Peter Gabriel

Put the
Bucket Down

The second song from o\i turns the lunar order around: Mark “Spike” Stent’s Bright-Side Mix arrived at the snow full moon on February 1, Tchad Blake’s Dark-Side Mix at the new moon on February 17. Gabriel wrote it for a side project with the brain at its core – a story in which thoughts can be read as well as written, and the singer is no longer sure his own are his. The bucket is all the clutter that circles the head; the title is the advice to set it down and find a way forward.

Written and produced by Peter Gabriel; orchestral arrangement by John Metcalfe with Peter Gabriel. Recorded at Real World Studios, Bath; The Beehive and British Grove, London; and Fonoprint, Bologna. Peter Gabriel: vocals, piano, synths, synth bass, synth brass, rhythm programming; Brian Eno, Oli Jacobs and Richard Chappell: rhythm programming; Tony Levin: bass; David Rhodes: electric guitar; Katie May: acoustic guitar; Paolo Fresu: trumpet (Bright-Side Mix); Josh Shpak: trumpet, French horn; Eliza Marshall: flute; David Rhodes, Ríognach Connolly and Melanie Gabriel: backing vocals; New Blood Orchestra conducted by John Metcalfe. Bright-Side Mix by Mark “Spike” Stent; Dark-Side Mix by Tchad Blake; mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis. Real World Records. Artwork for the single: Tomás Saraceno, Cosmic Spider/Web. Photograph: Santiago Ramón y Cajal, self-portrait in his laboratory, Valencia, c. 1885. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid.