The Peter Gabriel Lyric That Emerged From a Nightmare

Most folks know that Paul McCartney wrote “Yesterday” after the melody came to him in a dream. The dream that Peter Gabriel translated to create “Red Rain” sounds much more like a nightmare, at least to hear Gabriel describe it.

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The finished song, however, delivers a meaning that’s somewhat elusive, and not necessarily what you might call nightmarish. In any case, that particular night’s sleep certainly proved beneficial to Gabriel, as he delivered a stirring song because of it.

Seeing “Red“

Peter Gabriel seemed forever destined to cult-artist status based on the first four albums (all titled Peter Gabriel and distinguishable from each other only by cover) of his solo career. While his former chums in Genesis transformed into arena-rocking hitmakers, Gabriel stuck doggedly to the art rock world.

That all changed with the album So, released in 1986. Gabriel’s previous work seemed to purposely shun easy accessibility. On So, he concentrated on writing songs that would work as words and melody, before any adornments would be added to them.

That’s certainly the case with “Red Rain,” with its anguished verses, cathartic choruses, and a fluttery hi-hat pattern played by Stewart Copeland of The Police. As for the song’s mysterious inspiration, Gabriel described the somewhat macabre scenario in an interview with Mojo (as reported by Songfacts):

“‘Red Rain’ was written after a dream I’d had about the sea being parted by two walls. There were these glass-like figures that would screw themselves into each wall, fill up with red blood and then be lowered across the sand, as it were to the next wall, where they’d unload the blood on the other side. I used to have these extremely vivid dreams that scared the hell out of me.”

Behind the Lyrics of “Red Rain”

Other writers might have tried to forget such a dream, unless they were making a horror movie. Gabriel decided to tackle his eerie reverie head-on in “Red Rain.” Although the lyrics remain somewhat opaque, he seems to have flipped the script and turned this crimson storm into something redemptive.

Not that it begins in promising fashion for the participants: I am standing up at the water’s edge in my dream / I cannot make a single sound as you scream. There’s a feel of a calm before the downpour as these two souls try to connect: Hey, we touch / This place is so quiet, sensing that storm.

In the second verse, the narrator hints the rain might even be suffering from an unfairly negative reputation: Well, I’ve seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town / They tell you that this rain can sting and look down. But maybe their fears are actually misplaced prejudices: Seeing no red now, see no rain.

When the deluge arrives, the narrator seems to embrace it, encouraging his companion to do the same: Just let the red rain splash you / Let the red rain fall on your skin. It seems to represent to him a chance to start over and reset his life: I come to you, defenses down / With the trust of a child.

Some people hear in “Red Rain” environmental concerns. Others hear apocalyptic warnings. Just like any other dream, it’s wide open to interpretation. What can’t be denied it Peter Gabriel created something mystical and magical out of an experience most others would want to leave far behind.

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