During the course of this year I aim to upload a song every day for your consideration as to whether they were good enough and sufficiently commercial to have become UK Top 20 singles. Many different genres will be represented, so if this particular one’s not your preferred style then hopefully it won’t be too long before you find one that is.
For those songs that are interesting enough for you to give them a proper listen, please press “like” if you think it could have been a hit, and “dislike” if you don’t, in the hope that we get enough votes to obtain a balanced overview. Also, if leaving a critical comment please try to take into account the year of original release - most of the songs that I'll be uploading are decades old so it wouldn’t be surprising if some sound dated now.
As we approach the Festive Season I’m probably going to veer away from the ethos of this channel by selecting songs that are appropriate for the time of year, or simply for my own indulgence.
Today’s choice very much falls into the latter category, as there’s no way it could ever have been a hit here in the UK, despite being one of the greatest songs of all time (it never got the publicity that John Lennon's "Imagine" did, but it's very much its equal as far as I'm concerned). It’s “Wallflower” by Peter Gabriel, and was first released in 1982 on his fourth solo album. As all of those early solo albums (this was the last without a proper title) were simply called “Peter Gabriel”, attempts to identify each were either by their UK catalogue number, or the album cover. In this case PG4 was otherwise referred to as “Security”.
For reasons that become rather obvious when listening to it, “Wallflower” wasn’t released as a single, except peculiarly in Holland by public demand, which is where the rather disturbing image comes from. Peter was very heavily involved with the human rights’ organisation Amnesty International at the time, so it’s very clear where he got his inspiration for this one. It’s the anthem for all prisoners of conscience, whether in South Africa then, or Russia now. Complimenting the mood music, the lyrics are incredibly poignant, and I’ve seen “hard men” reduced to tears upon first listening which can be a very emotional experience. So apologies if this one affects you, but I promise there are lighter moments to come in the days ahead.
This is an audio only upload, but if you would prefer to read the lyrics rather that try to discern them then you can view a lyric video here • Peter Gabriel - Wallfl... .
Hopefully you’ll drop by again tomorrow for something completely different!