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The Tower That Ate People Lyrics

Brick by brick by brick by brick we're building
Brick by brick by brick by brick we're building
Brick by brick by brick by brick we're building
Brick by brick by brick by brick we're building

There's a bump in the basement
There's a knocking on the wall
In the pumping of the pistons
I swear I heard your call
There's a bump in the basement
There's a hole in the floor
There's a guard in the garden
Locking up the door

There's a rumble in the floorboards
No shutting out the sound
And the workers are below me digging underground
Feel the building all around me
Like a wrap of armoured skin
But the more we are protected
The more we're trapped within

We're building up and up
We're building up and up
We're building up and up
We're building up and up
Till we can touch the sky

Tell it like it is
Till there's no misunderstanding
When you strip it right back
Man feed machine
Machine feed man
Tell it like it is
Till there's no misunderstanding
Make up what you like
Man fed machine
Machine feed man
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4 Meanings

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Cover art for The Tower That Ate People lyrics by Peter Gabriel

This song is part of "OVO", a multi-media show done for the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, England. OVO follows the tale of earth loving being named Theo, his wife Beth and his children Sofia and Ion. Ion is the clever inventor of the family, and after his father dies he leads his people in an industrial revolution, building a huge tower.

Eventually the tower becomes a curse as it saps natural resources and makes slaves of those building it. Beth and Sofia lead a revoltion and the tower falls.

Outside the OVO connection, there's a certain "Tower of Babel" feel to this song...humanity trying to build to heaven but failing: "In the pounding of the pistons, I swear I hear your call."

It could also be looked at as a song about industry taking over the "natural order".

Cover art for The Tower That Ate People lyrics by Peter Gabriel

This song is part of "OVO", a multi-media show done for the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, England. OVO follows the tale of earth loving being named Theo, his wife Beth and his children Sofia and Ion. Ion is the clever inventor of the family, and after his father dies he leads his people in an industrial revolution, building a huge tower.

Eventually the tower becomes a curse as it saps natural resources and makes slaves of those building it. Beth and Sofia lead a revoltion and the tower falls.

Outside the OVO connection, there's a certain "Tower of Babel" feel to this song...humanity trying to build to heaven but failing: "In the pounding of the pistons, I swear I hear your call."

It could also be looked at as a song about industry taking over the "natural order".

Cover art for The Tower That Ate People lyrics by Peter Gabriel

Its about how humans have become so dependient from the machines

Cover art for The Tower That Ate People lyrics by Peter Gabriel

What a JEWEL of a tune. Red Planet was an awesome movie (with an awesome soundtrack, BTW) and it turned me on to this song.

[Edit: Too long winded and subjective.]