Peter Gabriel » Tracks » Games Without Frontiers

Peter Gabriel – Games Without Frontiers (3:56)

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About This Track

“Games Without Frontiers” is a hit 1980 single by Peter Gabriel, released on his third self-titled solo album. It features Kate Bush on backing vocals and became his first UK Top 10 hit, peaking at #4. The song also peaked at #48 in the U.S. It ties with 1986’s Sledgehammer as his highest-charting song in the UK. The B-side to the single was two tracks combined into one: “Start” and “I Don’t Remember”.

Title and lyrics

The song’s title comes from a European game show, Jeux Sans Frontières, that featured teams competing for prizes while dressed in bizarre costumes. The British version of the show was called It’s a Knockout, a phrase that also appears in the song. The teams represented towns and cities from each country, so the games had an inevitable element of nationalism. While some games were simple races, others allowed one team to obstruct another.

The lyrics are seen as a critique of nationalism and war, which the song portrays as essentially childish. The tag line of the song, “Games without frontiers, war without tears” is a comment on the sublimation of the rivalries within Europe, caused by centuries of war, in a meaningless game.

The name Lin Tai Yu, which appears in the song, belongs to a character from the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.
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  • discmann

    Great song ;-)

    last month

  • N-Y-R

    Jeux sans frontière. <3

    March 2012

  • flickothewrist

    For me a true creative master of genius , some of his work for Genesis will linger eternally in the annals of contemporary music, an all time great

    February 2012

  • kikikirsche

    Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching´s is blue

    December 2011

  • gotgore101

    Peter is aging gracefully!

    November 2011

  • gezginrocker

    gabriel & bush rulez!

    October 2011

  • Drazba

    saw gabriel do this live in support of the third album-totally amazing-

    August 2011

  • ArmandMeyer

    Love Kate Bush.

    August 2011

  • jmbrace

    Agreed

    July 2011

  • dangergirl717

    Perfect~

    June 2011

  • jimmyrabbitte

    Once I figured out that you can sing the theme song to "Animaniacs" to this tune. Now I can't stop doing it.

    May 2011

  • schultzdigital

    great tune.

    April 2011

  • mottly

    Wow my player is playing a crazy remix - that's actually really awesome, wish I knew which it was...

    April 2011

  • OU812_JT

    Love it!!!

    April 2011

  • Wildebrand

    That ending is light years ahead of it's time...

    March 2011

  • toto47

    Toller Titel, lange nicht mehr gehört!

    February 2011

  • roaddog23

    love this song Ringo plays with it

    January 2011

  • kokocijo

    Jeux sans frontières...

    January 2011

  • AliceInChains15

    Jeux sans frontieres

    January 2011

  • EqNimda

    This sounds so fresh that it could've passed as something that came out last week..

    December 2010
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