Lyrics to
Animal Magic

This version of Animal Magic was released by Peter Gabriel in 1978.

Our Decade Lyrics Peter Gabriel profile has all of the Animal Magic lyrics from 1978 and many more songs from the Peter Gabriel discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Peter Gabriel or about the 1970s in general.

What did you mean when you opened your mouth and let all our secrets out?
You told him what I was about, my cover was completely blown.
I tell you darling, I’ve been watching the war films
And I’ve got a few ideas of my own,
‘cos after the film had ended, the call for recruits was shown,

And I’ll be joining the professionals, I want to be a man.
With all that animal magic I’ll do anything you can.
I’m joining the professionals ‘cos I want to be a man,
Look! I wave my wand, watch the rabbit disappear…
Join the professionals and learn to fight!

I bet the two of you still laugh at me for being timid as a lamb;
That may be the way I look, but it’s no longer what I am.
I’ve been across to Northern Ireland,
And I came home with a new kind of charge:
I learned how to hunt in the night, I learned about camouflage.

I’ve been joining the professionals, and now that I’m a man
With all that animal magic I’ll match anything you can.
I’m joining the professionals, this time I understand,
Look! I wave my wand, watch the rabbit disappear…
Join the professionals and learn to fight!

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Peter Gabriel has released many songs over the years besides Animal Magic. Peter Gabriel released songs from 1977 to 2002 spanning across albums like Car, Scratch, Melt, Security, So, Us, and Up. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Peter Gabriel.

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About Lyrics and Animal Magic by Peter Gabriel

The lyrics for Animal Magic are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1978 song by Peter Gabriel. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Animal Magic have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Animal Magic - Peter Gabriel and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Animal Magic by Peter Gabriel in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Animal Magic" means the words set to the music of Animal Magic, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Peter Gabriel. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Animal Magic and the lyrics to Animal Magic are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Peter Gabriel who came here looking just for the lyrics to Animal Magic, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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