in anything at all
but fear

A Wonderful Day In A One-Way World

Saturday is a shopping day -
I drive my car but there's no place to park it
- no respect for superman in supermarket
I guess there must be trouble but I not been alerted
looking around the store it was all deserted and I'm
stranded here with my empty basket
so full of question got nowhere to ask it

By the one way out
strange voice shout
"Don't let that good man out!"

"Have a wonderful day in our one-way world
one way, one day
Have a wonderful day in our one-way world
one way, one day
one-way man
one-way mind
get along with mankind"

Oh, there's an old man on the floor, so I summon my charm
I say, "Hey Scumbag, has there been an alarm?"
he said "Yeh, 'been selling off eternal youth
they all got afraid 'cos I'm the living proof
My name is Einstein do you know time is a curve?"
I said "Stop old man! you got a nerve
'cos there's only one rule that I observe
Time is money and money I serve"

By the one way out
strange voice shout
"Don't let that good man out"

"Have a wonderful day in our one-way world
one way, one day
Have a wonderful day in our one way world
one way, one day
one-day man
one-day mind
get along with mankind"

White Shadow

Ten coaches roll into the dust
Chrome windows turned to rust
'Hand on inside they know they must
Hanging on the green backed words "In God we trust"

No one knew if the spirit died
All wrapped to go like Kentucky Fried
Trying to read the flight of birds
Low on fuel, getting low on words

and she comes out like a white shadow
she comes out like a white shadow

Each one drawn to empty spaces
Outsiders, borderline cases
It's hard to tell black from white
When you wake up in the middle of the night

Weighed down by the absence of sound
Broken now by the cry of a hound
Looking for movement within the haze
Light can be deceptive with her rays

and she comes out like a white shadow
and she comes out like a white shadow
she comes out like a white shadow

Indigo

It's too late
This model's out of date
Got every spare part
But there ain't much heart inside here
Not like the start
I was good at the art of survival
I've always tried
To keep my troubles deep inside
Where I can hide them
now I'm open wide
When it ends
Again I'll see my friends
They'll give me a lift
I've been running adrift, so easy
Shifting the gear
I got nothing to fear from the showdown
I'll go down quiet
And kids downstairs making a hell of a din
I'm all alone
Getting a quote for the wages of sin
Beyond the indigo, indigo
where the chilly winds, winds will blow
My time is running low
Going to cross the dark dark river
Going to see my good life-giver
Better cover my yellow liver
Alright, I'm giving up the fight
I didn't know when
I'd be a stranger again
In my own land
The days are O.K.
But oh how I hate those long nights
You understand
Darling please, just hold my hand
You feel so warm
In the eye of the storm
I'm going away, I'm going away
See you again someday
Darling, I'm going away
Feel like I'm going away,
this time I'm going away

Animal Magic

What did you mean when you opened your mouth
and let all our secrets out
You told him what I was about
my cover was completely blown
I tell you darlin', I've been watching the war film
I got a few ideas of my own
'cos after the film had ended the call for recruits was shown

And I'm joining the professionals
I want to be a man
with all that animal magic
I'll do anything you can
I'm joining the professionals
'cos I want to be a man
look! I wave my wand, watch the rabbit disappear
Join the professionals and learn to fight

I bet the two of you still laugh at me
for being as timid as a lamb
That may be still the way I look
it's no longer what I am
Been across to Northern Ireland
I came home with a new kind of charge
I learned to hunt in the night
I learned about camouflage

Been joining the professionals
and now that I'm a man
with all that animal magic
I'll match anything you can
I'm joining the professionals
this time I'll understand
There's no way you'll get by me
With the slightest sleight of hand.
I'm joining the professionals
I want to be a man
look! I wave my wand
watch the rabbit disappear
Join the professionals and learn to fight

Animal magic

Exposure

Exposure
Exposure
Exposure
Exposure

Space is what I need
it's what I feed on

Exposure
Exposure
Exposure

Out in the open

Exposure

Flotsam And Jetsam

Doing nothing stuck in the mud
Just pumping the blood
The Water level's getting low
Something ugly's going to show

If I could only touch you
I guess you'd be alarmed
If only I could touch you
I don't mean you no harm

If only I could touch you
like the wind can touch the sail
If only I could touch you, darling
now that words have failed
Oh, Flotsam still afloat
Oh, Jetsam thrown out of the boat

Oh love, my love
nothing here is what it seems

We both know it
Christ! you show it
Oh, oh my love

Perspective

I need perspective
I need perspective
I need perspective
Don't trust my eyes

I need perspective
I need perspective
I need perspective
Don't trust my eyes


'cos I'm facing the wall
'cos I'm not that tall
heard the trumpet call
want to know where things fall

party time for the newly wed
colours ran as the images bled
like confetti on the flower bed
priest crying he's got fire in his head

Oh Gaia, if that's your name
treat you like dirt, but I don't want to blame
Oh Gaia, the wind heats the fire and blows the ash away

I need perspective
I need perspective
I need perspective
Don't trust my eyes

I need perspective
I need perspective
I need perspective
Don't trust my eyes

sitting in a long long hall
staring at the white white wall
waiting for the phone to call
there's one thing I've got to tell you all

to see through red red skies
to carry merchandise
I don't trust my eyes
and I don't like surprise

Oh Gaia, if that's your name
treat you like dirt, but I don't want to blame
Oh Gaia, the wind heats the fire and blows the ash away

I used to be industrial giant
sitting in a garden full of chemical plant
trying very hard to get you off my mind
acting like any man
taking you for everything I can
just the same, the same as all my kind
- so blind

I need perspective

Home Sweet Home

Met this girl called Josephine and took her up on my machine
We had a little fun and now we got a little one
Had to get married, being chased out of town
Found ourselves a place to live, we put all our money down

Call it Home Sweet Home, home sweet home
Eleven floors up in a tower block
happy just to have a home
I've gone and changed the lock on our home

Nothing really worked out right, things got broke,
they stayed that way
None of our friends came around at night and little Sam got
no place to play
"We've got to get out of here, Bill" she said "I've been telling
you all the while"
When I came home from work that night she'd jumped out the
window with our child

from our Home Sweet Home, home sweet home
just a place to take a rest, just a place ot make our nest
- we call it our home

When the insurance money came through seemed dirty didn't
know what to do
Took out the cash went down the casino, down on the wheel
on the double
And I won, oh yes I won, like I never won before
Bought myself a country house with an antique carved
oak door

it was Home Sweet Home, home sweet home
just a place to lay our head think of all those things we said
about in our Home Sweet Home.


All titles © Peter Gabriel Music Ltd./Hit & Run Music Ltd except 1, 6, 10, 11 © Cliofine/ Hit & Run Music Ltd. & 8 © Cliofine/ Hit & Run Music Ltd./E.G. Music Ltd.


+ 24/01/01