Well...First things first when I first heard about this song I came under the misperception that this was called 'signal to THE noise', which as I understand it means the great new sound, the first track of an artist who is going to make notes that will change things. There might be a more coherent meaning to the phrase, if so feel free to leave a comment after this :-)
A lot of this song's lyrics are self-evident but as no one else has got their finger out, I will explain the obvious structures.
In the first verse lyrically we hear a sense of despair, barely holding on to hope; the possibility that the things that we hold dear - have been a waste of our time and that as result of this, we - I: might be wrong. Some might also enjoy the imagery of Pink Floyds 'The Wall' (not a necessity but good for the more smug among us (of which I must admit to)).
Musically this is complemented with a sparse soundscape, apart from the lush violins there is very little going on, a contrast for most of the album.
Then after Nusrat (more on which later) the second verse (a personnel favourite) pleads the listener/audience if they/we can offer the words that can soothe against this world that we all share. This world that we made.
'And all the while the world is turning to noise'
This line has been running around my head for the past five years, since I downloaded the VH-1 mp3. Its tempting to look at the lyric literally, though somewhat jarring compared to Peter's recent output. I do enjoy the notion that this line could mean that t(his) ‘noise’ is turning into music. That all the things that he sees on the telly or in his backyard that horrify him seem to be becoming fodder for his next torch song.
However my more serious perception of the line is sadly more fiddly and more about me than anything else. That sooner or later you become desensitised to these things, that it becomes too overwhelming and that we become jaded and bitter.
(NB I also have a wanky Kant heavy interpretation of this line but I will never speak it in public lest I learn to completely loathe my psyche)
This noise takes over everything in the narrator's perception except for the little mantra that we have already heard (again more on this later).
Sonically this contains what I think is the most dynamic moment of the record, the moment when the drum machine cuts back to allow the loop of the ticking tape crackle for a few seconds; perhaps something stripped away, perhaps a purity; I guess it depends if the glass is half full or half empty. And then it gets personnel...
The narrator strips away everyone, he takes you and me and everything away that has contributed to forcing his perception along a certain line.
(On a strictly personnel level 'when all things beautiful and bright’ has a distinct resonance. As a chubby chaser and to hear the words in that context, causes me a smile. I am SICK AND FUCKING TIRED of being told what I should think of as beautiful but this is seriously off the beaten track).
That one thing in his heart? Send out the signals deep and loud. To communicate, a theme explored in Mr Gabriel's previous work most notably in come talk to me when blocked communication channels causes unprortinate problems. When Nusfrat sings, apart from acting as appropriate noise (to the uninformed (i.e. me))) he is communicating, something. So if my uninformed perception takes in Nusfrat’s sounds as being noise - could it not be argued that if I understood what he was saying (in a strictly linguistic sense) then instead the sound would no longer be noise and rather a signal? To explain: if noise, the stupid random acts of objects making vibrations in the air could be seen as the stupid random acts of life; then surely a signal, a direct communication; might be thought of as being something other than life‘s natural order of things. A sense of things exceeding their specifications. That a lump of flesh wriggling around two other lumps of flesh can teach and inform, harm and destroy. That a tongue and lips can offer more than assisting digestion. The “like words together we can make some sense” concept.
I remember reading somewhere Peter talking about how he came to conceive ‘Here Comes the Flood’; the last track on the first Peter Gabriel Album (window I think) and as a side note he was talking about one of his theories that when night time creeps up on us, like a radio the signals become clearer. The collective conscience is a tempting metaphor for this reference, that receive and transmit can be accomplished by psychic means is the obvious outcome of this reference. However my understanding on these things are extremely limited if not coloured by a deep resounding scepticism towards this more overt understanding of the collective conscience.
No, that one thing in his heart? That thing for me is hope, hope that we take our tools, our language, our pictures, our feelings and instead of vibrating the air stupidly into the TV set, screaming our tears and our frustrations at the greatest problems that affect our species; that instead we mould and create. We refine and strip away the all the things that Peter describes in the last verse (and more) to talk, to express and perhaps finally to correct.
@the_toolshed I like it. Let me humbly add that the “noise” here could be the digital noise… a precursor to I/O, which would be a perfect place for this song. Turn up the signal, wipe out the noise.
@the_toolshed I like it. Let me humbly add that the “noise” here could be the digital noise… a precursor to I/O, which would be a perfect place for this song. Turn up the signal, wipe out the noise.
