"Burn You Up, Burn You Down" is a song co-written and performed by English rock musician Peter Gabriel. The initial recording sessions were conducted at Gabriel's Real World Studios in 1991, although the song would remain unreleased for another decade. Gabriel originally intended for the song to appear on his 2002 Up, but he ultimately pulled it from the track list shortly before the album's release. It was instead included on Gabriel's Hit compilation album the following year and released as a single, where it charted in both Italy and the UK. An alternate mix of "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" was also included on Big Blue Ball in 2008.
Background
The origins of "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" date back to the summer of 1991 during the first of three Real World Recording Weeks.[1] The recording sessions took place in the workroom of Real World Studios, with Billy Cobham playing drums.[2] Gabriel commissioned the help of multiple musicians around the world for this project, including western, Asian, and African artists. However, the tapes from these sessions took several years to organize, which delayed the song's release.[3] Members of The Holmes Brothers were enlisted to record backing vocals; Gabriel commented that one of the members of the group, Popsy Dixon, had "a hauntingly beautiful voice, and he'd come up with these high notes that hit me hard every time he reached them."[2] Snippets of the song appeared on Xplora1: Peter Gabriel's Secret World, a musical computer game released in December 1993.[4]
"Burn You Up, Burn You Down" was in contention to appear on Gabriel's Up album in September 2002. Earlier in July, the song was included on a promotional CD for Up, where it appeared as the sixth track[5] That same month, Gabriel spoke about the song in an interview with Nigel Williamson and called it "the odd man out on the album".[6] Gabriel ultimately removed the song from the track list during the album's final review sessions.[7] On his decision to pull the song from Up, Gabriel explained that it did not fit in with the rest of the album, but said that he wished to save it for a future release. The omission of "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" disappointed Gabriel's European label, who believed that the song was "radio friendly".[8]
In November 2003, "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" was featured on the soundtrack for Uru: Ages Beyond Myst.[9] On his decision to include the song in the soundtrack, Gabriel said that the game "succeeded well in creating a feeling of other worlds in which mystery and imagination were the compelling elements", which he thought also reflected his approach in creating "worlds of sound".[10][11]
That same month, it was the only new song to appear on Gabriel's Hit and also served as the album's lead single.[12] The single version was edited by Ben Findlay and mixed by Stephen Hague and Richard Evans.[2] Gregory Halvorsen Schreck took the photo for the single art, which features a person with a bag over their head. Marc Bessant, who designed the single sleeve, said that the photograph was "fun but sinister". He noted Gabriel's proclivity for distorting his face on his studio albums and commented that Schreck's photograph forwent a "recognisable face altogether."[2]
Gabriel performed "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" on his Still Growing Up Tour in 2004 and included a live recording of the song on his Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped DVD film the following year.[13][14] An alternate mix of "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" was later included on Big Blue Ball, an album consisting of songs that emerged from the Real World Recording Weeks during the 1990s.[15]
