More Than This (Peter Gabriel song)

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"More Than This"
Single by Peter Gabriel
from the album Up
ReleasedDecember 2002
Length
  • 6:02 (album version)
  • 4:30 (single edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)Peter Gabriel
Producer(s)
  • Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel singles chronology
"The Barry Williams Show"
(2002) 		"More Than This"
(2002) 		"Growing Up"
(2003)

"More Than This" is a song by English

Growing Up Live concert film in 2003. The live performance featured projections of a balloon suspended above the stage.[2]

Background

Progress on "More Than This" began late in the development process for Up.[3] Gabriel was playing around with a Fender Telecaster guitar that producer Daniel Lanois left in the studio and decided to sample the instrument on a keyboard.[2] Gabriel quipped that he "can't play guitar to save my life, but I can make noises on it."[3] He drew further inspiration from a groove on a cassette he was listening to while traveling the Italian Alps.[2]

The song begins with manipulated guitar sounds from Gabriel's keyboard, after which the first verse starts. These guitar samples also return in the song's second verse.[4] Lyrically, the verses describe a long walk to an unfamiliar place and a vision of people struggling at sea. After the second chorus, which describe the narrator feeling 'alone and so connected', a quieter bridge emerges, which borrows some of the lyrical motifs from the preceding section.[2] Several of electronic devices were used on the song, including a Mutator, which engineer Richard Chappell described as a filter box. Chappell explained that "Mutator" and "Wonky Nord" were listed in the song's liner notes because of Gabriel's preference to credit instruments in a particular way that convey their utility.[5]

The single artwork is a photo taken by NASA. Gabriel had provided Marc Bessant, who designed the image, a book titled Full Moon, which featured over 30,000 negative images from the Apollo 11 moon landing. From those images, Bessant selected a picture of a footprint on the moon's surface.[3] In the liner notes of Up, Susan Derge's photo Hermetica was included instead, which depicts nine objects resembling buttons in a circular formation.[2]

Track listing

CD – PGSCD14
  1. More Than This – Radio Edit – 4:30
  2. More Than This – (The Polyphonic Spree Mix) – 5:08
  3. More Than This – (Elbow Mix) – 5:05[3]
12 inch single – PGST14
  1. More Than This – (The Polyphonic Spree Mix) – 5:08
  2. More Than This – (Elbow Mix) – 5:05
  3. My Head Sounds Like That (Röyksopp Remix) – 8:24[3]

Personnel

Credits from the Up liner notes.[6]

Charts

Chart performance for "More Than This"
Chart (2002) Peak
position
Italy (FIMI)[7] 39
UK Singles (OCC)[8]
 47
US
Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[9]
 20

References

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Up - Peter Gabriel". Allmusic. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9781442252004
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e "More Than This". PeterGabriel.com. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  4. ISBN 978-1-78952-138-2
    .
  5. ^ Tingen, Paul (May 2003). "Richard Chappell: Recording Peter Gabriel's Up". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  6. ^ Up Liner Notes (Liner Notes). Peter Gabriel. USA: Real World Records. 2002.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ^ "Top Singoli – Classifica settimanale WK 5" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  8. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Peter Gabriel Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
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