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Peter Gabriel - "Games Without Frontiers" (Massive/DB Mix) [mp3]
"Steam" CD Single [eil.com] The original version of this song appears on Peter Gabriel 3: Melt. |
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One of the highlights of Peter Gabriel's masterful third eponymous [self-titled; related to the name of a person] album, "Games Without Frontiers" nearly became his second Top 40 solo hit in 1980, thanks in part to its unsettling video clip. Its visual qualities matched the mood of the song, which blended childlike innocence with sinister atmosphere.
The lyrics concern a multi-ethnic group of children playing what sounds like a high-stakes sort of war game; Gabriel seems to be commenting on war and international diplomacy as being just like a children's game, not quite real to the people involved, nothing but "dressing up in costumes, playing silly games/Hiding out in treetops, shouting out rude names." Plus, it's even more chilling to imagine these children already in touch with the hostile, darker side of their nature, able to engage in "war without tears." The music is a tug of war between those contrasting sensibilities. "Games Without Frontiers" opens with a textural, angular, sliding guitar, which hangs in the air over a deliberate, partly electronic percussion figure and a halting, off-kilter bass line. Kate Bush enters with the song's eerie, haunting chorus hook, sung in French ("jeux sans frontières"), as more guitar figures interlock in the background. It's already an odd mix of sounds when Gabriel enters, delivering the verses in a squared-off, militaristic cadence, but without evoking anger or aggression — it might even hint at whimsy if it weren't couched in such a dark sonic environment. As the song hits the pre-chorus, the synthesizers take an expanded role in the arrangement and the whole thing suddenly bursts into a singsong, carefree, whistled melody. Gabriel follows it with an equally catchy melodic line, although the descending bass line underneath prevents it from sounding too bright and childlike. The chorus has a dour feeling, and Gabriel brings the tone back to the dark side with the line: "If looks could kill/They probably will in games without frontiers/War without tears." Bush repeats her ethereal [light; delicate; heavenly], sighing, almost alien line, and the process begins all over. Toward the end of the song, the majority of the instrumentation behind Bush's vocals drops out, leaving only synth noises and interlocking electronic percussion figures. The whole effect is creepy yet sonically inventive, from the detailed arrangement to the way the melodies and rhythms contribute to the mood. Overall, it's one of the finest moments preceding Gabriel's commercial breakthrough in the mid-'80s. Source: allmusic. |
