PUBLIC BUILDING



performed on:
This was the "acoustic song" played in some Goldfish Tour shows that caused such a furor among avant garde hipsters. In the studio, Brian Eno plays it up with sound loops, keyboards, and his usual ambient fervor while drenching the whole thing in echo and burying the wistful vocals in the mix. The result is an intriguing, atmospheric recording which made for a fine single and video, featuring calm but somehow unsettling corporate scenes. This second single from SALT was the album's biggest hit, hitting a modest #40.

Generally the song continued to be played acoustically, on the Information shows with a hot electric guitar solo by Janet Kieran, but on the Science Tour its reimagining as a boisterous dance number received lots of criticism from fans and it was dropped fairly quickly from the sets only to return in its original arrangement three years later.


He'll ride to the top again today
Like he does every other day
And the glowing is the same
And the walls are the same

And sometimes he thinks
If only

He'll take the train there today
Like he does every other day
The phone is under a ventilator
Blowing all the while on his face

And sometimes he thinks
If only
If I could cut out the edge of the plaster
And see what's behind it
That would be something new, right?

No smoking here, no windows
Because it's a public building
Only one way out
It sucks you in and keeps you there
And sometimes, sometimes, sometimes

That would be something