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The Family and the Fishing Net Lyrics
Suffocated by mirrors, stained by dreams
Her honey belly pulls the seams
Curves are stiff upon the hinge
Pale zeros tinge the tiger skin
Moist as grass, ripe and heavy as the night
The sponge is full, well out of sight
All around the conversations
Icing on the warm flesh cake
Light creeps through her secret tunnels
Sucked into the open spaces
Burning out in sudden flashes
Draining blood from well-fed faces
Desires form in subtle whispers
Flex the muscles in denial
Up and down its pristine cage
So the music, so the trial
Vows of sacrifice, headless chickens
Dance in circles, they the blessed
Man and wife, undressed by all
Their grafted trunks in heat possessed
Even as the soft skins tingle
They mingle with the homeless mother
Who loves the day but lives another
That once was hers
The worried father, long lost lover
Brushes ashes with his broom
Rehearses jokes to fly and hover
Bursting over the bride and groom
And the talk goes on
Memories crash on tireless waves
The lifeguards whom the winter saves
Silence falls the guillotine
All the doors are shut
Nervous hands grip tight the knife
In the darkness, till the cake is cut
Passed around, in little pieces
The body and the flesh
The family and the fishing-net
And another in the mesh
The body and the flesh
Her honey belly pulls the seams
Curves are stiff upon the hinge
Pale zeros tinge the tiger skin
Moist as grass, ripe and heavy as the night
The sponge is full, well out of sight
All around the conversations
Icing on the warm flesh cake
Light creeps through her secret tunnels
Sucked into the open spaces
Burning out in sudden flashes
Draining blood from well-fed faces
Desires form in subtle whispers
Flex the muscles in denial
Up and down its pristine cage
So the music, so the trial
Vows of sacrifice, headless chickens
Dance in circles, they the blessed
Man and wife, undressed by all
Their grafted trunks in heat possessed
Even as the soft skins tingle
They mingle with the homeless mother
Who loves the day but lives another
That once was hers
The worried father, long lost lover
Brushes ashes with his broom
Rehearses jokes to fly and hover
Bursting over the bride and groom
Memories crash on tireless waves
The lifeguards whom the winter saves
Silence falls the guillotine
All the doors are shut
Nervous hands grip tight the knife
In the darkness, till the cake is cut
The body and the flesh
The family and the fishing-net
And another in the mesh
The body and the flesh
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
Yeah, this one is a cynical take on the rituals and superstitions of weddings. You can tell he doesn't like them much!
The "fishing net" of the title refers, I think, to a family snaring their daughter a husband, and a woman snaring a husband with the promise of sex. It's pretty clear that the husband is just going through it because he wants permission to fuck this woman
It's actually a very negative song, but I can't help loving it. :)
Traditional culture (Mexico?)
Premarital sex results in pregnancy
And required wedding
The creepy vibe - everyone feels trapped
Thus the title, and the last couplet
The family and the fishing net / Another in the mesh / The body and the flesh
i have no idea what this song is about but i love it. my mum played it for me the other day. i like the part with the headless chickens. peter gabriel just gets it right all the time
The song is an ironic take on a wedding. In this song it's a mad, pagan ritual with sacrifices.
@Arujei I used to think this was Santeria myself and the "worried father, long lost lover" was Dia de Muertos, but I don't think there's much to the pagan angle in the song
@Arujei I used to think this was Santeria myself and the "worried father, long lost lover" was Dia de Muertos, but I don't think there's much to the pagan angle in the song
Arujei is correct, the song is about a wedding, as Peter himself says in the introduction to the song on Peter Gabriel: Plays Live (the 2 disc set, I'm not sure if it appears on the Excerpts version of the album).
Says Peter: "this next one concerns the ritual of the wedding; the ring and the finger... this is called The Family and the Fishing net"
No Genesis references here. In fact, aside from Solsbury Hill, I'm hard pressed to find a reference to anything regarding Genesis in PG's solo stuff.
signed in yet?
My reaction to this song is that I picture a family around a dinner table; wife/mother, kids. The father has been realized of infidelity and the tension in the music is due to the silent confrontation. Father is ridden with guilt, reflecting on the great pleasure that abandoned vows between bride and groom...trial begins. Headless chickens being irrational emotional explosion dancing on his guilt. He tries to brush it away as nothing happened but his character is dissected and passed around to compare..the other lover being another in the mesh.
great song very ubderrated awesome lyrics
I have always kind of thought that this was Peter Gabriel's attempt to show us how easy it is for someone to look at another cultures rituals and twist them into a description that is scary. He points to one of our (western culture) very exciting and enjoyable rituals of a wedding, but takes the perspective of someone who doesn't understand and describes it in terms that cause fear for the listener.
a couple examples that seem pretty clear to me: Vows of sacrifice - the actual vows of the bride and groom headless chickens - the meal prepared for the celebration afterward Dance in circles - the dancing that happens at the reception
and the biggest one...the cutting of the cake:
Silence falls the guillotine All the doors are shut Nervous hands grip tight the knife In the darkness, till the cake is cut Passed around, in little pieces
@beren14 to add to this, here are some guesses for parts I can't clearly understand because of his poetry, but I am guessing:
@beren14 to add to this, here are some guesses for parts I can't clearly understand because of his poetry, but I am guessing:
a description of the bride getting ready for the ceremony: Suffocated by mirrors, stained by dreams Her honey belly pulls the seams Curves are stiff upon the hinge Pale zeros tinge the tiger skin
a description of the bride getting ready for the ceremony: Suffocated by mirrors, stained by dreams Her honey belly pulls the seams Curves are stiff upon the hinge Pale zeros tinge the tiger skin
a description of the the mother of the bride or groom who will be living alone after the son or daughter move on to their own home: Even as the soft skins tingle They mingle with the homeless mother Who loves the day but lives another That...
a description of the the mother of the bride or groom who will be living alone after the son or daughter move on to their own home: Even as the soft skins tingle They mingle with the homeless mother Who loves the day but lives another That once was hers
a description of the father of the bride and/or others including possibly the best man preparing speeches and delivering them:
The worried father, long lost lover Brushes ashes with his broom Rehearses jokes to fly and hover Bursting over the bride and groom
I always thought it was about a tribe of cannibals with a person being cut into pieces and their body parts being passed around the tribe to feast on.