I Don't Remember (Peter Gabriel song)

"I Don't Remember" is a song written and recorded by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released as the fourth and final single from his third eponymous studio album in 1980. Although originally only released as an A-side single in the United States and Canada, a live version released with the album Plays Live (1983) reached No. 62 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 75 in Britain for 4 weeks. The song was included in Gabriel's compilation album Shaking the Tree (1990) and two different versions were included in Flotsam and Jetsam (2019).

Background and recording
Early iterations of the song were performed by Gabriel on the tour to promote his second eponymous studio album (a.k.a. "Scratch"). Gabriel built the demo of "I Don't Remember" around a programmable PAiA rhythm box. The basic tracks for first studio recording of "I Don't Remember" were laid down by Gabriel and his backing band at Trident Studios, London during a day off on the "Scratch" tour in Autumn 1978, co-produced by Stephen W. Tayler. A week later, work on the song continued at Atlantic Studios in New York on tour, where overdubs were done including Robert Fripp's guitar, followed by vocals and mixing at Paragon Studios in Chicago. This marked the beginning of work on his third studio album, for which the song would be re-recorded.

The early studio version of the song was originally planned to be released as the A-side of the first single from the album in Europe and Japan, however a Charisma Records executive thought the guitar solos were not radio-friendly. This version was later relegated to the B-side of the single "Games Without Frontiers" from Peter Gabriel (3: Melt) in those territories.

On the 1980 album version, "I Don't Remember" segues out of an instrumental composition titled "Start", which begins with three snare drum hits that lead into a rock groove with rhythmic emphasis on the backbeat. The intro consists of nonsensical wordless voices, a vocal approach that Gabriel later dubbed "Gabrielese". These voices drop out before the first verse, where Gabriel alternates between his midrange and higher register. According to author Durrell Bowman, the lyrics relate to a "resigned amnesiac individual".

The song made pioneering use of the Fairlight CMI, using samples of glass milk bottles being smashed and bricks being banged. These sounds appear during the fade-out of the recording. Most of the Fairlight parts were overdubbed after the basic tracks were recorded.

In 1983, a slightly sped-up live recording from Plays Live was released as a single. In addition to the increased tempo, the single version also featured quieter crowd noises and an extended outdo compared to the recording found on Plays Live. Its accompanying music video was directed by Marcello Anciano and produced by Eric Fellner. The music video features footage of Gabriel navigating through a room with naked individuals. During one of the scenes, Gabriel dusts off a childhood photo from the 1950s, which is later smashed at the end of the music video.

12" US/Canada single (1980)

 * 1) "I Don't Remember" – 5:56
 * 2) "Shosholoza" – 5:19
 * 3) "Biko (remixed version)" – 8:58
 * 4) "Here Comes the Flood" – 4:57

7" US single (1980)

 * 1) "I Don't Remember" – 3:23
 * 2) "Shosholoza" – 5:22

7" Canada single (1980)

 * 1) "I Don't Remember" – 3:39
 * 2) "Intruder" – 5:00

7" UK single (1983)

 * 1) "I Don't Remember" – 4:58
 * 2) "Solsbury Hill" – 4:43
 * 3) "Kiss of Life" – 5:12

12" UK single (1983)

 * 1) "I Don't Remember" – 4:58
 * 2) "Solsbury Hill" – 4:43
 * 3) "Kiss of Life" – 5:12
 * 4) "Games Without Frontiers" – 3:27
 * 5) "Family Snapshot" – 4:57

Personnel

 * Peter Gabriel — vocals, piano, synthesizer
 * Larry Fast — processing
 * David Rhodes – guitar, backing vocals
 * Robert Fripp – electric guitar
 * Dave Gregory — electric guitar
 * Tony Levin – Chapman Stick
 * Jerry Marotta — drums

Cover versions

 * English singer Kate Bush sang the song with Peter Gabriel on May 12, 1979, at a memorial concert at the Hammersmith Odeon for Bill Duffield, a lighting director who died during Bush's 'Tour of Life' tour.
 * Australian singer Daryl Braithwaite recorded a cover version of the song for his 1988 studio album, Edge. His cover samples the drumbeat of "Big Time", another song by Gabriel.
 * Scottish-American singer and musician David Byrne recorded a cover for Gabriel's 2013 compilation album And I'll Scratch Yours, mixed by Peter Dillett and released on iTunes on 26 June 2010. Byrne opted to give the arrangement a "clubby treatment" upon listening to the original version's tempo and groove, further adding that he "thought the falsetto vocal and club groove would make the alienation and amnesia subject pleasant — almost desirable. I thought my version might imply a willing sublime surrender to memory loss."