"Solsbury Hill" is the debut solo single of English musician

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

. He wrote the song about a

spiritual experience A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense ...

atop

Little Solsbury Hill Little Solsbury Hill (more commonly known as Solsbury Hill) is a small flat-topped hill and the site of an Iron Age hill fort, above the village of Batheaston in Somerset, England. The hill rises to above the River Avon, which is just ove ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, England, after his departure from the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

band

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

, of which he had been the lead singer since its inception. The single was a Top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 13, and reached number 68 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1977. Gabriel has said of the song's meaning, "It's about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get ... It's about letting go." The song is mostly written in time, an unusual

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...

that has been described as "giving the song a constant sense of struggle". The meter settles into time only for the last two measures of each chorus. It is performed in the key of

B major B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 102 beats per minute, with Gabriel's vocals ranging from F₃ to G₄.

Background

Producer

Bob Ezrin Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's car ...

placed some restrictions on the session musicians to give the song its distinctive sound. While earlier versions of the song featured more prominent electric guitar, Ezrin instructed guitarist

Steve Hunter Stephen John Hunter (born June 14, 1948) is an American guitarist, primarily a session player. He has worked with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, acquiring the moniker "The Deacon". Hunter first played with Mitch Ryder's Detroit, beginning a long a ...

to instead perform the main riff on a

12 string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

, an instrument "he hadn't played in a long time". However, Hunter states that he instead borrowed a Martin acoustic guitar, and Travis picked the voicings with a capo on the second fret. As Ezrin wanted the acoustic guitar to be tripled, Hunter was required to provide three satisfactory takes, all of which had to be aligned with one another. Bob Ezrin used the variable speed oscillator on guitar tracks to achieve the chorusing effect. Rather than employing a full drum kit,

Allan Schwartzberg Allan Schwartzberg (born December 28, 1942) is an American musician and record producer. He has been a member of the rock band Mountain, Peter Gabriel's first solo band, toured with Brecker Brothers' Dreams, B.J. Thomas, Linda Rondstadt, Stan Ge ...

made do with a shaker in one hand and a drum stick in another, which he used to strike a telephone book. For additional rhythmic textures,

Larry Fast Lawrence Roger Fast (born December 10, 1951) is an American synthesizer player and composer. He is best known for his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums (''Synergy'') and for his contributions to a number of popular music acts, inclu ...

constructed a fake drum kit on his keyboard, which he dubbed the "synthibam", although the liner notes credit percussionist

Jimmy Maelen Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

with the instrument. After all of the session musicians departed, Fast also overdubbed some additional electronics, including the synth horn orchestration. From verse two onwards, a subdued four note flute riff, played by Gabriel himself, sounds-off the beginning of each section of the lyrics.

Use in soundtracks

It has been used in a number of films and television shows, including the 2001 film ''

Vanilla Sky ''Vanilla Sky'' is a 2001 American science fiction thriller film directed, written, and co-produced by Cameron Crowe. It is an English-language remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film '' Open Your Eyes'', which was written by Amenábar ...

'' and the 2004 film '' In Good Company''. It has also been used in the trailer of ''

Finding Dory ''Finding Dory'' is a 2016 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton, produced by Lindsey Collins and written by Stanton and Vict ...

'' and featured as the send-off song for the series finale of AMC's '' Halt and Catch Fire''. It was also used for the conclusion of an episode of Fox's ''

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency n ...

''. It was used in a

Cingular Wireless AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the t ...

TV ad campaign, a Toyota ad campaign, and a Nespresso TV ad campaign. Its prevalence in romantic comedy trailers has been called "ubiquitous", particularly its inclusion in a satirical re-cut trailer of '' The Shining''.

Track listing

Studio recording

7" UK single (1977) # "Solsbury Hill" – 3:24 # "Moribund the Burgermeister" – 4:17 7" "Old Gold" single (1982) # "Solsbury Hill" – 3:26 # "Games Without Frontiers" – 3:50 UK maxi-single (1983, 1988) # "Solsbury Hill" – 3:24 # "Moribund the Burgermeister" – 4:17 # "Solsbury Hill (Full Length Live Version)" – 5:45 European single (1990 re-issue) # "Solsbury Hill" – 4:24 / 4:22 # "Shaking the Tree" – 5:06 # "Games Without Frontiers" (Live) – 6:06

Live version

7" US single (1983) # "Solsbury Hill" (Live) – 3:58 # "I Go Swimming" (Live) – 4:29 7" Netherlands single (1983) # "Solsbury Hill" (Live) – 4:41 # "Kiss of Life" (Live) – 5:01 7" US single (1983) # "Solsbury Hill" (Live) – 3:58 # "Shock the Monkey" – 3:58

Personnel

*Peter Gabriel – lead vocals, keyboards, flute *

– acoustic and electric guitar *

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 1 ...

