Peter Gabriel's farewell letter.
Francisco Villa-Lobos
For all of you who want to compare it with the one now released in the box
set, here it goes, the letter Peter Gabriel wrote and personally delivered
to the English press in August 1975.
I don't have the box set, yet, but I read here from someone that the letter
was edited.
The original went like this:
I had a dream, eye's dream. Then I had another dream with the body and soul
of a
rock star. When it didn't feel good I packed it in. Looking back for the
musical
and non-musical reasons, this is what I came up with:
OUT, ANGELS OUT - an investigation.
The vehicle we had built as a co-op to serve our songwriting became our
master
and had cooped us up inside the success we had wanted. It affected the
attitudes
and the spirit of the whole band. the music had not dried up and I still
respect
the other musicians, but our roles had set in hard. To get an idea through
"Genesis the Big" meant shifting a lot more concrete than before. For any
band,
transferring the heart from idealistic enthusiasm to professionalism is a
difficult operation.
I believe the use of sound and visual images can be developed to do much
more
than we have done. But on a large scale t needs one clear and coherent
direction, which our pseudo-democratic committee system could not provide.
As an artist, I need to absorb a wide variety of experiences. It is
difficult to
respond to intuition and impulse within the long-term planning that the band
needed. I felt I should look at/learn about/develop myself, my creative bits
and
pieces and pick up on a lot of work going on outside music. Even the hidden
delights of vegetable growing and community living are beginning to reveal
their
secrets. I could not expect the band to tie in their schedules with my
bondage
to cabbages. The increase in money and power, if I had stayed, would have
anchored me to the spotlights. It was important to me to give space to my
family, which I wanted to hold together, and to liberate the daddy in me.
Although I have seen and learnt a great deal in the last seven years, I
found I
had begun to look at things as the famous Gabriel, despite hiding my
occupation
whenever possible, hitching lifts, etc. I had begun to think in business
terms;
very useful for an often bitten once shy musician, but treating records and
audiences as money was taking me away from them. When performing, there were
less shivers up and down the spine.
I believe the world has soon to go through a difficult period of changes.
I'm
excited by some of the areas coming through to the surface which seem to
have
been hidden away in people's minds. I want to explore and be prepared to be
open
and flexible enough to respond, not tied in to the old hierarchy.
Much of my psyche's ambitions as "Gabriel archetypal rock star" have been
fulfilled - a lot of the ego-gratification and the need to attract young
ladies,
perhaps the result of frequent rejection as "Gabriel acne-struck public
school
boy". However, I can still get off playing the star game once in a while.
My future within music, if it exists, will be in as many situations as
possible.
It's good to see a growing number of artists breaking down the pigeonholes.
This
is the difference between the profitable, compartmentalized, battery chicken
and
the free-range. Why did the chicken cross the road anyway?
There is no animosity between myself and the band or management. The
decision
had been made some time ago and we have talked about our new direction. The
reason why my leaving was not announced earlier was because I had been asked
to
delay until they had found a replacement to plug up the hole. It is not
impossible that some of them might work with me on other projects.
The following guesswork has little in common with truth:
Gabriel left Genesis
1) To work in theatre.
2) To make more money as a solo artist.
3) To do a "Bowie".
4) To do a "Ferry".
5) To do a "Furry Boa round my neck and hang myself with it".
6) To go see an institution.
7) To go senile in the sticks.
I do not express myself adequately in interviews and I felt I owed it to the
people who have put a lot of love and energy supporting the band to give an
accurate picture of my reasons. So I ask that you print all or none of this.
bewtifulfreak
Thanks so much for posting this! It was VERY edited in the box book.
Ann
--
bewtif...@hotmail.com
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak
"We're singing, here in Joytown,
won't you come and sing along?
We'll never tell you that you ain't singing the right notes,
Never criticize your song"
- Kevin Gilbert, "Joytown"
MaadMatt
Ann wrote:
>Thanks so much for posting this! It was VERY edited in the box book.
and Peter Gabriel wrote back in `75:
>So I ask that you print all or none of this.
Kind of ironic that they edited it for the box set book then, eh?
-Matt
Will Dockery
Classic Peter Gabriel stance.