drawing by Andrew Chalfen

I listened to a learning tape tonight while coloring, then was pulled to pick Peter Gabriel’s hypnotic, “In Your Eyes.” Imagine my delight when I read that the song was inspired by one of Antoni Gaudi designed homes! Coincidence? Serendipity? Whatever metaphysical phenomenon it is, I like it.

per wikipedia:  “So” is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, released on 19 May 1986 by Charisma Records. Often considered his best and most accessible album, So was an immediate commercial success and transformed Gabriel from a cult artist into a mainstream star, becoming his best-selling solo release. It has been certified fivefold platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. So was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1987 but lost to Paul Simon’s Graceland. It has continued to appear in lists of the best albums of the 1980s and was included at number 187 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time… “In Your Eyes” has been described as Gabriel’s greatest love song. Inspired by the Sagrada Família and its architect Antoni Gaudí, Gabriel sings over a drumbeat of only feeling complete in the eyes of his lover. The track’s powerful atmosphere is created through the singing of Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour, who sings in his native language.

Love I get so lost, sometimes
Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
When I want to run away
I drive off in my car
But whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are

All my instincts, they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside

In your eyes
The light the heat
In your eyes
I am complete
In your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
In your eyes
The resolution of all the fruitless searches
In your eyes
I see the light and the heat
In your eyes
Oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
The heat I see in your eyes

Love, I don’t like to see so much pain
So much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired of working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive

And all my instincts, they return
And the grand facade, so soon will burn
Without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside

In your eyes
The light the heat
In your eyes
I am complete
In your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
In your eyes
The resolution of all the fruitless searches
In your eyes
I see the light and the heat
In your eyes
Oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light,
The heat I see in your eyes
In your eyes, in your eyes
In your eyes, in your eyes
In your eyes, in your eyes

Songwriters: Peter Gabriel