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I Don't Remember Lyrics

I got no means to show identification
I got no papers show you what I am
You'll have to take me just the way that you find me
What's gone is gone and I do not give a damn
Empty stomach, empty head
I got empty heart and empty bed
I don't remember
I don't remember

I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything
-anything at all

Strange is your language and I have no decoder
Why don't you make your intentions clear
With eyes to the sun and your mouth to the soda
Saying, "Tell me the truth, you got nothing to fear
Stop staring at me like a bird of prey
I'm all mixed up, I got nothing to say
I don't remember
I don't remember

I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything
Anything at all

I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything
absolutely anything at all
I don't remember
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12 Meanings

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Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

My mom used to work with refugees, people who fled their country because of war. They often did not have a passport, some of them had been tortured in the country where they came from. They could remember what had happened, but found it difficult to talk about it. They either didn't want to talk about their past or couldn't (yet). I think this song might be about such a (political) refugee.

Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

I'm surprised that no one has commented on this piece. A great song, from a great album.

Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

It seems a song about a spy that was captured by the enemies of his nation, so he really is in big trouble. However someone simply erased his mind and destroyed everything that could show who he was for protecting all the secrets that he knows, before he was caught by those enemies, as you can conclude on reading the 1st lines.

Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

This song is about the conflict over leaving Genesis. Similar to what tdoggpaint says. Even the video has PG bumping into walls and catching his reflection in the mirror, or picture frame. Each time he does this it's PG in one of those elaborate costumes he wore with Genesis. The fox costume, the Slipperman costume, things that Genesis eventually got brassed about because they found it a distraction. Imho, Tony Levin makes this fantastic song...

Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

It is probably about a person with amnesia, perhaps in a foreign country. The large number of tabula-rasa figures in the music video for the song seems to support this.

Song Meaning
Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

This song could be about being on the shrinks couch

Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

In my opinion, it's about fending off the oertures Genesis was making trying to make him feel guilty about leaving.

Stop staring at me like a bird of prey, I'm all mixed up, I've got nothin' to say.

Sometimes it's better to put it out of your mind.

I don't remember.

Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

overtures

Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

Interesting song from Peter Gabriel. His songs tend to fall into two categories:

Emotional songs that often tell the story of people in despair (this type of song, "Don't Give Up," "Solsbury Hill," "Mercy Street," etc.) and often make you think or say something about humanity.

Songs about sex ("Sledgehammer," "Steam")

So to say this song is about a refugee is interesting, but I wonder what he is really trying to say in this song. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but it certainly isn't one of his sex songs.

this song is about a someone who has come home, but has lost everything and is alone/loneley... and someone has taken interest in them and wants to help and love him, but he is too bitter to let them in...

Not Valid
Cover art for I Don't Remember lyrics by Peter Gabriel

I think this song its about a fear to tell a person you love, your feelings. "I don't remember" could mean that you dont know how to tell to that person your the love you feel.