Peter Godwin is one of the premier examples of the most popular and enduring form of 1980s synth pop. "Images of Heaven" is the prime cut, and a U.S. hit, but the same year (1982) also yielded "Torch Songs for the Heroine," "Emotional Disguise," and "Baby's in the Mountains"--all eminently hitworthy. Also great and included: "Gemini" and "Criminal World" from Godwin's first band, Metro. There are unreleased songs here as well. For more Godwin, track down the three Metro albums.

Check out Peter's latest project Nuevo "Sunset Rise" at nuevomusic.com!

Tracks:

• Rendezvous (French Duet)
• Naked Smile
• Another World
• Images of Heaven (Extended Version)
• Baby's in the Mountains (English Album Version)
• The Art of Love (English Album Version)
• Young Pleasure (Album Version)
• The Dancer (Album Version)
• Torch Songs For The Heroine (7" Single Version)
• Emotional Disguise (12" EP Version)
• Cruel Heart (Album Version)Gemini
• Criminal World
• Images of Heaven (Razormaid Version)
• Baby's In The Mountains (Club Version) - John Luongo Mix
• Rendezvous (French Remix)

 

RENDEZVOUS

1995-1997

(Rick Driscoll/Peter Godwin)

I'm a big fan of Serge Gainsborough. This is a kind of “Je t’aime moi non plus” for the swinging 90’s. Sasha had never sung before Rick and I recorded her on this. She got that breathy Jane Birkin thing straight away. Sasha’s an actress, but she’s not acting here: she means it, can’t you tell? It helps if you understand French, but it’s kind of sexy even if you don’t. I wrote this a couple of years ago with the very cool and multi-talented Rick Driscoll - then re-wrote the lyric as a French-English duet for this very album!

la nuit s’ache`ve-je pense a nous
je t’attendrai au rendez-vous
embrace yourself upon our bed
the moon will kiss your sleepy head
your sleepy head oh

rêverie d’un amour sans cesse
j’ai envie de tes promesses
can’t imagine a love that’s better
can’t imagine us feeling closer

turn it on-I’ll get to you
les nuits sont longues-sans toi baby
feel so strong when I’m with you
l’envie me manque-sans toi baby

rêverie d’un amour sans cesse
can’t imagine us feeling closer

ô je viendrai chasser ta peine
you’ll never feel alone again
alone again oh

drive me on-I’ll get to you
les nuits sont longues-sans toi baby
feel so strong-when I’m with you
l’envie me manque-sans toi baby

rêverie d’un amour sans cesse
j’ai envie de ta tristesse
can’t imagine us feeling closer
can’t imagine a love that’s better
rêverie d’un amour sans cesse
j’ai envie de ta tristesse
can’t imagine a love that’s better
can’t imagine us feeling closer
... j’ai envie de tes promesses
... j’ai envie de ta tristesse ...

ANOTHER WORLD
1/9/97
(Peter Godwin)

This was written this year, 1997. It’s obviously a love song, but it goes a little deeper than “blue” and “true.” This one’s for Mette and we were connected before we were even born, if you believe in such things, which I do. She takes me to another world and I'll stay there till the stars freeze over.

Thanks again to my dear friend Rick for caring, inspiration and perspiration; and to sweet Sasha for her angel voice.

take me - just take me to another world
I can’t hold back - it hurts too much
you make me smile - I want your touch
you want my touch
we’re indivisible - we were connected before we were even born
we’re invisible - we’re hidden inside the vows we have sworn
take me - (oh take me) just take me to another world
to another world
take me - (oh take me) - oh take me to another world
to another world

I’ll breathe your air if you breathe mine
each time we kiss - our arms entwined
our legs entwined
we’re invincible - we’re conquering all the fear we have known
irresistible - like the roar of Niagra, drowning you moan
oh take me - just take me to another world
to another world
take me - oh take me to another world
to another world

fiery skies - (oh take me, oh take me) - in your eyes
(the future) I’m waiting here - the future’s clear

take me - just take me to another world
to another world
take me - oh take me to another world
to another world

NAKED SMILE
1996-1997
(Peter Godwin)

This song is about the French painter and sculptor Degas, who worked in a darkened garret by cand-lelight. But it’s also about any artist who falls in love with a beauty that eludes him. Its about me too in a way...
“Naked Smile” is a kind of chamber music as dark as the emotions it describes.

