"Playing for Time" is a song by English musician Peter Gabriel, released in March 2023 as the third single in promotion of his tenth studio album I/O. This is his first album of original material since 2002's Up. Two versions of the song have been released: the "Bright Side Mix" (mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent) and the "Dark Side Mix" (mixed by Tchad Blake). The cover art for this track features Annette Messager's Mes voeux (avec nos cheveux).[3] Recorded at Gabriel's Real World Studios in Wiltshire and the Beehive and British Grove Studios in London, "Playing For Time" features regulars Tony Levin on bass and Manu Katché on drums. The single was released on March 7 and the full moon, called the Worm Moon.[4]
In its unfinished form, "Playing for Time" was performed on Back to Front Tour from 2012 to 2014, opening almost all shows. Gabriel first performed the song on 7 September 2012 in Quebec during rehearsals for the Back to Front Tour.[5] At that time, these performances lacked proper lyrics and only included piano and upright bass instrumentation. The song was initially known as "O But", but it later morphed into "Daddy Long Legs".[6][7]
Gabriel wanted the unfinished song to demonstrate his process of working through material in a rehearsal room, which he would then juxtapose with the more polished material included later in the setlist.[8] During introductions of the song, Gabriel would elaborate on this rationale by telling the audience that "the journey and the search can be as interesting as the destination or the arrival."[5] In 2014, a recording of the song from one of Gabriel's October 2013 performances at The O2 Arena was included on Gabriel's Back to Front: Live in London album.[8]
Gabriel later performed "Playing for Time" during his 2023 I/O The Tour, where it was included in the first set after "Digging in the Dirt".[5] On 19 June 2023, Cawley appeared as a guest musician on "Playing for Time" for Gabriel's performance at The O2 Arena.[9]
Composition
The impetus for "Playing for Time" came in 2007 when Gabriel decided to experiment with chromatic scales on the piano. Gabriel said that this composition technique was something that he seldom experimented with and was thus curious if he could write a song with this method. Once the opening chords were settled on, he then decided to augment the composition with a melody that had a "retro" feel. The 2007 demo possessed a slower tempo than the final recording that appeared on i/o. The song later went through various iterations, including a version recorded in September 2021 with a rhythm loop, Manu Katché on drums, Tom Cawley on piano, David Rhodes on guitar, Levin on bass, and Gabriel contributing vocals and synth chimes. However, Gabriel felt that the third version of the song he worked on, which featured a largely acoustic arrangement, aligned more closely with his initial intentions.[5] When asked about the song's meaning, Gabriel stated that:
"It is more of a personal song about how you assemble memories and whether we are prisoners of time or whether that is something that can actually free us. I do think it's good to push yourself towards more bold or interesting experiences because then you will have richer memories to feed you when you get to my age. You also get taught by every meaningful experience that you go through."[10]
Cawley, who played piano on Gabriel's New Blood Tour, appears on the final recording along with many musicians from the New Blood Orchestra. The orchestral arrangements were done by Edward Shearmur, who previously handled the orchestration for Gabriel's cover of "That'll Do" from the Babe: Pig in the City soundtrack.[1] Gabriel has also stated that an influence on the track was the non-profit organization Long Now Foundation.[10]
Critical reception
In his review of I/O, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said that "Playing for Time" was a "highlight" on the album. He said that the ballad "slowly moves to a dramatic climax" and compared the song's lyrical content of climbing hills to Gabriel's debut single with the added subtext of being "lost in memories and the thought of time’s passing."[11] Writing for Pitchfork, Sam Sodomsky thought that the song's arrangement was "beautiful and precise and a little heavy-handed after the drums come in, but it's easy to forgive once you lock into the earnest beauty of the words."[12] James McNair of Mojo characterised "Playing for Time" as "an extremely eloquent, piano-led meditation on life's autumn creeping to winter."[13]
Personnel
Peter Gabriel – lead and backing vocals, synthesizers
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