Well...First things first when I first heard about this song I came under the misperception that this was called 'signal to THE noise', which as I understand it means the great new sound, the first track of an artist who is going to make notes that will change things. There might be a more coherent meaning to the phrase, if so feel free to leave a comment after this :-)
A lot of this song's lyrics are self-evident but as no one else has got their finger out, I will explain the obvious structures.
In the first verse lyrically we hear a sense of despair, barely holding on to hope; the possibility that the things that we hold dear - have been a waste of our time and that as result of this, we - I: might be wrong. Some might also enjoy the imagery of Pink Floyds 'The Wall' (not a necessity but good for the more smug among us (of which I must admit to)). Musically this is complemented with a sparse soundscape, apart from the lush violins there is very little going on, a contrast for most of the album.
Then after Nusrat (more on which later) the second verse (a personnel favourite) pleads the listener/audience if they/we can offer the words that can soothe against this world that we all share. This world that we made.
'And all the while the world is turning to noise'
This line has been running around my head for the past five years, since I downloaded the VH-1 mp3. Its tempting to look at the lyric literally, though somewhat jarring compared to Peter's recent output. I do enjoy the notion that this line could mean that t(his) ‘noise’ is turning into music. That all the things that he sees on the telly or in his backyard that horrify him seem to be becoming fodder for his next torch song.
However my more serious perception of the line is sadly more fiddly and more about me than anything else. That sooner or later you become desensitised to these things, that it becomes too overwhelming and that we become jaded and bitter.
(NB I also have a wanky Kant heavy interpretation of this line but I will never speak it in public lest I learn to completely loathe my psyche)
This noise takes over everything in the narrator's perception except for the little mantra that we have already heard (again more on this later).
Sonically this contains what I think is the most dynamic moment of the record, the moment when the drum machine cuts back to allow the loop of the ticking tape crackle for a few seconds; perhaps something stripped away, perhaps a purity; I guess it depends if the glass is half full or half empty. And then it gets personnel...
The narrator strips away everyone, he takes you and me and everything away that has contributed to forcing his perception along a certain line.
(On a strictly personnel level 'when all things beautiful and bright’ has a distinct resonance. As a chubby chaser and to hear the words in that context, causes me a smile. I am SICK AND FUCKING TIRED of being told what I should think of as beautiful but this is seriously off the beaten track).
That one thing in his heart? Send out the signals deep and loud. To communicate, a theme explored in Mr Gabriel's previous work most notably in come talk to me when blocked communication channels causes unprortinate problems. When Nusfrat sings, apart from acting as appropriate noise (to the uninformed (i.e. me))) he is communicating, something. So if my uninformed perception takes in Nusfrat’s sounds as being noise - could it not be argued that if I understood what he was saying (in a strictly linguistic sense) then instead the sound would no longer be noise and rather a signal? To explain: if noise, the stupid random acts of objects making vibrations in the air could be seen as the stupid random acts of life; then surely a signal, a direct communication; might be thought of as being something other than life‘s natural order of things. A sense of things exceeding their specifications. That a lump of flesh wriggling around two other lumps of flesh can teach and inform, harm and destroy. That a tongue and lips can offer more than assisting digestion. The “like words together we can make some sense” concept.
I remember reading somewhere Peter talking about how he came to conceive ‘Here Comes the Flood’; the last track on the first Peter Gabriel Album (window I think) and as a side note he was talking about one of his theories that when night time creeps up on us, like a radio the signals become clearer. The collective conscience is a tempting metaphor for this reference, that receive and transmit can be accomplished by psychic means is the obvious outcome of this reference. However my understanding on these things are extremely limited if not coloured by a deep resounding scepticism towards this more overt understanding of the collective conscience. No, that one thing in his heart? That thing for me is hope, hope that we take our tools, our language, our pictures, our feelings and instead of vibrating the air stupidly into the TV set, screaming our tears and our frustrations at the greatest problems that affect our species; that instead we mould and create. We refine and strip away the all the things that Peter describes in the last verse (and more) to talk, to express and perhaps finally to correct.
thanks for bearing with me
@the_toolshed I like it. Let me humbly add that the “noise” here could be the digital noise… a precursor to I/O, which would be a perfect place for this song. Turn up the signal, wipe out the noise.
@the_toolshed I like it. Let me humbly add that the “noise” here could be the digital noise… a precursor to I/O, which would be a perfect place for this song. Turn up the signal, wipe out the noise.