Here Comes The Flood
(Peter Brian Gabriel)
When the night glows The signals grow on radios And the strange winds They all come and go They're early warnings I take the old track The hollow shoulder By the water On the tall cliffs They're all getting older Sons and daughters Stranded starfish with no place to hide Waiting for some swollen Easter tide And I have no direction I cannot even choose a side Lord, here comes the flood We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood And yet I know that we can stem The rising of the tide Provide, provide The time is on your side Drink up Drink up to human kind And when the flood calls You have no home You have no walls In the thunder crash A thousand minds go in a flash Jaded underworld be riding high Waves of steel and metal rip the skies And as the rain cuts through the cloud The rain so warm will soak this crowd Lord, here comes the flood We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood And yet I know that we can stem The rising of the tide Provide, provide The time is on our side Drink up Drink up to human kind Lord, here comes the flood Lord, here comes the flood Lord, here comes the flood Lord, here comes the flood And yet I know that we can stem The rising of the tide If we will just provide Provide, provide The time is on our side Drink up Drink up to human kind Human kind Human kind Human kind Drink up Drink up to human kind
Peter Gabriel Discusses Song’s Meaning
Mister D: I have read an interview with Peter Gabriel in which he states that Here Comes the Flood is the story of what happens when the entirety of the world’s population becomes telepathic, and we can no longer lie to each other or keep secrets. Some people will be able to handle it and there will be others who drown.
Here is a snippet of that interview:
When I wrote this song [Here Comes The Flood] I had an obsession with short-wave radio and I was always amazed at the way in which the radio signals would become stronger as daylight faded. I felt as if psychic energy levels would also increase in the night. I had had an apocalyptic dream in which the psychic barriers which normally prevent us from seeing into each others’ thoughts had been completely eroded producing a mental flood. Those that had been used to having their innermost thoughts exposed would handle this torrent and those inclined to concealment would drown in it. (‘Peter Gabriel’ by Armando Gallo, Omnibus Press, 1986.)