#388
Album: Peter Gabriel (Car)
Artist: Peter Gabriel
Year: 1977
Length: 41:42
Genre: Art Rock / Pop / Progressive Rock
“I did not believe the information
Just had to trust imagination
My heart going “Boom-boom-boom”
“Son, ” he said
“Grab your things, I’ve come to take you home”
Hey, back home”Solsbury Hill
Peter Gabriel has always been a funny artist in my life. Always being around but never being fully involved. If there was a graph that was created specifically towards the music I listened to, with a dark red epicenter being the music I loved and listened to all the time and the outer white rim being music I’ve listened to once and never again (and likely forgotten I ever listened to it), Peter Gabriel would sit nicely in that middle orangey-yellow zone. Music I’ve listened to a few times and have enjoyed but I never really seek out because I want to listen to it so badly. It’s a shame too because I really enjoy his music and can even say love it, but it’s always been music that’s existed in my life and I catch myself going “oh yeah! That!” a lot with. Perfect example, I always said I’d buy a Peter Gabriel album to add to my collection, but never did for whatever reason, until one day I found all four of his first albums (all of them titled “Peter Gabriel” by the way, because that’s not confusing at all) for dollars each. It was then that I was like, Ok it’s about time I finally buy Peter Gabriel albums and added all four to my collection at once. That’s how things are between me and Peter Gabriel.
I’m glad these albums have nicknames otherwise it could get confusing talking about them. In this case, it’s the aptly named “Car” due to the album cover featuring… well, a car! It’s interesting that this solo debut follows another solo debut that was after leaving an influential band, previous being Iggy Pop and The Stooges, but in this case, it’s safe to say it was an even bigger leap and risk as Peter Gabriel left one of the biggest Prog bands of the time, Genesis. I guess he felt his time on Genesis was up and wanted to leave for greener pastures where he can blossom into his own. Of course, doing something like that is a big risk and the real question is, did it pay off? Well, seeing as four of his solo albums are featured on this list, I would say yes, it paid off quite tremendously for him. Sometimes taking risks in life can be scary and leaving something to start anew comes with it’s level of uncertainty, but he did it and I admire him tremendously for that.
This is where it’s the perfect time to talk about the big hit off the album and my favourite song, “Solsbury Hill”. This song was written by Peter Gabriel as a way to express his departure from Genesis and accepting the uncertainty of the future and what was to come. This song always hit me differently. I can’t listen to this song without it touching my emotions and every time he sings one of the variations of “Pack your things I’m going to take you home”, I always feel like I can cry. It’s quite a moving song for me and I can understand why it hits me the way it does.
I, myself, have felt like I’ve been in a constant state of accepting the uncertainty of my life. I made a big leap about 7 years ago when I moved to a completely different city, leaving everything behind. It was a scary leap but I did it and when I look back at everything that has happened it definitely feels worth it, I have a full time job in my field, I’m in a wonderful relationship with a wonderful person, I have found a fantastic community of people in both the theatre and improv worlds and I have a distinguished gentleman of a cat. All things that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t taken that fateful leap into the unknown.
However, despite all that, I still look ahead with the same amount of uncertainty as I did before, wondering if there are other leaps I need to make in order to push myself forward in my life. I ponder if there are other big risks I need to take if I want to achieve the things I want to and I constantly just feel the weight of the world sitting on my shoulders as I do. It’s an unbelievable overwhelming feeling, all that fear and anxiety and uncertainty enveloping me as I try to figure out what’s in store for me for my future. I, of course, can’t predict the future and will never truly know and part of me needs to trust the process and strap myself in for the journey. But it’s hard not to constantly think about it and try to make things happen and make them happen now, even though these things take time. Will I ever have a home to call my own? Will I start a family? Will I do the projects I want to do? Will I advance in my career? What do I need to do those things? What am I missing? When will I see myself at that place?
That’s where this song comes in. There’s this strong feeling of hope that surrounds this song. I hear it and I feel like things will be OK. It may all be uncertain but things will work out in the end, they always have a weird way of working out in the end. That line, “Pack your things I’m going to take you home”, always hits me because it gives me the sense that something out there is there for me and will protect me in some weird way. It feels like a hand has been extended to me for me to grab and be guided through this all, telling me it will all be alright. Whether I believe it or not doesn’t matter, because in that moment I definitely feel it and that’s all that matters to me.
Favourite Song: Solsbury Hill
-Bosco
Bosco's Modern Life 