Peter Gabriel – D.I.Y.

I didn’t start really finding out about Gabriel until reading my fellow bloggers. I was burnt out on many of his ’80s hits because MTV loved the man and played them non-stop. Now that I’m finding his seventies catalog, I’m really liking what I’ve been hearing. It’s also strange for me to be listening to Genesis without Phil Collins singing a 3 minute hit. 

Peter Gabriel never made it easy for himself or his listeners. While most artists who left huge bands tried to either replicate the formula or tear it down brick by brick, Gabriel decided he was going to build a whole new musical landscape for himself. His listeners would have to catch up with him. Other artists have done some of this, but I’m not sure to the extent Gabriel did. He named his first four albums Peter Gabriel. This was off his second album, Peter Gabriel, known as Gabriel 2: Scratch. 

What I like about this song is that it’s not polished to death. It sounds natural and not all studio-created. That small upward musical run he does in this song keeps the energy up and is a great hook. He is known for his theatrical prog rockers, but during this period, he was trying something a little different, and it worked.  A big part of the feel of this album came from producer Robert Fripp, the man behind King Crimson. Fripp wasn’t a conventional producer like George Martin. He encouraged Gabriel to take off the polish and to go toward the texture and atmosphere. 

Fripp kept the sessions lean and also tense, recording in the Netherlands at Relight Studios. The musicians, Tony Levin on bass, Jerry Marotta on drums, and Larry Fast on synths, were said to be more collaborators than sidemen. They weren’t there to sweeten the songs; they were there to challenge them, to throw odd rhythms into the mix. Gabriel wanted friction, and he got it. The album didn’t chart as high as his later work, but it set the blueprint for the “trying new things” approach that defined his career.

The album peaked at #10 in the UK, #46 in Canada, #45 on the Billboard Album Charts, and #24 in New Zealand in 1978. 

D.I.Y

D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y

Don’t tell me what I will do, ’cause I won’t
Don’t tell me to believe in you, ’cause I don’t
Be on your guard, better hostile and hard, don’t risk affection
Like flesh to the bone in the no-go zone
You’re still looking for the resurrection
Come up to me with your “What did you say?”
And I’ll tell you, straight in the eye, hey!

D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y. (Do it yourself!)
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y

Everyone wants to be what he not, what he not
Nobody happy with what he got, what he got
You function like a dummy with a new ventriloquist
Can you say nothing yourself?
Hanging like a thriller on the final twist
Is it true you’re getting stuck on the shelf?
Come up to me with your “What did you say?”
And I’ll tell you, straight in the eye, hey

D.I.Y
Do it yourself
D.I.Y
Do it yourself
D.I.Y
Do it yourself
D.I.Y
Do it yourself

When things get so big, I don’t trust them at all
You want some control, you’ve got to keep it small, hey

D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y
D.I.Y

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

54 thoughts on “Peter Gabriel – D.I.Y.”

  1. I am so happy to read this article about one of the tracks I listened to a lot in my youth. I sometimes pull out those early Peter Gabriel records, especially the one, two and three (with the monumental “Biko”). “D.I.Y.” is very good, but I must admit I have a clear preference for “Exposure” in which Robert Fripp’s “Enosified” guitars seem to take over.

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    1. I really just found Peter Gabriel. I only know him by the 80s MTV barrage. I’m loving what I’m hearing and I’m also discovering pre-top 40 Genesis…I’m liking a lot of what I hear.

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  3. This is good. Never heard it before. I have his third album on vinyl, and some later CDs, but I don’t know all of his catalog. I respect what he does and I will look into this album.

