Games Without Frontiers (song)
"Games Without Frontiers" is a song written and recorded by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was released on his 1980 self-titled third studio album, where it included backing vocals by Kate Bush.[5] The song's lyrics are interpreted as a commentary on war and international diplomacy being like children's games.[6] The music video includes film clips of Olympic Games events and scenes from the educational film Duck and Cover (1951), which used a cartoon turtle to instruct US schoolchildren on what to do in case of nuclear attack. This forlorn imagery tends to reinforce the song's anti-war theme. Two versions of the music video were initially created for the song, followed by a third one made in 2004.
"Games Without Frontiers"
"Start/I Don't Remember" (UK), "Lead a Normal Life" (US)
25 January 1980 (UK)[1]
1979
4:05 (album version)
3:47 (single edit version)
The single became Gabriel's first top-10 hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 4, and — tied with 1986's "Sledgehammer" — his highest-charting song in the United Kingdom. It peaked at No. 7 in Canada, but only at No. 48 in the United States. The B-side of the single consisted of two tracks combined into one: "Start" and "I Don't Remember".[7]
Background[edit]
Gabriel's first two solo studio albums were distributed in the US by Atlantic Records, but they rejected his third studio album (which contained this track), telling Gabriel he was committing "commercial suicide". Atlantic dropped him but tried to buy the album back when "Games Without Frontiers" took off in the UK and started getting airplay in the US. At that point Gabriel wanted nothing to do with Atlantic, and let Mercury Records distribute the album in America.[8]
The song's title refers to Jeux sans frontières, a long-running TV show broadcast in several European countries. Teams representing a town or city in one of the participating countries would compete in games of skill, often while dressed in bizarre costumes. While some games were simple races, others allowed one team to obstruct another. The British version was titled It's a Knockout—words that Gabriel mentions in the lyrics.[9]
Composition[edit]
Gabriel observed that the song "seemed to have several layers to it. I just began playing in a somewhat light-hearted fashion...the names themselves are meaningless, but they do have certain associations with them. So it's almost like a little kids' activity room. Underneath that, you have the TV programme [and the] sort of nationalism, territorialism, competitiveness that underlies all that assembly of jolly people."[10] The lyrics "Adolf builds a bonfire/Enrico plays with it" echo lines from Evelyn Waugh's V-J Day diary ("Randolph built a bonfire and Auberon fell into it").[11]
Musically, "Games Without Frontiers" opens with a mixture of acoustic and electronic percussion accompanied by a countoff.[6] The electronic percussion was triggered by PAiA Programmable Drum Set; this was Gabriel's first use of a drum machine on one of his solo albums.[12][13] A synth bass and an angular slide guitar figure enter with Kate Bush's vocals, creating a "dark sonic environment" as described by AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey.[6] The pre-choruses feature whistling and a Moog synthesizer; Larry Fast commented that this section was inspired by hocketing techniques found on a Wendy Carlos album titled Switched-On Bach, which consisted of classical music played on a Moog synthesizer.[12] Following the final chorus, the song segues into a percussion breakdown punctuated by synth and guitar effects.[6][14]
During his 1986-1987 tour, Gabriel directed the song's critique of militarism at the Contra War in Nicaragua.[12] Gabriel's 1991 performance of the song from the Netherlands was beamed via satellite to Wembley Arena in England as part of "The Simple Truth" concert for Kurdish refugees.[15]
Critical reception[edit]
Record World said that "A creative percussion / keyboard / vocal mix and unique tempo shifts make this as attractive as it is interesting."[18] AllMusic identified the song as "one of the finest moments preceding Gabriel's commercial breakthrough in the mid-'80s".[6]