The Tower That Ate People
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| "The Tower That Ate People" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Peter Gabriel | |
| from the album OVO | |
| Released | 2000 |
| Length | 4:49 |
| Label | |
| Songwriter | Peter Gabriel |
| Producers |
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"The Tower That Ate People" is a song written and recorded by English musician Peter Gabriel. It is the seventh track on Gabriel's soundtrack album OVO, which was released in 2000 as the commissioned work to the Millennium Dome Show. Whereas several songs on OVO were sung by different vocalists, "The Tower That Ate People" is one of the few songs on the album where Gabriel is the lead singer.
"The Tower That Ate People" has been remixed by Steve Osbourne and was performed on several tours. Pitchfork described "The Tower That Ate People" as "Gabriel's funkiest track since "Sledgehammer", with growling verse vocals, phased guitars, overdriven organ, and a gorgeously haunting bridge melody."[1] Ryan Reed of Rolling Stone called the song a "buzzing industrial-rock epic" that "remains one of Gabriel's most exhilarating post-So arrangements."[2]
The basis of "The Tower That Ate People" was a groove developed by Gabriel. Its working title was "100 Days to Go", which first appeared on multi-media CDs that accompanied the Real World Notes series, a publication distributed by Real World Records from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.[3][4] The three-note riff found in the song originated from a flute, which was later processed with distortion to resemble an electric guitar.[5] The song includes elements from industrial music,f including loud dynamics and an extensive use of looping; the song's bridge is softer and more subdued.[3]
The song's lyrics relate to the intertwining of technology and civilisation; these themes are attached to the plot of OVO, which centers on a quarrel between fictional specimens known as the skypeople and earthpeople.[2][6] "The Tower That Ate People" appears in Act 2, which is described in the liner notes as the industrialised period of the plot.[7] Gabriel adopted the character of Ion in the story, who Gabriel described as an "industrial megalomaniac".[5] Ion's primary goal in OVO is to build an industrial empire for the purpose of enslaving people.[8] To achieve the voice of Ion, Gabriel delivered his lines in a distorted and bluesy voice that he likened to the work of Dr. John.[5]
With the exception of the bridge and the "we're building up and up" lyric, which Gabriel sings four times on the OVO recording, most of the remaining vocals were processed with fuzz and distortion.[2][9] Some aspects of "The Tower That Ate People" conceptually mirror the Tower of Babel, a structure found in Christian theology that is destroyed by Yahweh to punish mankind for their attempts at constructing a building that could reach the sky.[9]
According to the pan-European publication Music & Media, "The Tower That Ate People" was the 13th most aired song in Poland during the week of 24 June 2000.[10]
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