Wednesday Words

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill

I could see the city light

Wind was blowing, time stood still

Eagle flew out of the night

He was something to observe

Came in close, I heard a voice

Standing stretching every nerve

Had to listen had no choice

I did not believe the information

[I] just had to trust imagination

My heart going boom boom boom

"Son," he said "Grab your things,

I've come to take you home."

To keepin' silence I resigned

My friends would think I was a nut

Turning water into wine

Open doors would soon be shut

So I went from day to day

Tho' my life was in a rut

"Till I thought of what I'd say

Which connection I should cut

I was feeling part of the scenery

I walked right out of the machinery

My heart going boom boom boom

"Hey" he said "Grab your things

I've come to take you home."

When illusion spin her net

I'm never where I want to be

And liberty she pirouette

When I think that I am free

Watched by empty silhouettes

Who close their eyes but still can see

No one taught them etiquette

I will show another me

Today I don't need a replacement

I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant

My heart going boom boom boom

"Hey" I said "You can keep my things,

they've come to take me home."

-Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel

As a writer, I always want to be the one to perfectly describe a situation or a feeling. But sometimes it's just best to acknowledge that someone else has done it perfectly. And Mr. Gabriel has done so. This song has been my go-to going home song since my sophomore year of college. (Even before "Carolina in my Mind" since "Carolina" was always Chapel Hill until I left the state entirely.) I've bolded my favorite lines but all I really need is that line at the end. Throughout the song it's someone else saying, "Get your things, I'll take you home," and at the end it's the narrator saying, "I don't need my things, I'm going home." And that just says it perfectly.