my friends would think i was a nut

Unable to endure one more moment of the Disney Princesses, I decided that today was the day to introduce Emily to Peter Gabriel. We started with Solsbury Hill, mostly because I figured she'd dig the "boom, boom, boom," which she did.

But she wanted to know what it was about.

I told her, as I had been told some time in high school or college, that it was about a guy who went hiking and then a space alien came and offered to take him on a grand adventure, and the guy had to decide whether or not to go, and he decided on the greater risk and greater reward. A literal interpretation if ever there was one.

So tonight I went poking around the internet to see how others interpreted this song which, by the way, is one of my Top Ten of All Time, but that's another post.

Variations included:

My wife feels that the song Solsbury Hill is about God calling home the person singing the song.

Solsbury Hill is about his indecisions and influences over his move away from Genesis.

I am truly surprised that other people have different interpretations of this song than I do. When I and other people have spoken about it, it always seemed natural that this song was about Christ.

Solsbury Hill.............hmmm I think it was written at a time of clinical depression to which only another sufferer can relate.

I can relate to this song because it is about a "homecoming." The person in this song was away from family and important people. They are now coming back into the life they once knew.

This song was written by PG after a profound experience of an abduction with a spacecraft. Think about it.

'And I left, to begin an new life with a new name.' - from David Copperfield - This song reminds me of a recurring theme in Charles Dickens books, the point where the young miserable boy, after an unusual strech of miserable experiences, starts on a new path in a new place which has unlimited possibilites, like David taking his first job in David Copperfield, or when Pip is sent to London by an unknown rich benefactor in Great Expectations.

We live in an age where information is colored by opinion, filtered by the powers that be, and monitored by Big Brother. In these difficult times the really important information is delivered to the people though song. Remember Harriet Tubman and the underground Railroad? Slaves were informed about where and when to find the way to freedom through their songs. Today, we have no chains around our feet, but are we free? Your government does not want you to see the light and truth that comes though many musicians to the masses. Peter Gabriel wants you to read between the lines. There is alot of "coded" information in this song. Pay attention to what he says about liberty, illusion, and freedom. Peter has many other songs with this type of information in them. Trust your heart for the meanings.

SOLSBURY HILL is a song dedicated to people freedom after a deep depression but phil the clown collins can´t understand that because he´s a mother fucker. he must die because he destroies everything the rest do.

Emily-wise, I'm sticking with the alien.

Posted by volfie at March 28, 2003 08:33 PM