Waking up the road to joy

Love calls through the walls, warms the earth wherever it falls

Cover art for Peter Gabriel’s album, i/o ~ “Middle Finger in Pink” by Ai Weiwei

Monday: The day voted most likely to make you want to stay in bed

Moxie: Confidence, determination, force of character

Monday Moxie: A tiny spark of “Go get ‘em!” curated by yours truly to help you get your day (even a Monday) off to a good start

Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album, So, was an integral part of my personal soundtrack as I finished high school and went off to college. Listening to those songs now feels like running into the ghost of my younger self. Even so, the songs can still surprise me with new layers of meaning that escaped that version of me.

Luckily for his fans, Gabriel never stopped creating music. Unlike the one-hit wonders that my beau and I saw over the summer at the “Totally Tubular Festival,” Gabriel has never rested on his laurels. Instead, he is constantly exploring, writing, and collaborating.

I haven’t listened to all the songs on his 2023 release, i/o, but one track has been getting some pretty consistent airplay on our wonderful local indie station, 92.5 WXRV. “Road to Joy (Dark-Side Mix)” echoes some of Gabriel’s hits from the 80s, and I’m not mad about it.

I initially chose this song for Monday Moxie because of the upbeat vibe and funky baseline. It turns out there’s a whole lot more to the song than that.

Intrigued by the somewhat mysterious lyrics, I did a little digging. According to Gabriel’s website, here’s the story behind the song:

‘I’m working on a project which is partly a story focused around the brain and how we perceive things and this song connects to that. It deals with near-death experience and locked-in syndrome situations where people are unable to communicate or to move. It’s an amazingly frustrating condition. There have been some great books and films about this subject, but at this point in our story the people looking after our hero manage to find a way to wake him up. So, it’s a lyric about coming back into your senses, back to life, back into the world.’ 

Gabriel may have taken his inspiration from what he’s learning about brain phenomenon, but it also feels to me like it’s about metaphorically “coming back into your senses, back to life, back into the world” after a deep heartbreak, loss, or period of grieving.

I especially love how the song centers on JOY being the road back to life.

Everyone I know has a lot going on right now. I know a lot of us can relate to the feeling of being stuck in the “throbbing of the darkness” and like “there’s nothing to do.”

But there’s always something we can do. There’s always a way to create some light and joy to help each other find the strength and courage to go “in for another round.”

There’s also a beautiful sense of reinvention in these lyrics — of endless possibilities. That feels hopeful.

So on this Monday morning (or whenever you’ve come across this post), I hope this song gives you a little joy and a little hope.

P.S. If you’re interested, that link to Gabriel’s website I mentioned has a great little behind-the-scenes video where he talks more about the song and the artists he worked with.

P.P.S. From that behind-the-scenes video, I learned a little bit about the artist behind the cover art — Ai Weiwei. He also sounds pretty damn amazing. The Tate bio on him describes him as a “contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist … [who has] emerged as a vital instigator in Chinese cultural development, an architect of Chinese modernism, and one of the nation's most vocal political commentators.” So, a badass. You can learn more about him at his website.

Road to Joy (Dark-Side Mix)

Peter Gabriel, 2023 | Track 6 on Disc 2 of the album i/o

Sore eyes, swollen skies
Look for anchors, look for ties
Sharp sounds swim around
Soak into the brittle ground

Been so many days, been held inside this body
Been so many days, and there's nothing to do
Been so many days in the throbbing of the darkness
Been so many days, I've been waiting for you

Back in the world
Waking up the road to joy

Love calls through the walls
Warms the earth wherever it falls
Lights form and call you down
Going in for another round

This is how it goes, I've been listening to the voices
This is how it goes, you were sure I was gone
This is how it goes in a state of meditation
This is how it goes, I've been waiting for you

Back in the world
Waking up the road to joy
Back in the world
Walking down the road to joy

The engine stops and silence pours
Fills the holes and cracked stone floors
Young and old, girl and boy
Dance along the road to joy
Picture sharpens in your head
Opens up when it's been read
All the things you strain to see
Come move on in and come to be

Show your eyes, show your teeth
That's the way to build belief
Touch my hair, touch my knee
You can wake up every part of me

Get the blood to flow in every nook and cranny
Get the blood to flow from my head to my toes
Get the blood to flow, flowing all around me
Get the blood to flow, put the life in my soul

Back in the world
Walking down the road to joy

Just when you think it can't get worse
The mind reveals the universe
Opens up a distant star
That gives you straight just who you are
I'm more a dog, you're more a cat
Then we're getting bored of that
Alive again, a bird, a snake
Then we jump into the lake


Words and Music: Peter Gabriel
Engineering by Oli Jacobs, Katie May, Dom Shaw
Produced by Peter Gabriel with Brian Eno
Dark-Side Mix by Tchad Blake
Cover: Middle Finger in Pink by Ai Weiwei