Peter Gabriel — San Jacinto
Album: SecurityAvg rating:
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Total ratings: 639
Length: 6:17
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Thick cloud - steam rising - hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me - buffalo robe - sage in bundle - rub on skin
Outside - cold air - stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling - it has begun
Something moving in - I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of life
Heya Wambdetanka! (Arise Big Eagle!) [http://dakota-march.50megs.com/prisonersnamesmen.html]
Medicine man lead me up through town - Indian ground - so far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing water wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch Scouts and Guides make pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco - Sit 'n' Bull steakhouse - white men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack - look at mountain top - keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow - white wind blow
I hold the line - the line of strength that pulls me through the fear
San Jacinto - I hold the line
San Jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my sight - I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek - think I'm losing it - getting weaker
I hold the line - I hold the line
San Jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun - from the sun
We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line
Around me - buffalo robe - sage in bundle - rub on skin
Outside - cold air - stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling - it has begun
Something moving in - I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of life
Heya Wambdetanka! (Arise Big Eagle!) [http://dakota-march.50megs.com/prisonersnamesmen.html]
Medicine man lead me up through town - Indian ground - so far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing water wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch Scouts and Guides make pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco - Sit 'n' Bull steakhouse - white men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack - look at mountain top - keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow - white wind blow
I hold the line - the line of strength that pulls me through the fear
San Jacinto - I hold the line
San Jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my sight - I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek - think I'm losing it - getting weaker
I hold the line - I hold the line
San Jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun - from the sun
We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line
Comments (44)add comment
One of PG's best from one of his best two albums (III/Melt being the other). So may have made him the money, but III(Melt)/IV(Security) were his creative peak in my opinion. Games without Frontiers, Intruder, No Self Control, Biko, I Don't Remember, Family Snapshot, Shock the Monkey, San Jacinto, I Have the Touch and his best composition, Wallflower.... just wow!
I really admire Peter Gabriel but it's time for a major break...at least a few weeks
Enough. 4 times a day?
Uncle P
Last year's Peter Gabriel/Sting concert in San Jose began with this. When this was new, I guess it imprinted on me in the way few pieces ever did. From the first note as I realized that they were starting with this piece, my failure to even see Peter G in concert prior to this time became an even greater mistake.
Secret world live , essential gabriel
semolinapilchard wrote:
Yes, and his best album, IMO.
Just before he became googa-famous with "Sledgehammer" and so on.
Great song, great artist.
Yes, and his best album, IMO.
Just before he became googa-famous with "Sledgehammer" and so on.
love this piece of PG's (hints of Philip Glass to it) great music, puts me in a Beckett mode of searching for dire beauty
Great song, great artist.
Just a wonderful song....musically, lyrically, emotionally
Jmr1371 wrote:
The great moment of gentle mockery when he sings "...past 'Geronimo's Disco'..." and gives a gentle disco twist of his hips, pointing out the wrongness of such a thing.
This was always a moving song live. Had the pleasure of seeing him do it maybe a half dozen times since the tour when this album was released.
Oh - and check out the German version. More greatness.
This song was also incredible live.
The great moment of gentle mockery when he sings "...past 'Geronimo's Disco'..." and gives a gentle disco twist of his hips, pointing out the wrongness of such a thing.
This was always a moving song live. Had the pleasure of seeing him do it maybe a half dozen times since the tour when this album was released.
Oh - and check out the German version. More greatness.
saw some great live performances from PG in the early days.
"Brian Pern"........! (is it only in the uk?)
"Brian Pern"........! (is it only in the uk?)
k8ling1114 wrote:
I think you're right. To me, it also felt as if the death paralleled the loss of native American culture.
This song always makes me think of the young students I used to teach. We'd often end up around a campfire where they would become the "Scouts and guides making powwow signs." Although I wasn't effective in holding this conversation, I'd try to communicate that our imitation of culture were quite shallow. I still wonder how I could respond (or even if I should) if this happens in the future.
