"Games Without Frontiers" | ||||
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Single by Peter Gabriel | ||||
from the album Peter Gabriel (Melt) | ||||
B-side | "Start/I Don't Remember" (UK), "Lead a Normal Life" (US) | |||
Released | 25 January 1980 (UK)[1] | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:05 (album version) 3:47 (single edit version) | |||
Label | Charisma | |||
Songwriter(s) | Peter Gabriel | |||
Producer(s) | Steve Lillywhite | |||
Peter Gabriel singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Games Without Frontiers" on YouTube |
"Games Without Frontiers" is a song written and recorded by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was released on his 1980 self-titled third studio album, where it included backing vocals by Kate Bush.[5] The song's lyrics are interpreted as a commentary on war and international diplomacy being like children's games.[6] The music video includes film clips of Olympic Games events and scenes from the educational film Duck and Cover (1951), which used a cartoon turtle to instruct US schoolchildren on what to do in case of nuclear attack. This forlorn imagery tends to reinforce the song's anti-war theme. Two versions of the music video were initially created for the song, followed by a third one made in 2004.
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 at No. 48 in the United States. The B-side of the single consisted of two tracks combined into one: "Start" and "I Don't Remember".[7]