Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (Scratch) Album Lyrics

Built in the belly of junk by the river, my cabin stands;
Made from the trash I dug off the heap with my own bare hands.
Every night I'm back at the shack, 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 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.

[Chorus] (On the air...)

Leaving the car down the leafy lane,
Turning out Tarzan for my Jungle Jane.
Anyone at all, from Captain Zero
And his band of superheroes standing by on 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've got power, I'm proud to be loud, my signal goes out clear,
I want everybody to know that Bozo is here!

[Chorus]

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 hard, don't risk affection;
Like flesh to the bone in the no-go zone,
You're still looking 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., [etc.]

Everyone wants 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,
Is it true 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., [etc.]

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., [etc.]

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 knows 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 on a 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 flavor in the air.
Getting hard to breathe,
Getting hard to believe in anything at all
But Fear.

Saturday is 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 round 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 'cause 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
'Cause 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"

Ten coaches roll into the dust, chrome windows turned to rust.
Hang on inside, they know they must, hanging on the green-backed words
"In God We Trust."
No one knows 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.
Weighted 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.

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 feelings 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've got nothing to fear from a showdown,
I'll go down quiet.
And the 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.

All right, I'm giving up the fight,
I didn't know when I'd be a stranger again in my own land.
The days are okay, but oh, how I hate these 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, 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.

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 darling, I've been watching the war films
And I've got a few ideas of my own,
'cos after the film had ended, the call for recruits was shown,

And I'll be 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 timid as a lamb;
That may be the way I look, but it's no longer what I am.
I've been across to Northern Ireland,
And I came home with a new kind of charge:
I learned how to hunt in the night, I learned about camouflage.

I've 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 understand,
Look! I wave my wand, watch the rabbit disappear...
Join the professionals and learn to fight!

Exposure

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

Exposure

Out in the open...

Doing nothing, stuck in the mud, just pumping the blood.
The water level's getting low, something ugly's going to show.

If only I could 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.

I need perspective, 'cos I'm facing the wall.
I need perspective, 'cos I'm not that tall.
I need perspective, heard the trumpet call.
Don't trust my eyes, want to know where things fall.

I need perspective, party time for the newly wed.
I need perspective, colors ran as the images bled.
I need perspective, like confetti on the flower bed.
Don't trust my eyes, priest crying he's got fire in his head.

[Chorus:]
Oh Gaia, if that's your name,
Treat you like dirt, but I don't want to blame.
Oh Gaia, the wind heals the fire and blows the ash away.

I need perspective, sitting in a long, long hall.
I need perspective, staring at the white, white wall.
I need perspective, waiting for the phone to call.
Don't trust my eyes, there's one thing I've got to tell you all.

I need perspective, to see through red, red skies.
I need perspective, to carry merchandise.
I need perspective, I don't trust my eyes.

[Chorus]

I used to be an industrial giant,
Sitting in a garden full of chemical plants.
Trying very hard to get you off my mind.
Acting like any man, taking you for all I can,
Just the same, the same as all my kind, so blind.

I need perspective.

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.

Called 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 round at night, 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 to make a nest.
We call it home.

When the insurance money came through,
It seemed dirty, didn't know what to do.
Took out the cash, went down to the casino,
Down on the wheel on a double,
And I won, 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 the things we said
About in our Home Sweet Home.