Music Monday: Peter Gabriel & Randy Newman

I have been a fan of Peter Gabriel’s work for quite a while and seen him live a couple of times. And yes, I was a fan before his 1986 breakout album So. While he has continued to make music it doesn’t get the attention he has in the past. A lot of his more recent stuff is perhaps too experimental, or maybe it’s the “death of radio” to factor in to this, but even I as a fan was not aware of the last couple of albums he released.

My wife surprised me by getting me Scratch My Back/I’ll Scratch Yours – 2 albums of Peter Gabriel doing what he does best, pop songs with a twist. This time around he covers other musicians and then has them turn around and cover his songs.

There are some great interpretations on both sides of the fence here. Lou Reed’s version of “Solsbury Hill” is haunting. Gabriel’s version of Neil Young’s “Philadelphia” simply has to be heard. Not all of the songs work. Sometimes the standard cover just sounds like a regular old cover version, which is fine, but not spectacular, such as Gabriel’s version of David Bowie’s “Heroes”. Other times the standard cover works very well, such as Paul Simon’s cover of Gabriel’s “Biko”.

While every cover doesn’t always work, either by Peter Gabriel or by others covering one of his songs, everything is interesting to listen to. none becomes a more definitive version over the original, but this project is certainly a great look at musicians and their relationships to songs, either their own or by others.

I want to present two songs from this project along with their respective original versions. Randy Newman covers Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time” and Peter Gabriel covers Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today”. Both original songs are good, and both cover versions are also good, though I think Randy Newman certainly gets the better of Peter Gabriel by offering up a version of the song that feels less full of hubris and much more about desperation.

Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time”