Released 9 February 1980 Recorded 1979 | Format 7" Label Charisma | |
B-side "Start/I Don't Remember" (UK), "Lead A Normal Life" (USA) Length 4:05 (album version)
3:47 (single edit version) | ||
"Games Without Frontiers" is a song written and recorded by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was released on his 1980 self-titled solo album and features Kate Bush on backing vocals. The song's lyrics are interpreted as a commentary on war and international diplomacy being like children's games.
Contents
The single became Gabriel's first top-10 hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at No. 4, and – tied with 1986's "Sledgehammer" – his highest-charting song in the United Kingdom. It peaked at No. 7 in Canada, but only No. 48 in the United States. 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 refers to Jeux Sans Frontières, a long-running TV show broadcast in several European countries, in which teams of residents representing a town or city in one of the participating countries would compete in games of skill while frequently dressed in bizarre costumes. While some games were simple races, others allowed one team to obstruct another. The British version was titled It's a Knockout, which Gabriel references in the lyrics.
The song was Gabriel's first UK Top 10 as a solo artist. Gabriel's first two solo albums were distributed in the US by Atlantic Records, but they rejected his third album (which contained this track), telling Gabriel he was committing "commercial suicide". Atlantic dropped him but tried to buy the album back when "Games Without Frontiers" took off in the UK and started getting airplay in the US. At this point, Gabriel wanted nothing to do with Atlantic and let Mercury Records distribute the album in America.
The track features Kate Bush on backing vocals. The whistling is performed by Gabriel, along with producers Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham.
The video includes film clips of Olympic events and scenes from the 1951 educational film Duck and Cover, which used a cartoon turtle to instruct US school children on what to do in case of nuclear attack. Such forlorn imagery tends to reinforce the song's antiwar theme.
The album version of the song includes the line "Whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle" after the second verse and before the second chorus. This was replaced for the single release with a more radio-friendly repeat of the line "Whistling tunes we're kissing baboons in the jungle" from the first chorus. The BBC also censored the video.
Gabriel's 1991 performance of the song from the Netherlands was beamed via satellite to Wembley Stadium in England as part of "The Simple Truth" concert for Kurdish refugees.
Musicians
English version
7-inch UK single (1980)
- "Games Without Frontiers"
- "Start/I Don't Remember" (non-album version—alternate recording; produced by Peter Gabriel and Stephen W Tayler at Trident Studios, London)
7" US and Canadian single (1980)
- "Games Without Frontiers" – 3:47
- "Lead a Normal Life" – 3:42
7" US single (1980)
- "Games Without Frontiers (Mono)" – 3:45
- "Games Without Frontiers (Stereo)" – 3:45
12" UK single (1983)
- "Games Without Frontiers"
- "Schnappschuss (Ein Familienfoto)"
German version
7-inch German single (1980)
- "Spiel Ohne Grenzen (Games Without Frontiers)" – 4:07
- "Jetzt Kommt Die Flut (Here Comes The Flood)" – 4:57
In other works
"Games Without Frontiers" was licensed as the title music for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC computer game The Race Against Time, which in turn was the official game of the charity event Sport Aid '88.
The Thirteenth Winter X Games introduced Gabriel's and Lord Jamar's remix of the song, redubbed "X Games Without Frontiers", which became the theme for subsequent games.