It’s the first and only time the song’s titular location is mentioned, but the mental image it invokes is burned in your mind for well longer than the four-minute runtime.ĥ. Not even Martin Scorsese establishes the shot this well: “Climbing up on Solsbury Hill/ I could see the city light/ Wind was blowing, time stood still/ Eagle flew out of the night.” Doesn’t matter if you’ve never been within 500 miles of Somerset, England - with those 28 opening syllables, you’re right there with Gabriel, sharing in his moment of revelation. Sting and Peter Gabriel Trade Hits, Covers During Three-Hour Tour KickoffĤ. But if the guitars are undoubtedly the blood pumping through “Solsbury Hill,” it still all stems from the beating heart of the drum thump, steady throughout, keeping the song even-keeled, marching forward and undeniably alive. Part of the reason the song’s unusual time signature works is because it’s all in the guitars - that gorgeous spider web of an acoustic riff (played by Lou Reed and Alice Cooper guitarist Steve Hunter) circling the song’s perimeter and providing its pristine, immediately recognizable framework. The fact that it’s always noticeable but never distracting is a tremendous accomplishment for Gabriel as a songwriter, and makes “Solsbury” a standout from the very beginning.Ģ. The 7/4 stomp of “Solsbury Hill” is one of its indelible and striking features, that feeling of a beat missing in every measure giving the song a constant sense of struggle - and subsequently, of endurance. Writing a perfect pop song is hard enough, but writing one in an imperfect time signature is damn near impossible.
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