Lyrics to
D.I.Y.

This version of D.i.y. was released by Peter Gabriel in 1978.

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D.I.Y., D.I.Y., D.I.Y., D.I.Y.
Don’t tell me what I will do, ‘cos I won’t.
Don’t tell me to believe in you, ‘cos I don’t.
Be on your guard, better hostile and hard, don’t risk affection;
Like flesh to the bone in the no-go zone,
You’re still looking for the Resurrection.
Come up to me with your “What did you say?”
And I’ll tell you, straight in the eye:

D.I.Y., D.I.Y.,

Everyone wants to be what he not, what he not.
Nobody happy with what he got, what he got.
You function like a dummy with a new ventriloquist,
Do you say nothing yourself?
Hanging like a thriller on the final twist,
Is it true you’re getting stuck on the shelf?
Come up to me with your “What did you say?”
And I’ll tell you, straight in the eye:

D.I.Y., D.I.Y.,

When things get so big, I don’t trust them at all,
You want some control, you’ve got to keep it small.

D.I.Y., D.I.Y.,

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About Lyrics and D.i.y. by Peter Gabriel

The lyrics for D.i.y. are defined as the words making up the song released by Peter Gabriel in 1978. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to D.i.y. have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Peter Gabriel and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to D.i.y. by Peter Gabriel if you think through it. 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 D.i.y." means the words set to the music of D.i.y., 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 D.i.y. and the lyrics to D.i.y. 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 D.i.y., but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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