I can’t resist your coral kisses
that leave impressions on every page
I live alone among this bric-`a-brac
your heart attacks me in my old age
so I dare to draw your naked smile
that leaves me crying
every night by candlelight I’m trying

the sun’s too bright, it kills your mystery
I know your history, but not enough
so leave the window, come to the shadows
my merry widow, you’re not so tough
and I try to paint your naked smile
but I can see you crying
every night by candlelight it’s dying

what is our future? is all love torture
or is there rapture in every touch?
I’ll paint a creature or just your features
I cannot reach you, want you too much
so I’ll only draw your naked smile
that leaves me crying
every night by candlelight I’m dying...

 

BABY’S IN THE MOUNTAINS
1/22/80-1983
(Peter Godwin)

I wrote this song about a wonderful French girl called Christine, in January of 1980. It was the end of a long love affair: Christine and I explored most of the possibilities, but we've still managed to stay the best of friends. She had actually gone to the French Alps: you can see a long way when you're that high up...

Sean Lyons plays some extremely funky guitar on this track and Carol Kenyon sings her heart out on the choruses.

Whenever I hear this, I’m dancing on the Brooklyn Bridge with Viewma Negromonte in the video we made; she was a prima ballerina and a Cotton Club girl in Coppola's film. Stephen Hopkins was a first time director on the video... last year he directed Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer in “The Ghost and the Darkness.” That’s show-business!

the streets are dirty - not made of gold
city lights city nights - it’s hot and cold
how we loved it - young and young at heart
words and colours - we all played a part
she had it every way
- she really got around
she’s feeling frightened now
- she thinks she’ll settle down
baby’s in the mountains
- the air is cleaner there
baby’s in the mountains
- she’s gonna think it out
baby’s in the mountains
- of course she’s higher there
baby’s in the mountains
- she’s gonna work it out
and think about the future

distorted time - bends the future
shadows and lines - everything’s brighter
how we loved it - love at first lay
an old obsession - to go our separate ways
we had it every way - it really got me down
she’s feeling guilty now
- but what else has she found

baby’s in the mountains
- the air is cleaner there
baby’s in the mountains
- she’s gonna think it out
baby’s in the mountains
- of course she’s higher there
baby’s in the mountains
- try to forget it all and think about
another romance

she had it every way
- she really got around
she’s getting frightened now
- she thinks she’ll settle down

baby’s in the mountains
- the air is cleaner there
baby’s in the mountains
- she’s gonna think it out
baby’s in the mountains
- of course she’s higher there
baby’s in the mountains
- she’s gonna work it out
and think about the future

baby’s in the mountains
- the air is cleaner there
baby’s in the mountains
- she’s gonna think it out
baby’s in the mountains
- of course she’s higher there
baby’s in the mountains - try to forget it all
and think about another romance
THE ART OF LOVE
11/15/80-1983
(Peter Godwin)

This was a prophesy: I had no idea when I wrote this, late one night in November of 1980, that four years later this song would happen to me. It did, in Athens, when I was doing a P.A. there. More I cannot tell: my lips are sealed. You see, when you open that door that lets a song in, you open Pandora’s Box.

