Sledgehammer Lyrics
Hey, hey, you
Tell me how have you been?
[Verse 1]
You could have a steam train
If you just lay down your tracks
You could have an aeroplane flying
If you bring your blue sky back
All you do is call me
I'll be anything you need
[Verse 2]
You could have a big dipper
Going up and down, all around the bends
You could have a bumper car, bumping
This amusement never ends
[Chorus]
I wanna be your sledgehammer
Why don't you call my name?
Wow! Oh, let me be your sledgehammer
This will be my testimony
Yeah (Yeah)
[Verse 3]
Show me 'round your fruit cage
'Cause I will be your honey bee
Open up your fruit cage
Where the fruit is as sweet as can be
I wanna be your sledgehammer
Why don't you call my name?
You'd better call the sledgehammer
Put your mind at rest
I'm going to be the sledgehammer
This can be my testimony
Wow! I'm your sledgehammer
Let there be no doubt about it
[Post-Chorus]
Sledge, sledge
Sledgehammer
[Outro]
I get it right
I kicked the habit (Kicked the habit, kicked the habit)
Shed my skin (Shed my skin)
This is the new stuff (This is the new stuff)
I go dancing in (We can go dancing in)
Oh, won't you show for me? (Show for me)
I will show for you (Show for you)
Hey, show for me, huh (Show for me)
I will show for you
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, I do mean you
(Show for me)
Only you, you been coming through
(Show for you)
I'm gonna build that power
Build, build up that power, hah
(Show for me)
Hah, I've been feeding the rhythm, huh
I've been feeding the rhythm
(Show for you)
Gonna feel that power, hey, build in you
(Show for me)
Hah, come on, come on, help me do
Come on, come on, help me do
(Show for you)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you
(Show for me)
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
(Show for you)
It's what we're doing, doing
All day and night
(Show for me)
Come on, come on, help me do
Come on, come on, help me do
(Show for you)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you
(Show for me)
I've been feeding the rhythm…
About
The second track off of Peter Gabriel’s 1986 album So. It also provided Gabriel with his only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking in July 1986).
The song is centered around Gabriel trying to woo someone, and uses a LOT of sexual innuendo. The titular sledgehammer is a pretty obvious phallic symbol.
“Sledgehammer” was heavily influenced by 60s soul – specifically songs released by the Stax label – to the point that Peter Gabriel hired Wayne Jackson of Stax’s Memphis Horns to lead his horn section for this song.
The music video for this song was influential, and is MTV’s most played music video to date. The video is almost entirely stop-motion animation, created with the help of Aardman Animations, the company that would later make the Wallace and Gromit films.
The music video was also used in the Atari Jaguar CD game “Vid Grid”, a sliding puzzle game where you must put the music video together.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Gabriel shared on his website:
‘Sledgehammer’ was obviously a big track from that record and that was, in part, homage to the music that I grew up with. I loved soul music, blues music and that was a chance to work with some of the brass players that had worked with Otis Redding, who’s my all time favourite singer. It was a fun thing to do, but again that was built around a great groove and a good feel.
He also said this in defense of the song’s innuendo:
Sometimes sex can break through barriers when other forms of communication are not working too well.
Within the book Tab+ 25 Top Rock Bass Songs:
The tone on the soul-fusion track “Sledgehammer” is bubbling with fatness and transients all at once. Levin performed it on a fretless Music Man Sabre bass plugged directly into the board. He ran through an octave pedal along the way (most likely a Boss OC-2), which doubled the tone an octave lower. This signal was heavily compressed, both during the recording and again during the mixing process, resulting in the very audible transients.
The fretless Sabre is no longer made and is a bit rare on the used market, but a fretless StingRay or Sterling by Music Man Ray34 would get you really close. Otherwise, any fretless bass will get the job done. Try running through a Boss CS-3 compressor and Boss OC-2 or OC-3 octave pedal en route to a clean, solid-state amp, such as a HArtke or Gallien-Krueger, with a good bit of bass and some treble dialled up.
- 1.Red Rain
- 2.Sledgehammer
- 5.In Your Eyes
- 6.Mercy Street
- 7.Big Time