– bass guitar *Jozef Chirowski – synths *

– drums, shaker, telephone book *

– percussion, synthibam

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a sessio ...

is often credited. However, he has written: "I had nothing to add to the track after Steve

unter Unter (German, 'under', 'below' or 'among') may refer to: * Unter (playing card), the Jack card in German and Swiss-suited playing cards * Unter Null, stage name of Erica Dunham, an American musician See also * * Über (disambiguation), the a ...

s superb & fitting contribution, although I would love to be on it."

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' said that "its lighthearted feeling should go a long way in expanding his audience beyond the boundaries of so-called '

Progressive Rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

.'" In 2021, it was listed at No. 472 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".

Charts

Certifications

Erasure version

"Solsbury Hill" was recorded by British

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

duo

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

in 2003 for their

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

s album '' Other People's Songs'' and released as a single in the United Kingdom on 6 January 2003. This Erasure single became a hit, reaching No. 10 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, No. 7 in Denmark, No. 29 in Germany, No. 39 in Sweden, and No. 41 in Ireland. The track was chosen for the album by Erasure member

Vince Clarke Vincent John Martin (born 3 July 1960), known professionally as Vince Clarke, is an English synth-pop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been the main composer and musician of the band Erasure since its inception in 1985, and was previously ...

. Clarke and singer Andy Bell turned the song into a mid-tempo electronic dance tune, displaying the signature Erasure sound. The band changed the structure of the song from the original

to —except for the chorus, which slips back into time for one line. This also results in the vocals in the verses effectively being shifted forward in comparison to Gabriel's (which start on beat 5 of each bar) to start on beat 1 of bars 1 and 3. Clarke directed a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for the cover which was released on Erasure's DVD compilation '' Hits! the Videos.''

Track listings

CD Single No. 1 (CDMUTE275) # "Solsbury Hill" # "Tell It to Me" # "Searching" CD Single No. 2 (LCDMUTE275) # "Solsbury Hill" (37B mix) # "Solsbury Hill" (

Manhattan Clique Manhattan Clique is a group composed of producers, remixers and songwriters Philip Larsen and Chris Smith, also known as "MHC". Their successes have been reflected in the ''Music Week'' Club and Pop charts in the UK, plus the ''Billboard'' dance ...

extended remix) # "

Ave Maria The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

" DVD Single (DVDMUTE275) # "Solsbury Hill" (radio mix) # "

Video Killed the Radio Star "Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1979. It was recorded concurrently by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for their album '' English Garden'' an ...

" # "Dr Jeckyll and Mistress Hyde" (short film) US CD Maxi Single (9200-2) # "Solsbury Hill" (radio mix) # "Solsbury Hill" # "Tell It to Me" # "Searching" # "Video Killed the Radio Star" (37B mix) # "Solsbury Hill" (37B mix) # "Solsbury Hill" (Manhattan Clique extended remix) # "Ave Maria" # "Dr. Jeckyll And Mistress Hyde" (short film)

Charts

Other cover versions

In 1989, Canadian singer-songwriter

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan OC OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is '' Surfacing'', for which she won two Grammy Awards (ou ...

released a cover version on her cd single for "Steaming". In 1991, Canadian

band

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...

released a cover version of the song in the second disc of the double compilation LP The Works. In 2010,

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...

released a version of the song as part of the project '' Scratch My Back'', with Peter Gabriel recording cover versions of other artists and letting them provide covers of his songs in return. Many of the versions were very different from the original recordings. Lou Reed's version, like Erasure's, changes the

to , and shifts the vocals in the verses to start on beat 2 of bars 1 and 3. In April 2013, an instrumental version of Solsbury Hill was included in guitar player

's album ''

The Manhattan Blues Project ''The Manhattan Blues Project'' is the fifth studio album by guitarist Steve Hunter. Released in 2013, the blues guitar album features instrumental interpretations of New York City. It is particularly notable for its all-star lineup of guest ...

''. Hunter had played on the original

Peter Gabriel (1977 album) ''Peter Gabriel'' is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter and producer Peter Gabriel, released on 25 February 1977 by Charisma Records. After his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis was made public in 1975, Gabrie ...

recording and he invited his friend and original Solsbury Hill bass player

to play bass on the track. In the 2014 biography by Daryl Easley ''Without Frontiers'' Gabriel gave Hunter credit for coming up with the guitar parts which became a signature for the song. In November 2022, singer-songwriter William Fitzsimmons recorded a version for his album "Covers, Vol. 1".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solsbury Hill (Song) 1977 debut singles 2003 singles Peter Gabriel songs Erasure songs Song recordings produced by Gareth Jones Songs written by Peter Gabriel Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Mute Records singles 1977 songs Atco Records singles Charisma Records singles Geffen Records singles Progressive pop songs