two people twisted up
caught up in a web of intrigue
lost causes - young ideals
strange meetings held cheek to cheek
your heart is up and sinking
but your head’s in the sky
you see into the future
but your prophesy lies
that's the art of love - the art of love
the whores all kiss the boys
the angels watch them die from above

telephone days - café nights
wild-eyed and holding our breath
won’t eat or sleep for years
I really love you to death
words of invitation
hearts wide open and bleeding
secrets shared in secrecy
(she’s just like you)
you know how she’s needing

the art of love - the art of love
the tarts embrace the boys
and the gods watch their tears from above

the art of love - the art of love
the lady brings you down
but venus takes you back up

enchantment and sorcery
- still get the best of me
I’d take all ambition and throw it away
to keep this confusion for just one more day
we all die without the art of love
we all fade away without the heart of love
the boys embrace the boys and the girls swoon above
the girls embrace the girls and the boys fall in love

telephone days - café nights
two people twisted up
won’t eat or sleep for years
I love your loving cup
lost causes - young ideals
strange meetings cheek to cheek
the lady brings you down
her loving makes you weak
the whores all kiss the boys
wild-eyed we hold our breath
and venus lifts you up
I love your love to death
I said - I love your love to death

the art of love - the art of love
the art of love - the art of love

YOUNG PLEASURE
8/8/81-1983
(Peter Godwin)

I always loved the voice of Scott Engel, or Scott Walker as he was better known. “Make It Easy On Yourself”: what a voice. Here I am trying to sing like Scott about something wicked - or perhaps it's about being still young enough, however old you are, to open your heart and have a little lust for life.

here in the night
I dream of the simple pleasures we know
keeping a light
I wait for the moments when were alone
between your arms - there’s no-one but me
nothing can harm the future we see

you’ve got it all
you’ve got the sense to know what it’s for
you’ve got the key
you’ve got the charm that opens the door
deep in your eyes - love like a fire
here in your hands - holding desire

young pleasure delights me
young pleasure knows

I can recall
the night closing in a desperate man
hard on my heels
destiny came and lent me a hand and
swept off my feet - into your life
every goodbye - cuts like a knife
cuts like a knife

young pleasure invites me
young pleasure knows
young pleasure delights me
young pleasure grows

THE DANCER
11/1/80-1983
(Peter Godwin)

I love dancers. Any kind. Sylvie Guillem or La Goulue. Fred Astaire or Rudolf Nureyev. Ballet or Go-Go. The dance is a lifetime summed up in one arabesque: also, it's about making love. Something most of us rather enjoy.

across a darkened room you comfort me
there’s nothing we can do or say
I loved the way you moved inside of me
my life’s a tango and a sway
whatever we do - whatever we say
everything seems to entrance her
maybe it’s cause she’s fallen for the dancer

our bodies are controlled by saboteurs
we know the rhythm they enjoy
we twist around around and dream of words
and all we love is just a toy
reaching and stretching until we tear it all to shreds
we could be lovers and kiss across another bed

whatever we do - whatever we say
everything seems to entrance her
maybe it’s cause she’s fallen for the dancer

this dance has pinned me sprawling to the floor
with the romance and the pain
how come I am never tired of you
I’m even dancing in the rain
sometimes I’d throw it all away or spill it in the sheets
we could be lovers and make a pact that one of us will cheat

whatever you want - whatever you see
everything seems to entrance her
maybe it’s cause she’s fallen for the dancer

TORCH SONGS FOR THE HEROINE 1981
(Peter Godwin)

My first solo single. Produced by my old pal Midge Ure. This got banned in Holland, because they thought it had something to do with that stuff that makes millions for the drug barons: like those that work out of Amsterdam, for example! Of course, they were being silly-it’s actually about heroes and heroines, not heroes and syringes. It explores the risks of love and desire-that old chestnut. Quite old-fashioned really. John Leach, who was Director of Music at the National Theatre back then, plays cymbalon, zither and santouri on this track. We wanted that middle-European cinematic feeling. Oh yes, we lived dangerously in those days, ha-ha!

the love she feels exciting - is it a warning?
open arms open wide, then cast aside in the morning
I’ve got no defense - there is no reward
we’re better off hurting than just being bored
sometimes a stranger surprises you
sweeps you away with something more noble than gold

a life of night - times wrapped in sheets
- she is waiting
to be born once again, or be lost in a life hard and hating
you have what you want
- you care for no - one
your crime is the passion of love on the run
sometimes it’s strangely exciting
to be swept off your feet by the beat of your heart when you hear

torch songs for the heroine
torch songs for the heroine
your energy wasted in love, it’s more sacred than sin...