Sounds like you had two challenges: trying to explain a culture completely different from modern America's and one that disappeared a long time ago. It's hard enough to capture the essence of your own culture from 50, 100, 150 years ago. The whole flap about the Confederate flag recently made me chuckle, because most Southerners who lived under that flag during the Civil War would be horrified and mystified by today's celebrators of the Lost Cause. This gradual detachment of one generation from the culture and mindset of previous generations happens all the time. Certain events like war, major economic troubles like the Great Depression, or the rise of new technology (the phone, the mass-produced car, TV, the Web, smartphones) accelerate that erosion of connections between one age and the next.
So how close can we get to the mindset of the past, or another culture in our midst? "San Jacinto" makes you think about the gap between the worlds but it can only fire your imagination to think about the Native American's world. But it's a great song partly because it does fire your imagination and make you think about loss of a way of life that had great value and beauty and power.
2/17/16 edit: PG explains the origin of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqZhQgihUgk
gfp wrote:
This song was better live! (Like all the other songs on the Plays Live album, 1983.) Gabriel sounds like he's singing into (or out of) an empty tin can on his old studio stuff.
Yes! "Plays Live" was a brilliant album.
I think you're right. To me, it also felt as if the death paralleled the loss of native American culture.
This song always makes me think of the young students I used to teach. We'd often end up around a campfire where they would become the "Scouts and guides making powwow signs." Although I wasn't effective in holding this conversation, I'd try to communicate that our imitation of culture were quite shallow. I still wonder how I could respond (or even if I should) if this happens in the future.
Sounds like you had two challenges: trying to explain a culture completely different from modern America's and one that disappeared a long time ago. It's hard enough to capture the essence of your own culture from 50, 100, 150 years ago. The whole flap about the Confederate flag recently made me chuckle, because most Southerners who lived under that flag during the Civil War would be horrified and mystified by today's celebrators of the Lost Cause. This gradual detachment of one generation from the culture and mindset of previous generations happens all the time. Certain events like war, major economic troubles like the Great Depression, or the rise of new technology (the phone, the mass-produced car, TV, the Web, smartphones) accelerate that erosion of connections between one age and the next.
So how close can we get to the mindset of the past, or another culture in our midst? "San Jacinto" makes you think about the gap between the worlds but it can only fire your imagination to think about the Native American's world. But it's a great song partly because it does fire your imagination and make you think about loss of a way of life that had great value and beauty and power.
2/17/16 edit: PG explains the origin of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqZhQgihUgk
gfp wrote:
This song was better live! (Like all the other songs on the Plays Live album, 1983.) Gabriel sounds like he's singing into (or out of) an empty tin can on his old studio stuff.
Yes! "Plays Live" was a brilliant album.
Jmr1371 wrote:
This song was better live! (Like all the other songs on the Plays Live album, 1983.) Gabriel sounds like he's singing into (or out of) an empty tin can on his old studio stuff.
This song was also incredible live.
This song was better live! (Like all the other songs on the Plays Live album, 1983.) Gabriel sounds like he's singing into (or out of) an empty tin can on his old studio stuff.
shakitten wrote:
I think it has to do with a Native American elder's right of passage into the Shadow World. It always strikes me as so beautiful, this natural embrace of death after a long life, the death of an old person full of courage, dignity and honor.
I've personally associated it with the two times I'd experienced a sweat lodge ceremony - among the most moving experiences of my life. This song never fails to move me to tears and is probably my favourite Peter Gabriel song.
I think it has to do with a Native American elder's right of passage into the Shadow World. It always strikes me as so beautiful, this natural embrace of death after a long life, the death of an old person full of courage, dignity and honor.
I've personally associated it with the two times I'd experienced a sweat lodge ceremony - among the most moving experiences of my life. This song never fails to move me to tears and is probably my favourite Peter Gabriel song.
This song was also incredible live.
fedtho wrote:
And same here again.
And so very obviously Gabriel's TRUE best album, not the much-hyped 'So', which is just... very good ;-)
ditto
And same here again.
And so very obviously Gabriel's TRUE best album, not the much-hyped 'So', which is just... very good ;-)
ditto
love this song for over 20 years. A exciting and mesmerizing song.
scrubbrush wrote:
lily34 wrote:
Godlike
same, same, same
And same here again.
And so very obviously Gabriel's TRUE best album, not the much-hyped 'So', which is just... very good ;-)
lily34 wrote:
Jmr1371 wrote: same
same, same This is probably my favorite PG song. So original and powerful. Incredible live as well. Listen to Tony Levine's stick bass. Awesome.
