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Peter Gabriel - I/O Album Lyrics



Peter Gabriel - I/O Lyrics






Panopticom

In the air
The smoke cloud takes its form
All the phones
Take pictures while it's warm

Panopticom, let's find out what's going on
Panopticom, let's see where clues are leading
Panopticom, won't you show us what's going on?
Panopticom, show how much is real

And we pour the medicine down
While we watch the world around us
We got witness on the ground
Takin' in the evidence
And we reach across the globe
Got all the information flowing
You face the motherload
Tentacles around you, around you

From above
And deep below the ground
It was in Berlin
That all the evidence was found
Look from the street
And we look down from the skies
See through the barriers
We can see through all those lies

Panopticom, let's find out what's going on
Panopticom, let's see where clues are leading
Panopticom, won't you show us what's going on?
Panopticom, show how much is real

And we pour the medicine down
While we watch the world around us
We got witness on the ground
Takin' in the evidence
And we reach across the globe
Got all the information flowing
You face the motherload
Tentacles around you, around you

(Around you)
(Around you)
(Around you)
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Copyright: Lyrics © Original Writer and Publisher






The Court

You put your hand up, you make your bid
You got your pictures all laid out on the grid
Look in the garden, in the surface ground
Buried everything that you never want found

And the court will rise
While the pillars all fall

We got the healer and the birthday cake
We got the real thing and we got the fake
You got the ladder but where is the snake?
How my body begins to wake

And the court will rise
While the pillars all fall

You got the money goin' up your nose
You got the data, don't control where it goes
But you have left it getting down to the bone
Your only memories on your mobile phone

And the court will rise
While the pillars all fall

Out of this sentence
The ball and the claw
And all these pronouncements
I can make up the voice of the law
Out in the market, all our lives are on sale
And the balls are drifting further apart
Recovery cannot fail

Got the things you need and they're all in place
Got the big shot barrister to plead my case
Got my baby throwin' up on a chocolate milk
The black cat judge reaches for his silk

And the court will rise
While the pillars all fall

We lost the line between the good and bad
We lost the line between the sane and the mad
Used to draw the line across the writing pad
The line of conscience that we never have had

And the court will rise
While the pillars all fall

So many reaching for it
So many reaching out for it (you know that justice is blind)
So many are reaching for it
So many reaching out for it (you know that justice is blind)
So many looking out for it
So many looking out for it (you know that justice is blind)
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






Playing for Time

Far, far away
Out amongst the stars
There's a planet spinning slowly
We call it ours
Any time, any day
Any moment that we bring to life
Will never fade away

Oh, all the moments come and go
While the memories ebb and flow
And play again, play again
Oh, there's a hill that we must climb
Climb through all the mist of time
It's all in here what we've been through

Down, I'm getting it down
Sorting it out
So everything I care about
Is held in here
All of those I love, inside
Everybody's playing for time
You and I still playing for time

There goes the sun
Back from where it came
The young move to the center
The mom and dad, the frame
Any space, any time
Any moment that we bring to life
Ridiculous, sublime

Oh, all the moments come and go
While the memories ebb and flow
And play again, play again
Oh, there's a hill that we must climb
Climb through all the mist of time
It's all in here what we've been through

Down, I'm getting it down
Sorting it out
So everything I care about
Is held in here
All of those I love, inside

The future shines a sunny day
Unpacked memories stored away
All the while, the clock keeps ticking
You and I still playing for time

One by one the voices silenced
For they know that time will tell
It's time that wears the crown
And time that rings the bell
All cards on the table
All hands are down
Everybody's playing for time
Everyone's still playing for time

Looking for a flicker in the face of the clock
Hidden in the mountain, in the body of the rock
No one seems to notice or to feel the aftershock
They're all too busy playing for time
Everybody's playing for time
You and I still playing for time
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






I/O

I'm just a part of everything
I stand on two legs and I learned to sing
It's not what was said and it's not what I heard
I walk with my dog and I whistle with the bird

Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I'm just a part of everything
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I'm just a part of everything

So we think we really live apart
'Cause we've got two legs, a brain and a heart
We all belong to everything
To the octopus' suckers and the buzzard's wing
To the elephant's trunk and buzzing bee's sting

Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I'm just a part of everything
I'm just a part of everything