EMOTIONAL DISGUISE
1981
(Peter Godwin)

In which we take an electro-Latin ride, with a nod to French chanson, through the paranoia of rejecting before you get rejected, hiding the pain of watching love tear itself apart. It’s an ugly business and “when you die you beat the rap” may not be true: after all, there’s that karmic wheel. I spent a strange night with Jellybean Benitez (who used to spin all the versions of this as a D.J.), Madonna and Ralph Hütter from Kraftwerk at the Funhouse in New York, watching kids breakdancing to this in 1983. Weird.

too many love affairs
that didn’t turn out right
too many battlegrounds
and tears that end in fights
a mirror shattered by the pain
that’s in your heart
a close embrace that made us
both feel more apart
oh hide your emotions
you better disguise your emotions in love

I spent a long time
waiting for your apathy to change
I kept this heartache to myself,
making me feel strange
I’ve been around a lot
- I learned a lot
and when I get uptight
although I feel hot, I take a shot
and ride off in the night
oh hide your emotions
you better disguise you emotions in love

I’ve been up a while - down a while
up and down - it makes me smile
we burn it all - spurn it all
acting big but feeling small
make our mark upon the map
when you die you beat the rap
oh hide your emotions
you better disguise your emotions in love...

IMAGES OF HEAVEN
7/80-1982
(Peter Godwin)

Untouchable madonnas for medieval knights or “hello boys” supermodels for Jack the Lad. Whether it’s stained glass or Hasselblad, it’s all just a trick of the light: but we still love to believe. I wrote this in the summer of 1980. Warren Cann, the drummer from Ultravox, smashes some Simmons drums and a great guitar player called Colin Wight plays the first ever guitar synthesizer and it soars like a hawk.

nothing is sacred
- so give me your soul my love
nothing is wasted on someone like you
somebody killed me
- they tore out my heart my love
somebody filled me with photos of you
and there’s nothing I can do
- the media made you
there’s nothing I can do
- cause you don’t exist - you don’t exist
just images of heaven that take me to hell
images of heaven - or something for sale
oh images of heaven - images of heaven

something possessed me
- an image of you my love
video visions that play on my mind
nobody blessed me with
power to reach my love
one cheap illusion can still be divine
and nobody believes in this new religion
yes nobody believes
- cause nobody sees - nobody sees
these images of heaven
that take me to hell
images of heaven - or something for sale
oh images of heaven - images of heaven

and there’s nothing I can do
- the camera made you
there’s nothing I can do - cause you don’t exist - you don’t exist
just images of heaven that take me to hell
images of heaven - or something for sale
oh images of heaven - images of heaven

CRUEL HEART
1982
(Peter Godwin)

We all have cruel hearts: but we hate it when someone does it to us. Usually, we can’t quite find the right word to say at the time: so I wrote this to get it down, with casual eloquence of course, once and for all. Just having a moan really.

ten to six and I’ve been out on the town
killing my devotion with idle fascination
and I won’t sleep - I don’t wanna talk
about my lack of consolation - loss of inspiration baby
you’re gone and I’m the stupid one who has to keep on living on a maybe
maybe darlin’ we can find a new way
maybe maybe but we gotta stay free
what does it mean - to see your love
kissed away and cried away and come to no conclusion
a twist of the knife to shatter your illusions
with a cruel heart
what a cruel heart
mm I can’t help wondering what you’re going through
why don’t you feel the same way
you took my love in vain hey
you don’t call - just forget it all
love’s a cruel invention
disguising bad intentions baby
you’re gone
- you know I’m just a fool who’s gonna
keep on living day to day hey
one day some day we’ll get back together
who knows? you know I won’t wait forever
what did it mean? a world of love
kissed away and lied away and come to no conclusion
a stab in the back to shatter your illusions
with a cruel heart
oh baby you’re gone
but I’ll keep on
maybe darlin’ we can find a new way
maybe maybe but we gotta stay free
what does it mean to see your love
kissed away and cried away and come to no conclusion
that kiss on the mouth
was just one more illusion
of a cruel heart
what a cruel heart
yeh kissed away and cried away and come to no conclusion
a twist of the knife to shatter your illusions
with a cruel heart
what a cruel heart
yeh kissed away, lied away, no conclusion
a stab in the back - a stab in the back
oh what a cruel heart
what a cruel heart

