Lyrics for Sledgehammer as interpreted by Novartza

Sledgehammer Lyrics
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 fruit cakes
'Cause I will be your honey bee
Open up your fruit cakes
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 going to be-the sledgehammer
This can be my testimony
I'm your sledgehammer
Let there be no doubt about it

Sledge sledge sledgehammer

I kicked the habit (I kicked the habit)
Shed my skin (Shed my skin)
This is the new stuff (This is the new stuff)
I go dancing in, (We could go dancing in)
Oh won't you show for me (Show for me)
I will show for you (Show for you)
Show for me (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, come on and help me do, come on and help me do
---
"Sledgehammer" as written by Peter Gabriel
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
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weezerific:cutlery
06-03-2002

 Rated  +1 
this song is so great. the video rules.

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Karl
04-13-2004

 Rated  +1 
Brilliant song. The video is also cool, especially for that time.

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rog27
11-26-2004

 Rated  +1 
This song is about sex. And sex is fun.

First off:
Sledgehamemr = penis (obviously)

he's saying he'll use his sledgehammer (penis) to nail down her tracks (he wants to NAIL her)....that's a hilarious allusion by the way.

also...more sexual double-entendre in the song:

You could have a steam train
If you'd just lay down your tracks
(uh yeah)

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
(hahaha - this is great stuff)

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
(blatantly ridiculous)

You've been coming through
Going to build that powerr
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
(ok i think i've made my point)

About sex. That's it. The music video illustrates this quite clearly, as well.

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fatcatx2l
03-21-2005

 Rated  0 
I don't quite remember much from the music video except for a solo where two turkeys or chickens dance and one comes out of the other. So I see where you could be right.

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strider3005
08-24-2005

 Rated  0 
4 comments? A video as awesome as that, and the song itself only gets 4 comments. OK, fine 5 now, but still...

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pt
08-31-2005

 Rated  0 
I've kicked the habit
Shed my skin
This is the new stuff
........so now he is all about sex; where at one time he had the nasty habit?

Sounds like it to me.....certainly other wise all about bummin'

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tomd1969
12-19-2005

 Rated  +1 
A lot of people (critics, et al) have pointed this out: "So" (the album this song comes from) was the first of Gabriel's albums to show his face unobscured. It was as if, for the first time, he was discovering that he was a fairly good-looking man--he had been ashamed of his face before and hiding it from the world. It seems as if one day, he woke up and said, "Hey, you know, I'm not that bad-looking a chap."

This song, filled with double entendres as it is, really brings that emerging "sexiness" (for lack of a better term). "Hey," Gabriel seems to be saying, as if discovering it for the first time, "I'm sexy! I'm the SledgeHammer!"

Gabriel's music has always been about the marriage of lyric, music, and image to present the most complete message. The music absolutely must fit the lyric and the image (including the album cover, video, and live performance) most bring the whole thing together into a full performance piece that must be enjoyed/experienced as a whole. This song is no exception: the absolutely funky music in the background (Thank you, sweet Jesus, for Nile Rodgers!) seems to bring Gabriel's emerging sexiness to the fore even more.

The song even seems to have the rhythm of sex embedded in it--try having sex with SledgeHammer playing, and you'll see what I mean. If you're not having hot animal sex within a few seconds, you're a better person than I am. ;)

Personally? I'm just waiting for the day I finally look into the mirror and say, "Y'know? I'm not that bad-looking a chap." :)

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haruki
10-05-2006

 Rated  +1 
I'd be willing to bet money there's quite a few "born in the autumn of '86" babies who were conceived to this song.

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rain city
02-09-2007

 Rated  0 
peter gabriel is the man. this is one of those songs i never really listened to but heard it everywhere. the video is cool and the animation takes me back to the days of peewee herman!
to haruki: i was born in autumn of '86! no wonder i have a strange attachment to this song...haha

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rjwood
04-15-2007

 Rated  0 
I see this piece as relating to the hero. Sledgehammer could be every mans/boys dream of performing before those eye's that alway's seem to be watching when we are hard at work or play.

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danseekell
06-01-2007

 Rated  -1 
O K. Call me naive, but I thought this song was about dropping a bad habit (drugs, smoking, etc..) and the celebration of the power that comes from taking control of your life. When I didn't pay that much attention to the lyrical content, it helped me quit smoking. So, by and large (no pun intended) the song is about power, attitude, and control.

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Cotygeek
07-02-2007

 Rated  0 
It takes real courage to sing this song. lol

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Cotygeek
07-04-2007

 Rated  0 
I made up my own dance to go with this song, too. It is affectionately called by my friends "Coty's f-ed up Sledgehammer dance" lol.

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Boygo
08-28-2007

 Rated  0 
I would add to the sexual metaphor business and say that it could be a metaphor for procreation. "You could have a steam train if you just lay down your tracks.... This is the new stuff I go dancing in..." The video would seem to support this also. I thought of this song when my wife and I decided to try to have our first child -- it sure places the sexual act in a new light!

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hallnoatesluver
09-09-2007

 Rated  0 
Holy crap! I did this song 4 the 5th grade talent show! no wonder I did'nt get in! I feel stupid...

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hallnoatesluver
09-09-2007

 Rated  0 
o wait, I did this 4 the 4th grade talent show! I'm stupid! why did'nt I listen to the freakin' lyrics?!

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xdonutx
12-16-2007

 Rated  0 
Wow, It never occurred to me that this song would be about sex, but now that I think about it, it really does make sense.

