Lyrics to
Modern Love

This version of Modern Love was released by Peter Gabriel in 1977.

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

Hey, I’m feeling so dirty, you’re looking so clean
All you can give is a spin in your washing machine
I fly off to Rome to my prima bella
She leaves me in the rain with telescopic umbrella
Ooh the pain – Modern love can be a strain

I trusted my Venus was untouched in her shell
But the pearls in her oyster were tacky as hell
For Lady Godiva I came incognito
But her driver had stolen her red hot magneto
Ooh the pain – Modern love can be a strain

I don’t know why they leave me in the lurch
To carry on the search
It’s driving me up the wall
Pity when I have so much passion
Romance is out of fashion
Can’t handle modern love at all

So I worship Diana by the light of the moon
When I pull out my pipe she screams out of tune
In Paris my heart sinks when I see the Mona Lisa
She gives me the wink, then she shows me the freezer
Ooh the pain – Modern love can be a strain

---

Peter Gabriel has released many songs over the years besides Modern Love. 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.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

When you decide to study the lyrics to Modern Love, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1977 song by Peter Gabriel. Some of the lyrics to Modern Love have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Peter Gabriel and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Modern Love if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Modern Love" means the words set to the music of Modern Love, 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 Modern Love and the lyrics to Modern Love 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 Modern Love, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Peter Gabriel

Visit our Peter Gabriel profile for more Peter Gabriel songs, lyrics & info!

)