Godlikesame, same, same
And same here again.
And so very obviously Gabriel's TRUE best album, not the much-hyped 'So', which is just... very good ;-)
awesome music man I'm mesmerized by that album photo as well, the staring mask in that blue-yellow acid trip color scheme..wicked
scrubbrush wrote:
lily34 wrote: Godlike
same, same, same
lily34 wrote:
Jmr1371 wrote: same
same, same This is probably my favorite PG song. So original and powerful. Incredible live as well. Listen to Tony Levine's stick bass. Awesome.
Godlikesame, same, same
lily34 wrote:
Jmr1371 wrote: same
same, same
Godlike
Jmr1371 wrote:
This is probably my favorite PG song. So original and powerful. Incredible live as well. Listen to Tony Levine's stick bass. Awesome.
same, same
Godlike
Jmr1371 wrote:
same
This is probably my favorite PG song. So original and powerful. Incredible live as well. Listen to Tony Levine's stick bass. Awesome.
same
This song always makes me think of the young students I used to teach. We'd often end up around a campfire where they would become the "Scouts and guides making powwow signs." Although I wasn't effective in holding this conversation, I'd try to communicate that our imitation of culture were quite shallow. I still wonder how I could respond (or even if I should) if this happens in the future.
I think you're right. To me, it also felt as if the death paralleled the loss of native American culture.
I think you're right. To me, it also felt as if the death paralleled the loss of native American culture.
one of my all time favorite songs.
Like that dense athmosphere ...
shakitten wrote:
I think it has to do with a Native American elder's right of passage into the Shadow World. It always strikes me as so beautiful, this natural embrace of death after a long life, the death of an old person full of courage, dignity and honor.
I think you're right. To me, it also felt as if the death paralleled the loss of native American culture.
I think it has to do with a Native American elder's right of passage into the Shadow World. It always strikes me as so beautiful, this natural embrace of death after a long life, the death of an old person full of courage, dignity and honor.
I think you're right. To me, it also felt as if the death paralleled the loss of native American culture.
Truly one of the most amazing songs ever written.
Amazing studio work as well. What a mood.
Amazing studio work as well. What a mood.
I hold the line,
Mesmerising triangles
I'm still in ...
Mesmerising triangles
I'm still in ...
This is probably my favorite PG song. So original and powerful. Incredible live as well. Listen to Tony Levine's stick bass. Awesome.
sbegf wrote:
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My all time favorite PG song! One of my first albums as well, the double live album versions are much better (even better than his new blood orchestra versions IMO).
subscribe all
lily34 wrote:
I think it has to do with a Native American elder's right of passage into the Shadow World. It always strikes me as so beautiful, this natural embrace of death after a long life, the death of an old person full of courage, dignity and honor.
haven't heard this in forever.
for some reason, even from the first time i heard this song when the album came out, it's always really moved me and made me sad. i should learn what it's about. may have to read up.
thanks for playing it, bill!
for some reason, even from the first time i heard this song when the album came out, it's always really moved me and made me sad. i should learn what it's about. may have to read up.
thanks for playing it, bill!
I think it has to do with a Native American elder's right of passage into the Shadow World. It always strikes me as so beautiful, this natural embrace of death after a long life, the death of an old person full of courage, dignity and honor.
Thanks for playing this "deep track" from my fave PG album.
aspicer wrote:
Simply Brilliant!
I second this Simply Brilliant!
haven't heard this in forever.
for some reason, even from the first time i heard this song when the album came out, it's always really moved me and made me sad. i should learn what it's about. may have to read up.
thanks for playing it, bill!
for some reason, even from the first time i heard this song when the album came out, it's always really moved me and made me sad. i should learn what it's about. may have to read up.
thanks for playing it, bill!
wow - long time no hear!
I want to unrate this to 0 so i can just rate it to 10 again.
Listener Alert - Creative genius at work
My all time favorite PG song! One of my first albums as well, the double live album versions are much better (even better than his new blood orchestra versions IMO).
The last 1:20 are a 6
Using no mathematical algorithm whatsoever, I'll call it 9.