GEMINI
12/13/79-1980
(Peter Godwin)

“Gemini” is a song about a real person. His name was Paul or Rose and he was French and a transvestite. He was also a psychologist by profession! He wasn’t a very pretty trannie and had an appalling dress sense, but he was a thoroughly nice guy. Of course, the song isn’t only his story-but you guessed that, didn’t you? We all have to find the man inside-or the woman-or the stranger, or whoever is there...

try another phone call
- we’ve got time to kill
baby didn’t answer - now she never will
programmed to be someone else
chose a body for herself
buy a bit of both worlds
- worlds inside your head
Gemini just dropped dead
(Gemini’s dead)...

baby is a joker - hides her darkest fears
living in a twilight - laughs away the tears
she had a kind of comedy
and a lot of sympathy
baby had a sister - living in her head
oh Gemini just dropped dead
(Gemini’s dead)...

take me to the movies
- someone else’s dreams
never ever wake me
- you know what I mean
well paradise is what you find
or just what you leave behind
baby left a feeling - better left unsaid
oh Gemini just dropped dead
(Gemini’s dead)...

CRIMINAL WORLD
1974-1977
(Browne/Godwin/Lyons)

This song was written back in 1974. It plays around with the sexual confusion of the time (hey, so nothing changes!), when all the young dudes were pretending to be killer queens, even if they were really virgins, celibates or rampant heterosexuals! The band I sang with, Metro, recorded this as our debut single in 1976 and oh sweet irony, the guy who started all this confusion among English adolescents, and was the main influence behind the lyrics, David Bowie, recorded it for his 1983 album, “Let’s Dance.” This was extremely nice for Duncan Browne, Sean Lyons and myself who wrote it, as it sold more than a few million copies. A long overdue thank you David! By the way, the Metro single was banned by English radio at the time, because of the “sexual” nature of the lyrics! I don’t think they understood the half of it!

Duncan Browne and I wrote over fifty songs together, before Metro made their first album. Duncan was a truly original guitarist and songwriter. He died four years ago from cancer, still a young man. Wherever you are Duncan, we miss you: we’ll get it right next time.

You never told me of your other faces
you were the widow of the wildcat
and now I know about your special kisses
and I know you know where that’s at
I’m not the queen
so there’s no need to bow
I think I see beneath your make-up
I’ll take your dress and we can truck on out
this is no ordinary
this is no ordinary
oh what a criminal world the boys are like baby-faced girls
what a criminal girl
she’ll show you where to shoot your gun
what a typical mother’s son
the only thing that she enjoys
is a criminal world
where the girls are like baby-faced boys

you’ve got a very heavy reputation
but no one knows about your low-life
I know the way to find a situation
and hold a candle to your high-life disguise
I saw you kneeling at my brother’s door
that was no ordinary stick-up
I’m well aware just what you’re looking for
I am no ordinary
I am no ordinary...
oh what a criminal world the boys are like baby-faced girls
what a criminal girl
she’ll show you where to shoot your gun
what a typical mother’s son
the only thing that she enjoys
is a criminal world
where the girls are like baby-faced boys

So you see I’m still alive and obstinately writing about sex and love and poetry and reincarnation and any silly thing I feel like, because, as James Cagney once said, “That’s the kind of hairpin I am!”

These notes are only anecdotes and clues. The real meaning is the one you hear, so play it a little louder next time.