Peter Gabriel, new song and new version of “Don’t give up”

Peter Gabriel has released a new song, titled “A Hard Lesson”, taken from his upcoming album “oi”, the project with which he is releasing a song every full moon in view of the next album.
Gabriel explains that this is the oldest piece of the project: its origins date back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, when Gabriel was in Senegal. Over the years the musician continued to rework it, until the version published today. The song was written by Gabriel and produced together with Mike Elizondo. The popular version is the “Bright-Side Mix” created by Mark “Spike” Stent. In a video dedicated to the single, Gabriel recounted the long gestation of the piece:

This is the oldest song on the project. It was probably born in the late 80s and early 90s, when I was in Senegal. I was falling in love with the music I listened to there. I loved the tension created by the use of polyrhythms, especially sets of threes and fours, and that’s where this song came from.
It’s a quirky, strange and long song, but it’s a journey. It’s about trying to find a place, your place, and figuring out how to fit in. I also had fun playing with old R&B and folk music references.
It’s one of those songs that stayed in the ‘almost’ category on a couple of previous projects, but had to wait 30 or 40 years to really emerge. Sometimes things take time – most people do things much faster – but I have no problem understanding my process. Some things mature and evolve spontaneously, others simply remain hidden in a box until their time comes to see the light.”

The release of “A Hard Lesson” also coincides with the fortieth anniversary of “So”, Gabriel’s fifth studio album, released in 1986. For the occasion, the artist also released a new Dolby Atmos mix of “Don’t Give Up”, the famous duet with Kate Bush. The new mix was done by Kevin Killen, who had already worked on the original mix of “So” at Real World Studios.