Peter Gabriel, after he left from the Genesis, he turned into policy- in a good manner- and cultural activities.
His decision actually to deal with politics and culture is not far from music, as music, culture, and politics are not so far from each other.
As a proof of that is his own songs, including “Games Without Frontiers”, his first hit.
The creation of this song, which is included his third and homonymous album (1980), is a history lesson with a sarcastic title.
The title is inspired by the well-known “Games without borders” or as is the original name is in the French “Jeux Sans Frontières“.
In fact, it refers to war games, since the game with the colorful costumes that the players wear, has strong national elements, perhaps nationalistically.
By this song, he meant to beat the nationalism, which caused the biggest wars of history of Europe.
The verse “Games without frontiers, war without tears” is quite comprehensive.
References to historical events all over his songs
Lin Tai Yu, is a character from a classic Chinese novel, the “Dream of the Red Chamber,” but may also refer to Nguyen Thieu, President of South Vietnam during the conflict with the North.
Chiang Ching is the wife of the old Chinese president, Mao Tse-tung; the “inventor” of the cultural revolution, which has cost the lives of more than 30 million people.
He may also refer to Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of the enemy of Mao Tse-tung, Chiang Kai-shek.
By the name Andre, Peter Gabriel might refer to Andre Malraux (1901-1976), a French politician and author of the book “Man’s Fate,” which is about the Chinese revolution.
The lyric “Suki plays with Leo, Sacha plays with Britt, Adolf builds a bonfire, Enrico plays with it.” refers to the famous Adolf Hitler and the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.
But also to Enrico Fermi, a nuclear physicist and co-creator of the devastating atomic bomb.
The name Sacha is more like a Russian nickname for Alexander and as for the name Brit is a cut for Britain; These two nicknames are implied to the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom reached the beginning of the war many times.