I-O, I-O
Coming out, I'm going in
I-O, I-O
I'm just a part of everything

I learn like a baby, I learn like a seed
Spread out my tubers wherever I need
I find any way to attach and connect
And I run like water, no cause or effect

I've got stuff coming out, stuff going in
I'm just a part of everything
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I'm just a part of everything

When the panting is over and the warmth has run out
Love will be flowing, I have no doubt
With the vehicle in neutral and the ground to be faced
I'll be all laid to rest in my proper place
Into the roots of an old oak tree
Where life can move freely in and out of me

The stuff coming out and stuff going in
I'm just a part of everything

I-O, I-O
Coming out, I'm going in
I-O, I-O
I'm just a part of everything

I-O, I-O
Coming out, I'm going in
I-O, I-O
I'm just a part of everything
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






Four Kinds of Horses

It all seemed so simple
Remarkably clear
Like the darkest superhero
You were burst into our fear
They must have seen you looking
Watched everything you said
Knowing you could be a part of it
They fill your head, fill your head

Come all the nights
Oh, come all the days
So inaccessible in this land
This land beyond the brilliant haze
Here is all your money
There is the load
This is how you travel
If you live to see the world explode

Four kinds of horses, four kinds of men
Ah, you say you're something different
But you do it all again
Four kinds of horses, four kinds of men
Ah, you think you're something different
But you do it all again
Again and again, again and again

Your mind is made up
So certain what is right
But when they ordered everything
Will they see you were born so bright?
Oh, mother illusion with your jacket of flames
Your face, it is everywhere
Such a dark, dark shade of fame

Come all the nights
Oh, come all the days
So inaccessible in this land
This land beyond the brilliant haze
Here is all your money
There is the load
This is how you travel
If you live to see the world explode

Four kinds of horses, four kinds of men
Ah, you say you're something different
But you do it all again
Four kinds of horses, four kinds of men
Ah, you think you're something different
But you do it all again
Again and again, again and again

We feel the vibration
We're all holding it down
We feel the vibration
It's coming out of the ground
We feel the vibration
We're all holding it down
We feel the vibration
It's coming out of the ground

We feel the vibration
We're all holding it down
We feel the vibration
It's coming out of the ground
We feel the vibration
We're all holding it down
We feel the vibration
It's coming out of the ground
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






Road to Joy

(Waking up, waking up, waking up)
(Waking up the road to joy)

So as swollen skies
Look for anchors, look for tides
Sharp sounds swim around
Soaking into the brittle ground

Been so many days, been held inside this body
Been so many days and there's nothing to do
Been so many days and you're throbbing at the darkness
Been so many days, I've been waiting for you

Back in the world
Waking up the road to joy

Love calls through the walls
Wants the earth wherever it falls
Life's form won't calm you down
Going in for another round

This is how it goes, I've been listening to the voices
This is how it goes, you were sure I was gone
This is how it goes in a state of meditation
This is how it goes, I've been waiting for you

Back in the world
Waking up the road to joy
Back in the world
Walking down the road to joy

The engine stops and silence pours
Fills the holes and cracks, don't fuse
Young and old, girl and boy
Dance along the road to joy
Picture sharpens in your head
Opens up when it's been read
All the things you strain to see
Come move on in, come to me

Show your eyes, show your teeth
That's the way to build belief
Touch my hair, touch my knee
You can wake up every part of me

Get the blood to flow in every nook and cranny
Get the blood to flow from my head to my toes
Get the blood to flow, flowing all around me
Get the blood to flow with the life in my soul

Back in the world
Walking down the road to joy

Just when you think it can't get worse
The mind reveals the universe
Opens up a distant star
It gives you straight just who you are
I'm more a dog, you're more a cat
Then we're getting bored of that
Alive again, upon a snake
Then we jump into the lake
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






So Much

So much unfinished business
All sticky with desire
Raking through the empty shells
Of all the rockets we fired
Set the navigation
For the Earth all warm and wet
And as the longing drops away
The compass is reset

Oh, there's so much to aim for
You can shoot at the sun
But all of it just comes and goes
There's only so much can be done

Time slips in the mirror
As an old man, I was born
But I've grown to be a baby
With a halo and a horn
Burn up like a lightning bolt
All gone within a flash
You look around to find a home
Where the asteroid will crash

