Blood of Eden

1993 single by Peter Gabriel

"Blood of Eden"

Single by Peter Gabriel

from the album Us

B-side

"Mercy Street"

Released

March 1993

Length

6:35 (album version)
4:57 (radio edit)

Label

Geffen
Real World
Virgin

Songwriter(s)

Peter Gabriel

Producer(s)

Daniel Lanois
Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel singles chronology

"Steam"
(1992)

"Blood of Eden"
(1993)

"Kiss That Frog"
(1993)

Music video

"Peter Gabriel - Blood Of Eden" on YouTube

"Blood of Eden" is the third single from English rock musician Peter Gabriel's sixth album, Us (1992), featuring backing vocals by Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor. It was written by Gabriel and produced by him with Daniel Lanois. The single was released in March 1993 by Geffen, Real World and Virgin, and narrowly failed to enter the UK top 40, peaking at number 43.

The single has two B-side tracks: A remix of "Mercy Street" (originally from Gabriel's previous studio album So, released in 1986) by William Orbit and an earlier version of the a-side. This version had originally appeared in the Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World (1991) but was not included on the official soundtrack.

The female vocal part of the song was performed on the 1993–1994 Secret World Tour first by British musician Joy Askew, then by Sinéad O'Connor for a few months, and finally by American singer-songwriter Paula Cole.^[1]^[2] Cole's duet with Gabriel was released on both the Secret World Live album, as well as on the Secret World Live concert film.

The artwork for "Blood of Eden" was designed by Israeli artist Zadok Ben-David, who chose to depict a series of individuals inside of a "cosmic egg", which he described as a "mythological symbol of nothingness and wholeness, the very beginning of the universal creation." His original idea was to depict "a man and woman inside a man" to align with the theme of the song, but he thought that this interpretation was too literal and ultimately decided against it.^[3] Ben-David also created the sculptures in the song's music video, which was directed by Nichola Bruce and Mike Coulson.^[4]

In 2011, Gabriel re-released the song with orchestral background as a bonus track on the album New Blood.

Track listing

All songs were written by Peter Gabriel.

CD single

"Blood of Eden" (album version) – 6:33
"Mercy Street" (William Orbit mix) – 8:00
"Blood of Eden" (Special mix for Wim Wenders' Until the End of the World) – 6:15

Personnel

Peter Gabriel – lead vocals, keyboards, keyboard bass
Tony Levin – bass guitars
David Rhodes – 12-string guitars
David Bottrill – programming

Additional musicians

Daniel Lanois – hi-hat, backing vocals
Richard Blair – additional programming
Levon Minassian – duoduok
Sinéad O'Connor – backing vocals
Shankar – violin
Gus Isidore – bridge guitars
Richard Chappell – bridge section mix

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)^[5]	73
Europe (European Hit Radio)^[6]	30
UK Singles (OCC)^[7]	43

References

^ Keough, Kevin (15 July 1993). "Peter Gabriel's performance art rock". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
^ Zindler, Bernd (Autumn 1999). "Peter Gabriel Secret World Tour". Genesis News. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
^ "Art From US". PeterGabriel.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
^ "Making the video for Peter Gabriel's 'Blood of Eden'". Real World Records. 1 June 1993. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
^ "RPM Top Singles - Volume 57, No. 24". Library and Archives Canada. 26 June 1993. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
^ "EHR Top 40" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 16. 17 April 1993. p. 30. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 September 2023.