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  6. I don’t know if I’ve heard this one or not, but it’s sounding ok. He really was experimental back then, usually with good results. I knew ‘Solsbury Hill’ off his first but the third album, the ’80 one, was the first I bought. It was classic. Good find here

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  8. Pingback: Peter Gabriel – D.I.Y. – MobsterTiger

  10. Really good write up Max. Short and succinct. When Gabriel got together with Fripp it was a dream hookup for mr. I was huge into early Genesis and King Crimson. “Collaborators” is the word for this music. In all the years that Fripp has ben the only constant member of KC he has never billed it with his name first . Oh yeah I forgot to mention what a great cut this is . This is off his second solo record and i anticipated with impatience. Wasnt disappointed. Lots of musical twists. Song rocks. D.I.Y. Max

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    1. Thanks CB that is what I strive for but rarely. It’s so much to cover with this guy and I wanted to get Fripp in. I’ve told you before but I have a guitar friend who always wants to lay down what he calls a “Fripp” type solo. I’ll send you one one day.
      This surprised me on how loose it was…and that upward climbing riff sold it for me and that sound that Fripp got from those musicians.

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      1. Good on the Fripp thing. Your “guitar friend” will be all over his solo on Eno’s ‘Baby’s On Fire’

        Relistening to this early Peter brings back why I liked him so much. You can obviously find hints of where he was heading in the later Genesis he did especially ‘Lamb Lies Down”

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      2. I just listened to it…I loved it. Yep that is the tone that Chris likes to use or close to it. I emailed you that.
        For me…remember the 80s was my only source on him so all of this is cool…much less polished than I thought he would be…and that is a good thing.

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  11. Great tune that I haven’t heard before. Really love Peter Gabriel, even the stuff that was overplayed. I’m also a big Robert Fripp fan. He’s such a guitar virtuoso, not in an overbearing cliched way, but in an innovative, intricate, eclectic way. Here’s a couple of tunes you might like. The first one is a Gabriel joint with Fripp, Kate Bush (love her) and Phil Collins.

    And here’s my favorite Fripp/King Crimson composition.

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      2. Im familarwith the song it was just that it didnt come through up in in my part of the world. Fripp, Gabriel and Bush was a creative music winner in my music world. 3 people that were doing completely different stuff than anyone else and doing it well. Sometimes these meeting of the minds dont work this one did.

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    1. As a pretty much beginner on him…I was impressed by it being the exact opposite of what I thought it would be…and that is not a bad thing…I was surprised because I like his other stuff as well…but I will check out the other albums more.

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  13. His stamp is all over this song. He’s brilliant. He’s so good-looking, I wonder how people are able to look past his beauty. Better to listen with your eyes closed. I have #3 of his first self-titled albums and 3 others. Never get tired of listening to them.

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    1. I’m very happy with this era…now I was so worn out on Sledgehamer and some of his MTV hits (not his fault…we talked about this the other day)…but this…this I love and I loved what I heard from his Genesis days with him singing… so I’m really enjoying this!

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  14. While I immediately liked the melodic “Solsbury Hill,” which I believe was the first Peter Gabriel solo song I heard, his first four albums were an acquired taste. But I’ve come to like a good deal of songs that are on them. I also got to see Gabriel in Cologne, Germany during the supporting tour for his “So” album. While not surprisingly it was prominently featured in the set, which I didn’t mind since I loved that album and still do, he also played a good number of materials from his first four albums. It was a great show!

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    1. Yea I’m new to it really…I knew Solsbury Hill and like it so I’m learning it now. With me his 80s hits I’ve heard enough…so this is fresh for me.

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  15. I don’t know why, but I never paid attention to Gabriel nor Genesis a lot until after Gabriel left… I remember two things, first seeing a video just post Gabriel having left Genesis….I for some reason liked it, and it thing maybe more serious than fun pop yet?…and Turn It On Again is still a favorite….and Gabriel, I liked that even at the MTV barrage, he never seemed like everyone else…even when he showed up on the Princess Trust stage….and immediately loved Melt, and Games Without Frontiers…it may have helped that all my friends hated it lol!…and watching the video for secret world live sold me again..not like everyone else..

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    1. You hit the Peter factor…ALWAYS different and evolving in a good direction…sometimes things don’t evolve that way…but he was always different and fresh…
      Yep…I like artists that my friends hate.

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  18. I’m familiar with Sledgehammer, only because of MTV. By the time the 80s rolled in, I was burned out from the crap that came out in the 70s and was barely able to turn on the radio or MTV. I liked him much more than Phil Collins and that Miami Vice stuff.

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