Before I read everyone's comments about the blatant sexual innuendo that I somehow missed, I thought that this song meant that he would become the driving force to totally change some girl's life. Like a sledgehammer, he would break up and shake up her personality and view on life.

I thought my meaning was awfully profound but hey, if it's just about sex, then I guess that's cool too.

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shanef
02-10-2008

 Rated  0 
I never knew what this song what about!!! LOL!!

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Smuckboy
02-25-2008

 Rated  0 
This song is clearly about heroin addiction.

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


A big dipper as a reference to a spoon and bumper cars bumping.
The sledgehammer is the needle.
Heroin is taking on a personality here.

I've kicked the habit
Shed my skin
This is the new stuff
I go dancing in, we go dancing in

More drug references.

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quarter_past_three
04-08-2008

 Rated  0 
I always just thought it was about him wanting someone back, or wanting them in the first place. He's promising her anything, if she's just 'call my name' and he'd change for her.
The sexual innuendo meaning is a good one though, I suppose it's whatever it means to you...

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babyghostrogue
09-23-2010

 Rated  0 
What?! 20 comments?! Something's wrong here...

This is really the perfect pop song. Upbeat, happy, and a little naughty. Though I never really looked at the sexual innuendos before everyone else brought it up, lol. I really love the first part:

"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"

Just sounds like a really sweet way of saying he'll be there for her whenever she needs him. See guys? THAT'S how you reel chicks in! ;D

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General Comment
GermanOrganistBrock
03-22-2011

 Rated  0 
I love the video to this song, it's so damn trippy. Yes, it's about sex, maybe a drug reference or two thrown in there, especially in the video. Also, the first two lines he sings before the first verse are slurred but kinda sound like "cocaine, everybody do it." A whole lot of songs are really about both sex and drugs, two of a musicians favourite things

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General Comment
needle_too
05-10-2011

 Rated  0 
Cant believe what people are writing about this song. Sex? Total nonsense.

Listen to the lyrics.

'I've shed my skin' - so what is he now?

'This is the new stuff' - the new what?

'I go dancing in' - who goes dancing in?

What does he say after 'Why don't you call my name?' - What name does he call out?

I mean ffs its fkn obvious what he's singing about -
'Why don't you call my name'

'Put your mind at rest'

'This will be my testimony'

'Let there be no doubt about it'

Its a song about Gabriel reaching a more...... reflective stage in his life.

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3 Replies  ·  General Comment
etcnvb
07-12-2011

 Rated  +3 
This song, of any of his numerous hits, probably best defines Peter's talent for both music and script. I can understand how the general naivete of the pop audience doesn't understand the metaphorical references inherent in this song, but even a cursory study of Peter's work suggests a transcendental moment in his career with this song/album, the "new stuff" as he defines it...that has nothing to do with sex (at least within the framework of this song). Don't take this song out of it's context...look at this, the album and his previous work leading up to this for a bit more definition. For example, his previous release to So was Birdy, an eccentric and not altogether blithely score to a strangley dark and complex film study of mental illness...musically complex and poignant, but several layers deeper in the pysche than his works that followed.

A little research, and industry knowledge, of So's producer (Daniel Lanois) also lends some insight into the metamorphosis that he was experiencing at this time in his career, an evolution that he sublimely describes in this song. Peter references this freedom and "rythm" with his newfound clarity, but doesn't dismiss his previous experiences, rather he paints them as catalysts to his new sense of self. Steamtrains, aeroplanes, big dippers...all phantasmagorical and dreamy references, some intentional, some not to the "amusements" that are all part of the experience. To the musician "rythm" and "power" are synonmous with the athlete in "the zone" and Peter's excitement of his progression is plainly obvious in this song...to construe these as sexual connotations is obtuse. Daniel did much (musically) do help pull Peter in this new direction, a more positive direction. This departure from a darker period, as Peter's illustrates in Sledgehammer, has given him freedom of mind and body, and as with nearly everyone that evolves from this type of situation, clarity in their purpose which for Peter is his amazing musical talent.

Peter isn't exactly a fly by night...from Car, Melt and Birdy to So, Passion and Us to his most contemporary works, his studies in tribal dance to electronica, his entire career embodies the spectrum of depth and vision that only the most inclined can pursue. Peter was (is) among the brightest and most talented of musicians, but his turmoils with society always weighed heavily in his life and his work. A contemporary study of a very similar situation is Dave Matthews, and not at all ironic that he chose to cover this song in recent years, although Dave's demons are a bit more personal. While I am not his biggest fan, Peter has my utmost respect for the integrity and passion with which he approaches his work and pursuit of social reform. An visionary in his art, Peter is largely responsible for pushing the innovation of music and the industry.

The remark by needle too "It's a song about Gabriel reaching a more....reflective stage in his life" is as astute as it is sublime...judging by the avatar, I would assume a similar frame of reference. Defining this song as about sex is simply pedestrian; however, Peter would probably remark that that's why they call it the autonomy of art.


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3 Replies  ·  General Comment
MsManomen
08-04-2011

 Rated  0 
i always thought that this song was about sex since the first time i heard it, all the innuendo are known or recognised by me even though english is a foreign language to me. i also read in those days that it was about liberation and peter's new creative direction and new found spirituality, i think that even if this song is not about sex, it must surely and purposely have been made to sound like sex, its too obvious for it not to be

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General Comment




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