Oh, there's so much to live for
So much left to give
This edition is limited
There's only so much can be done

The body stiffens, tires and aches
In its wrinkled, blotchy skin
With each decade, more camouflage
For the wild eyed child within
Now close your eyes for a moment
Look down and look above
All the warmth inside of you
Comes from those you love

Oh, there's so much to live for
So much left to give
This edition is limited
There's only so much can be done
So much to aim for
Shooting up at the sun
When it all comes and goes
There's only so much can be done
So much can be done
Only so much can be done
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






Olive Tree

In the misty silver night
My eyes fall to the ground
I can feel it come alive
In the seeds pushing out through the soil
New life weaves its way out through the coil
Nothing's gonna hold this movement down

I was apart from it
My head in the sky
With no ears to listen
No light reached my eye
There grows the fungi
Still tied to its past
For the melting of the solid world
The change is coming fast

And it's, oh
I've got the water falling on me
It's all waking me up
I've got the sunlight warming my back
Warming up all my bones
I've got the cool breeze right on my skin
Bringing every cell to life
Making all connections live
From one point to another
And we're all here, just the same
Tryna make some sense of it
Where I'm going now
How it fits together
In the bigger shape of things

And I slide into the waves
Leaving land behind
It's another world I'm entering now
There's the shark pushing through the swaying reeds
Predator and prey sort out their needs
Nothing's gonna hold this pattern down

I was apart from it
In a world of our own
We lost all connection
To the place from which we'd grown
But here in this helmet
I can read other minds
And scan all the thinking
All the juice I can find

And it's, oh
I've got the water falling on me
It's all waking me up
I've got the sunlight warming my back
Warming up all my bones
I've got the cool breeze right on my skin
Bringing every cell to life
Making all connections live
From one point to another
And we're all here, just the same
Tryna make some sense of it
Where I'm going now
How it fits together
In the bigger shape of things

Water falls on me
It's waking up the world
Water falls on us
Falling from the head
Falling from the head
Falling from the head

Oh
I've got the water falling on me
I've got the sunlight warming my back
I've got the cool breeze right on my skin
I've got the water falling on me
Water falling on me
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






Love Can Heal

Whatever mess, you find yourself within
Regardless how you got there
When the edifice has slipped away and died
And left you standing there defenseless

Love can heal love can heal
Love can heal love can heal

There's something coming out of you
Your body and your skin
Like mist comes from the water
You can sense it
When the cold has clenched it's cords
And, alone, you face what's coming

For a moment, I raise my head
I can breathe the air
Out in the sunlight, in all the colours
Set against, a bed of green a bed of green

Love can heal love can heal
Love can heal love can heal
Give into love (Love can heal)
Give into love (Love can heal)
Give into love (Love can heal)
Give into love (Love can heal)
(Love can heal, Love can heal)
Love can heal love can heal
Love can heal love can heal us
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: PETER GABRIEL
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






This Is Home

I looked into the deepest sky
To find what you'd shown me
Here beside the churning sea
A calm came over me

'Cause I know this is home
Home is where I need to be
I know you are my home

Running down these roads of glass
With no way to see through them
We struggle through the buzz and the grind
Of one thing I'm certain

I know this is home
And home is where I need to be
I know you are my home

More or less
When you strip the whole thing down
Let all the feelings flow
And we're standing there in the garden
Watching the world roll out below
And we flow
Like a river through the night
All the colors bleed to light

I looked as far as I could see
To see what we're showing
We've scattered like a bag of seeds
Wherever the wind was blowing

Whatever brought us here
In the day or night it'll come and go
But then it's you and I
We just keep moving on
Walking down the road
And when we make it hard
And when I left you scarred
It looks like all has gone
Then the love creeps through
From deep in me and you
Walking down the road
Go back home

Looking for answers
But they're hidden from view
There's no way of knowing
And here I am holding you
There's nowhere else I'm going

I know this is home
And home is where I have to be
I know this is my home

Home, home
This is my home
Home, home
You are my home
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






And Still

All gone away
All gone away
I place my head against your skin
As I did as a boy

And still, your hands feel cold
Those hands that brushed my hair
I feel you everywhere
And I'll carry you inside of me
In every place that I will be

