Torben har skrevet en artikel – Manden der lagde masken – i anledning af Peter Gabriels 60-årsdag i morgen, og det fik mig til at finde min yndlings-Gabriel-sang frem fra gemmerne: Solsbury Hill. Nummeret er med på Gabriels debutsoloplade fra 1977. Som de tre efterfølgende havde debutalbummet den selvbevidste titel: Peter Gabriel. Her kommer jeg.

Solsbury Hill er den anden skæring på pladen, og det er en spirituel sang, der vist nok er inspireret af Gabriels brud med Genesis (“My friends would think I was a nut”), men også en spirituel fantasi (med kristne træk) ved udsigten fra Solsbury Hill – og en lidt vemodig sang om frihedslængsel og tabte illusioner. En sang med flere lag med andre ord.

Sangen, der har en meget iørefaldende melodi og fremføres med Gabriels karakteristiske teatralsk-lidenskabelige stemmeføring blev en af hans mest populære sange gennem tiden. En slidstærk sang, der er blevet brugt i film (fx Tom Cruise-filmen Vanilla Sky) og har været genstand for flere fortolkninger af andre kunstnere (fx Erasures diskoficerede version). Det var helt sikkert også den sang, der gav mig lyst til at følge Gabriels videre færd i dybden, medens de andre i Genesis med talent og succes drejede i retning af mainstreampoppen. Til lykke med dagen.

limbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen had no choice
I did not believe the information
I just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
“Son,” he said “Grab your things,
I’ve come to take you home.”

To keep in silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
Open doors would soon be shut
So I went from day to day
Tho’ my life was in a rut
“Till I thought of what I’d say
Which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom boom boom
“Hey” he said “Grab your things
I’ve come to take you home.”
(Back home.)

When illusion spin her net
I’m never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
I will show another me
Today I don’t need a replacement
I’ll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom boom boom
“Hey” I said “You can keep my things,
They’ve come to take me home.

Meget apropos: Klø mig på ryggen