sledgehammer

Peter Gabriel had his biggest hit with this sleek and soulful innuendo. 'Sledgehammer' was the first single from 'So'. The song features a synthesized shakuhachi flute and brass section from the Stax house band The Memphis Horns. The lyrics use bumper cars, speed trains, fruitcages, and the titular sledgehammer as metaphors for sex. The "Big Dipper" is a wooden roller coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in England. Gabriel says, "Sometimes sex can break through barriers when other forms of communication are not working too well." It knocked 'Invisible Touch' by Genesis out of the top spot when it hit number one in the US. 'Sledgehammer' was nominated for three Grammy Awards: Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. The innovative stop action claymation video was a collaboration with director Stephen R. Johnson, Adam Whittaker, Aardman Animations, and the Brothers Quay. It won a record nine awards at the MTV Video Awards and set a new standard for art in the music video industry. The extras in the video include Gabriel's daughters Anna and Melanie, the animators, and the director's girlfriend. Gabriel spent sixteen hours under glass during the filming of the video one frame at a time.

You could have a steam train

If you'd just lay down your tracks

You could have an aeroplane flying

If you bring your blue sky back

All you do is call me

I'll be anything you need

You could have a big dipper

Going up and down, all around the bends

You could have a bumper car, bumping

This amusement never ends

I want to be your sledgehammer

Why don't you call my name

Oh let me be your sledgehammer

This will be my testimony

Show me round your fruitcage

'Cause I will be your honey bee

Open up your fruitcage

Where the fruit is as sweet as can be

I want to be your sledgehammer

Why don't you call my name

You'd better call the sledgehammer

Put your mind at rest

I'm gonna be - the sledgehammer

This can be my testimony

I'm your sledgehammer

Let there be no doubt about it

Sledge sledge sledgehammer

I've kicked the habit

Shed my skin

This is the new stuff

I go dancing in, we go dancing in

Oh won't you show for me

And I will show for you

Show for me, I will show for you

Yea, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do mean you

Only you

You've been coming through

Going to build that power

Build, build up that power, hey

I've been feeding the rhythm

I've been feeding the rhythm

Going to feel that power, build in you

Come on, come on, help me do

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you

I've been feeding the rhythm

I've been feeding the rhythm

It's what we're doing, doing

All day and night