Don't Give Up (Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song)

"Don't Give Up"
Song
B-side	"In Your Eyes (Special Mix)", "This is the picture" (UK); "Curtains" (USA)

"Don't Give Up" is a song written by Peter Gabriel and recorded as a duet with Kate Bush for Gabriel's album So. The single version was released as the second from the album in the UK in 1986 and fifth in the United States in 1987. It spent eleven weeks in the UK Top 75 chart in 1986, peaking at number nine. The verses, sung by Gabriel, describe a man's feelings of isolation and despair; the choruses, sung by Bush, offer words of hope and encouragement.

Gabriel originally wrote the song from a reference point of American roots music and he approached country singer Dolly Parton to sing it with him. However, Parton turned it down, so his friend Kate Bush took her place.

Two videos were created for the song. The first, by Godley & Creme, consisted of a single take of the singers in an embrace, as the sun enters total eclipse and re-emerges; the second, by Jim Blashfield, featured Gabriel and Bush's faces superimposed over film of a town and its people in disrepair.

Track listing

Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush version

All songs written by Peter Gabriel.

12" (UK)

1. "Don't Give Up"
2. "In Your Eyes (Special Mix)"
3. "This is the picture"

12" (USA)

1. "Don't Give Up"(LP version)
2. "Don't Give Up"(edit)
3. "Curtains"

Limited Edition 7" poster sleeve

1. "Don't Give Up"
2. "In Your Eyes (Special Mix)"

Personnel

• Manu Katché – drums, percussion
• Tony Levin – bass
• David Rhodes – guitars
• Richard Tee – piano
• Peter Gabriel – vocals, CMI, Prophet, Linn, piano
• Simon Clark – chorus CS-80
• Kate Bush – guest vocals

Chart positions

Chart	Peak position
Irish Singles Chart	4
Dutch Single Top 100	5
Australian Singles Chart	5
U.K. Singles Chart	9
New Zealand Singles Chart	16
German Singles Chart	27
Canadian Singles Chart	40
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart	72

Other versions

"Don't Give Up"
Song

Peter Gabriel and Paula Cole version

The song was included in Peter Gabriel's Secret World Live tour featuring singer Paula Cole. The DVD release of a performance in Italy in 1993 (released in 1994) included the duet.

Peter Gabriel and Ane Brun version

An all-orchestral recording featuring Ane Brun was released on Gabriel's New Blood album on 11 October 2011.

Máire Brennan and Michael McDonald version

Máire Brennan included a version of this song as a bonus track on her 1999 album Whisper to the Wild Water. In this version Michael McDonald tells Máire not to give up.

Shannon Noll and Natalie Bassingthwaighte version

A cover version was recorded by Australian artist Shannon Noll and former Rogue Traders frontwoman Natalie Bassingthwaighte. It was recorded for the compilation Home: Songs of Hope & Journey. It was released as a charity single for the depression organisation beyondblue. It was the most added song to Australian radio in its first week. It made its debut at number seven on the Australian Singles Chart, and, in its second week, climbed to number two with a Platinum certification. The song was also performed live on the fifth season of Dancing With The Stars. The music video features Noll and Bassingthwaighte in the studio recording the single.

Willie Nelson & Sinéad O'Connor version

The song was included on Willie Nelson's Across the Borderline album, produced by Don Was, Paul Simon, and Roy Halee. Kate Bush's parts are sung by Sinéad O'Connor.

It was reported that funds raised by sales of the single were in excess of $300,000.

Track listing

1. "Don't Give Up"
2. "Don't Give Up" (Instrumental)

Alicia Keys and Bono version

In December 2005, R&B vocalist Alicia Keys and U2 frontman Bono recorded a version entitled "Don't Give Up (Africa)" for World AIDS Day. The single was released exclusively to iTunes and a ringtone version was released by Cingular Wireless; the proceeds of both going to the charity Keep a Child Alive, for which Keys is a spokesperson.

Other artists who have covered this song

"Don't Give Up"
Song

• The Shadows did an instrumental of the song on the album "Simply Shadows" in 1987.
• Gregorian and Sarah Brightman covered this song, and it is found in Brightman's "The Harem Tour" Limited Edition and Gregorian's "Masters of Chant" albums.
• Jody Watley recorded the song for her Midnight Lounge album in 2001.
• Show of Hands included a cover of this song on their album Covers
• Xavier Naidoo covered the song on the Zwischenspiel/Alles für den Herrn album in 2002.
• Take 6 recorded an A cappella version of the song on their album of covers "Beautiful World" in 2002.
• Senegalese singer/guitarist Jimi Mbaye covered the song on his 2005 album "Yaye Digalma"
• Tara MacLean covered the song on the Songs For Sunset album in 2006.
• The song-writer/guitarist Shark from Wild Colonials and Dead Rock West singer Cindy Wasserman released the song in 2008. The proceeds of the record going to the charities Farm Aid and the Red Cross, to help the farmers affected by the floods of 2008. The sleeve design is an homage to the original Peter Gabriel / Kate Bush sleeve with similar typography.
• In November 2008, Tina Arena and former Tea Party frontman Jeff Martin performed a live cover of "Don't Give Up" during an episode of Australian quiz show RocKwiz.
• In May 2009, a version by The Midway State featuring Lady Gaga appeared online. According to Lady Gaga the cover was done so "that young people would hear and learn something about Kate Bush."
• P!nk and John Legend cover the song for Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project.
• Dutch singer Chielie(.nl) (uncredited) sang the Gabriel part on a cover of the song (Bush part sung by also uncredited unknown female singer - Chielie and she never met for the recording but did their work separately) produced at Flowerhouse Studios of Haarlem, Holland, on a CD called 'Duet for lovers' (90.807-2 UK), released 1994 by PMF Records.
• Tarja Turunen covered the song, alongside Liv Kristine (Leaves' Eyes) on the European leg of her, What Lies Beneath Tour.
• A version featuring Nicolai Dunger and Norwegian vocalist Silje Nergaard was included on "Reconnection", an album by Swedish guitarist/bassist Georg Wadenius, which was released on 2010.
• David Archuleta covered the song (with Libbie Linton) on his 2012 album Begin.
• Dr. Ring-Ding released a Rocksteady version of the song on his 2012 album Dr. Ring Ding Ska-Vaganza - Piping Hot, duetting with Skatalites singer Doreen Shaffer.

Usage in film and television and books

• This song was used during the end credits of the Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie thriller The Bone Collector, based on the novel of the same name by Jeffery Deaver.

• It was also used in the end of the NBC made-for-TV movie Perfect Body.

• It was also used in the Miami Vice episode "Redemption in Blood" in which Crockett (Don Johnson) recovers from a case of amnesia.

• A Kids Incorporated episode from 1989 featured Kenny Ford and Jennifer Love Hewitt providing vocals.

• Song was used in the closing credits of the surfing movie In God's Hands.
• It was also used in Cold Case TV series episode no 117 .

• The group Take That by a majority vote chose the song for their entry for the 2009 book Inspired* By Music. The book which raises money for Prince's Trust consists of famous people listing songs that inspired them.

Charts

Chart (2006)1	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	2
ARIA Australasian Singles Chart	1
Australian Airplay Chart	1

• ¹ Shannon Noll and Natalie Bassingthwaighte.