Games Without Frontiers Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again Suki plays with Leo, Sacha plays with Britt Adolf builts a bonfire, Enrico plays with it Whistling tunes we hid in the dunes by the seaside Whistling tunes we're kissing baboons in the jungle It's a knockout If looks could kill, they probably will In games without frontiers-war without tears Games without frontiers-war without tears Jeux san frontiers Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names Whistling tunes we hide in the dunes by the seaside Whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle It's a knockout If looks could kill they probably will In games without frontiers-wars without tears If looks could kill they probably will In games without frontiers-war without tears Games without frontiers-war without tears Jeux sans frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Its Peter Gabriel to the rescue again. Along with Red Rain this is a great poem for expressing how the context and content exchange identities. Gabriel's music has been compared to a sonic experience, and this poem is one of his earlier popular sonic experiences. What he is describing is children playing on a playground, but by merely incorporating contextual vagueness, a lot of bass, and making it sound all important he conveys how we can misinterpret even the most innocent things and fool ourselves into believing we know things we don't. Of course, all his fans assumed the song referred to some sort of childhood incident. Note that this song is another example along the same lines of the Hook, but conflates even the identity of what is a memory.