And still, the warm winds will blow
Still, all the rivers flow
And still, the green grass will grow
In every place I choose to go

I wander 'round the house
In which we lived
Cupboards full of coats and hats
Your presence everywhere

And in every corner, memories form
You warmed us like the sun
And every morning, you'd be there
Now you're gone
You warmed me like the sun

In your belly
With your food
In your love of family and friends and
The dogs and the horses too
In the life of the conversation
Connecting one and all
And your spirit would find
Its place, its home
Its face in the music

Your eyes, so young, so old
Still, your hands are cold
I feel you everywhere
And I'll carry you inside of me
In every place that I can be

And still, the warm winds will blow
Still, all the rivers will flow
And still, the green grass will grow
In every place I choose to go
I carry you inside of me
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC






Live and Let Live

Just how much does it have to hurt
Before you let go the pain?
Just how deep does it have to be
Before you yearn to be free again?
Every wound can lock you away
You can walk or you can choose to remain
Everyday can pass you by
While you were holding the key

This is how it turns
This is what we do
This is who we are
When we forgive we can move on
Release all the shackles one by one
We belong to the burden until it's gone

Just how long do you want to hate
With all that anger to burn?
You dream of revenge
And you dream a reply
You hope that someday we learn
Every time you think of that hurt
It spins around in your mind
With an eye for an eye
Again and again
Until the whole world is blind

This is how it turns
This is what we do
This is who we are
When we forgive we can move on
Release all the shackles one by one
We belong to the burden until it's gone

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Lay the burden down
I'm gonna lay the weapons down
Lay the burden down
William Blake wakes his sting, drawing out Martin Luther King
Tutu and Madiba saying rainbows still exist
The voice of the Elders coming through the mist
Lay the burden down
(Lay the weapons down)
Lay the burden down
(Lay the weapons down)

It takes courage (courage)
To learn to forgive
To be brave enough to listen
To live and let live
It takes courage (courage)
To start to forgive
To be brave enough to listen
To live and let live, let live
Let live, let live
Let live and let live
It takes courage (courage)
To learn to forgive
To be brave enough to listen
To live and let live, let live
(Live and let live, let live)
Let live
(Live and let live, let live)
(Live and let live, let live)
Live and let live
Live and let live
Live and let live
Let live
[ Correct these Lyrics ]

Writer: Peter Gabriel
Copyright: Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC








I/O (stylised as i/o) is the tenth studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician Peter Gabriel, released on 1 December 2023 through Real World Records. It is Gabriel's first album of new original material in over 21 years since Up (2002), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in his solo career. I/O features 12 tracks, each with two different mixes labeled the "Bright-Side Mix" and "Dark-Side Mix". It is also Gabriel's longest studio album of original material, with both mixes each clocking in at over 68 minutes and the total project lasting over two hours. An additional "In-Side Mix" of the album (in surround sound/Dolby Atmos) is available on versions which include the Blu-ray audio disc.

I/O had been in the works for nearly three decades (27 years and eight months), with its initial production dating back to April 1995, at around the same time Gabriel began recording Up. He began planning the follow-up to Up as early as 2000 and had originally intended to release it in 2004, but the album was repeatedly delayed, reworked and re-recorded at seven recording studios (and one arena during soundchecks while on tour with Sting in 2016) before its completion in December 2022. This was due to Gabriel focusing on other projects such as his two orchestral albums Scratch My Back (2010) and New Blood (2011), which contained covers of songs by other artists and rearrangements of his older material, respectively.

Beginning in January 2023, Gabriel released a new single every full moon, with its alternative mix released on the following new moon, eventually culminating in the album's release at the end of the year; this replicates the 2010 double-sided single releases in promotion of And I'll Scratch Yours (2013). He has stated that he will release more songs in this format following the album's release. I/O received positive reviews from music critics, with praise being particularly directed towards Gabriel's vocals and songwriting. The album was also Gabriel's first to top the UK Albums Chart since So in 1986.
Performed By: Peter Gabriel
Genre(s): Art rock, art pop
Producer(s): Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno, Richard Russell
Length: 68:09 (bright-side mix), 68:34 (dark-side mix), 68:34 (in-side mix), 205:17 (total)
Released: December 1st, 2023
Year: 2023

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