Peter Gabriel's "Family Snapshot"

Tuckerfan · August 8, 2004, 5:58am

Has Gabriel ever said if this song was inspired by any actual events? As an American, it makes me think of the JFK assassination, but, of course, Gabriel’s not an American, so it’s entirely possible that it could be about someone else.

Baraqiyal · August 8, 2004, 6:08am

I remember reading on songmeanings.net that it was about the assignation of Governor George Wallace. The site is down so I can’t verify.

Tuckerfan · August 8, 2004, 6:12am

Can’t be. The song says, “And the governor’s car’s not far behind. He’s not the one I’ve got in mind.”

Enola_Straight · August 8, 2004, 6:33am

Point:

Was he singing about an American Governor of a State, or a British Guv’nah?

Johanna · August 8, 2004, 7:21am

Gabriel’s song was meant to get inside the mind of an assassin and explore his motivations.

I wanted to be somebody
You were like that too

I think the song is not about any specific real assassination, but depicts a fictional one to explore the subject of assassins in general. The line about “the governnor’s car” does make us think of the JFK assassination, except for the fact that Governor Connally rode in the same car as Kennedy. Gabriel seems to have imagined a similar motorcade, but with the governor and the unspecified leader in separate cars.

Bren_Cameron_1 · August 8, 2004, 1:15pm

From Spencer Bright’s authorized bio:

The song is based on An Assassin’s Diary, the notes and scribbles of Arthur Bremmer, who shot and crippled Governor George Wallace of Albama in 1972. when Gabriel introduced the song live he related how the discarded diary was found under a bridge in Washington DC by a passer-by before finally reaching the hands of a publisher. ‘It was a really nasty book, but you do get a sense of the person who is writing it,’ said Gabriel. ‘Bremmer was obsessed with the idea of fame. He was aware of the news broadcasts all over the world and was trying to time the assassination to hit the early evening news in the States and late night in Europe to get maximum coverage.’ Bremmer originally went after Nixon, which explains the references to the presidential cavalcade in the song. Gabriel dropped his stage references to Kennedy’s assassination having been convinced a solitary assassin was not responsible for that murder.