Does Peter Gabriel's "Family Snapshot" Help You Understand an Assassin's Motivation?

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all turns quiet
I've been here before
a lonely boy
hiding behind the front door

friends of all gone home
there's my toy gun on the floor

come back, mom and dad
you're growing apart
and you know I'm growing up sad

I need some attention
I shoot into the light

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Not really. I've always found the ending to be kind of a cop-out. "Sure he shot the president and all, but his parents got divorced!" It seems too easy.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

god this song is so tailor made for precocious 15 year olds (i should know, i was one)

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

For some reason, when I was 14 and listening to this song, I couldn't help thinking of 'I shoot into the light' as a double entendre. I guess that's 14-year-olds for you.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Doesn't seem like the kind of defense that would hold up in court.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Prude you're crazy. Yes it does yes I mean yes. All assassins, like strippers, have sad childhoods, and that's why they do what they do! I also know from Peter Gabriel songs why eagles pick people up (freeing them from their former band/stardom) and why the Burgomeister Meisterburger was such an asshole in "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (Phil Collins).

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

'games without frontiers' should likewise be listened to by all those in power!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

or 'sledgehammer', i forget which.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I wrote an essay in French about 'Games without frontiers' at school! My French teacher asked me what 'la guerre territorial' meant. I said "territorial warfare" and he said "Hmm.. I've never heard that phrase before."

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue
they all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu
dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

It's really very profound.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:33 (twenty-two years ago)

It's like, OK, this is just a song about kids playing in the woods, that's nice. But I can't help but wonder if maybe there is something more....

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 April 2004 18:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Melty Face is an awesome record! "Jane plays with Willy, Willy is happy again" -- talk about double entendre... Seriously though, there are some great synth textures on that album, especially on "Games Without Frontiers" (along with a great Frippy sustain-heavy lead guitar figure). Very sparse arrangements which work really well with the general emotional tone of the music.

― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Friday, 23 April 2004 19:45 (twenty-two years ago)

"Family Snapshot" makes me cry in the right mood. Doesn't the title imply that it's not a generalised statement about lone gun nuts but just a portrait of one life?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 23 April 2004 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it does. Even so, I'm not sure I buy the rationalization given for this particular nut.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 23 April 2004 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, it's hardly a deep psychological insight. But the way he sings "Come back Mom and Dad" is Classic.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 23 April 2004 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

True. And the way he sings "grooooooooowing apart." It's written from a child's perspective, but he sounds so old. I don't know, there's a nice tension there.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 23 April 2004 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Could "shooting into the light" be a photography reference, thereby tying in to the title?

― Clarke B. (Clarke B.), Friday, 23 April 2004 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Exackly, Clarke. It's a straightforward pun. And what happens to a photo take into the light?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Friday, 23 April 2004 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd probably have gained more from "Family Snapshot" if the tune was any good. And the lyrics aren't good enough to rescue such a substandard melody.

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 24 April 2004 06:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Ear Surgeon to thread, please.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 24 April 2004 06:24 (twenty-two years ago)

the records are good, the lyrics happen to me dubious, that's all

― amateur!st (amateurist), Saturday, 24 April 2004 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

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