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"Secret World" is the final song on Peter Gabriel's 1992 Us album. It was released as a promotional single and reached the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and the Canadian Top Singles Chart. Gabriel used the title for his 1993–94 Secret World Tour, where the song served as the final song of his main set. The song appeared on his Secret World Live album and Secret World concert film; it also served as the subtitle for Gabriel's multimedia CD ROM game Xplora1: Peter Gabriel's Secret World.

Background

Gabriel wrote "Secret World" following the dissolution of his marriage with Jill Gabriel and his breakup with Rosanna Arquette. He said that the song was "about the private world that two people occupy and the private worlds that they occupy as individuals within that space." An early piano-oriented demo of "Secret World" was recorded on 2 February 1991; the lyrics had yet to be finalised by this point.

Instrumentally, the song begins with what music critic Durrell Bowman described as "gentle, rhythmically keyboards and guitars" that transition into a more percussion oriented composition. The song's bridge documents the collapse of Gabriel's romantic relationships through the lyrical metaphor of a crumbling house and features bass runs from Tony Levin. To achieve the percussive bass tones on "Secret World", Levin struck the strings with funk fingers, a set of specialized drumsticks attached to the digits that he developed while touring Gabriel's So album in the 1980s.

Gabriel invited Rebecca Horn to create the artwork for "Secret World", which was later included in the liner notes for US and exhibited at the London Contemporary Art Fair in 1993. After her first listen to the song, Horn purchased a suitcase from a flea market in Berlin and attached various objects to its interior, including a violin bow, a set of binoculars, and a device resembling a butterfly.

Critical reception

Upon its release, "Secret World" received mixed reviews from music critics. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly felt that the song was a "climatic, yet drab seven minute ballad" riddled with cliches. Greg Kot thought that "Secret World" was one of the songs on Us that resembled "music for Third World airports, little more than exercises in ambient atmosphere." Karla Peterson of the Oxnard Press-Courier thought that the "quiet closing chords of the conciliatory Secret World" contributed to the personal and introspective nature of Us.

In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic labeled the song as "quietly anthemic". Ultimate Classic Rock believed that song was more effective in a live setting, singling out particular praise for the version included on Secret World Live. In his book Without Frontiers: The Life and Music of Peter Gabriel, Daryl Easlea said that "Secret World" was "possibly the greatest thing he has ever written and certainly on par with his most notable successes."

Live performances

From 1993 to 2016, "Secret World" was a consistent fixture in Gabriel’s live performances. The song made its debut during his Secret World Tour, where the song's duration was extended beyond the seven minute runtime found on Us. For this tour, the song served as the set-closer. During these performances, images of furniture and faces were projected onto a revolving screen above the main stage, which was equipped with a conveyor belt transporting a set of luggage. At the conclusion of the song, Gabriel opened the largest suitcase positioned above a trapdoor, allowing each musician to step inside and disappear.

Gabriel included the song on the setlist of his Growing Up Tour, his first concert tour in ten years. In a concert review for his performance at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Jon Bream of the Star Tribune noted Gabriel's choreography during the song, where he skipped and twirled around the stage with a tambourine and bounced behind his keyboard while a giant balloon descended from above. A live recording from a performance at the Forum di Milano was included on Growing Up: Live. Gabriel also performed the song in 2007 during his Warm Up Tour in Europe, which included a stop in Wiltshire for the 25th anniversary of WOMAD.

In the middle of Gabriel’s orchestral New Blood Tour, "Secret World" was added to the setlist. John Metcalfe, who served as the orchestra conductor and arranger during that tour, recalled that he encountered difficulties in creating a suitable orchestral arrangement for the song in-between tour dates. For his Back to Front Tour, the song returned to its non-orchestral arrangement and featured more conventional instrumentation provided by members of Gabriel's 1986–1987 touring band.

Gabriel performed "Secret World" during his Rock Paper Scissors Tour with Sting in 2016 and last played it in July of that year when the tour concluded in Canada. It did not appear on Gabriel's i/o tour in 2023.

Personnel

• Peter Gabriel – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, synth bass, programming, Mexican flute
• David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals
• Daniel Lanois – guitar, Dobro
• Tony Levin – bass guitar
• Caroline Lavelle – cello
• Malcolm Burn – synth cello
• Manu Katché – electric drums, percussion
• David Bottrill – programming
• Doudou N'Diaye Rose – programming

Chart performance

References

1. ^ Bowman, Durrell (2 September 2016). Experiencing Peter Gabriel: A Listener's Companion. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 168–170. ISBN 9781442252004.
2. ^ Easlea, Daryl (2014). Without Frontiers: The Life and Music of Peter Gabriel. London, UK: Omnibus Press. pp. 295–296, 358–359. ISBN 978-1-4683-0964-5.
3. "Secret World (Piano Mix), by Peter Gabriel". Peter Gabriel. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
4. Easlea, Daryl (13 July 2016). "Peter Gabriel's solo albums Us and Up abandoned pop for prog's darkest side". Louder Sound. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
5. Alberge, Dalya (19 January 1993). "Breaking Out of the Box". The Independent. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
6. "Art From US". PeterGabriel.com. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
7. Browne, David (9 October 1992). "Us". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
8. Kot, Greg (1 October 1992). "Us". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
9. Peterson, Karla (24 September 1993). "Gabriel Takes Us Into His Dark Regions". Oxnard Press-Courier. p. 14. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
10. Reed, Ryan (29 September 2012). "Why Peter Gabriel Got So Personal on 'Us'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
11. ^ Wardlaw, Matt Wardlaw (4 June 2023). "10 Songs Peter Gabriel Hasn't Played on His 2023 Tour". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
12. Keough, Kevin (15 July 1993). "Peter Gabriel's performance art rock". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
13. Bream, Jon (16 November 2002). "Gabriel Uneven, But Worth the Wait". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2 July 2024 – via The Genesis Archive.
14. ^ Scarfe, Graeme (2021). Peter Gabriel: Every Album, Every Song. United Kingdom: SonicBond. pp. 118–120. ISBN 978-1-78952-138-2.
15. "Warm Up Tour 2007". Genesis News Com. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
16. Zivitz, Jordan (6 July 2016). "Review: Collaboration, Not Competition For Peter Gabriel and Sting". The Gazette. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
17. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 1410." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
18. "Peter Gabriel Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 1 July 2024.

• 1992 songs
• Peter Gabriel songs
• Songs written by Peter Gabriel
• Song recordings produced by Daniel Lanois