Peter Gabriel – Red Rain lyrics

Even though "Agent Orange" was not Orange or Red. Everything in this song fits it to agent orange that Rained down on the jungles of Vietnam U.S. troops. Vietnam Vets will tell you about it, if you can find one that was exposed to it and still living.
When the U.S. sprayed it from the heuys, the ground was saturated and soldiers covered with it. Goto Wikipedia and search AGENT ORANGE and you will see a photo of the helicopter spraying it (RAIN); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

More than 19 million gallons of various “rainbow” herbicide combinations were sprayed, but Agent Orange was the combination the U.S. military used most often. The name “Agent Orange” came from the orange identifying stripe used on the 55-gallon drums in which it was stored.
Heavily sprayed areas included forests near the demarcation zone, forests at the junction of the borders of Cambodia, Laos, and South Vietnam, and mangroves on the southernmost peninsula of Vietnam and along shipping channels southeast of Saigon.

You would substitute Red for Orange because Red lends itself lyrically. You would be looking @ rains daily if not constant rain during the monsoon season in the jungles. The trees and vegetative areas were saturated with it in Vietnam. The rains just washed it down on soldiers and onto the ground. The soldiers had to lay down to sleep at some point.
In Vietnam summer lasts from May to October when it is hot and humid and the region experiences its highest rainfall.

Peter Gabriel is a humanitarian according to his biography on the web. What better way to draw attention to a social injustice than with a Song? By 1986 when this song was released, Vietnam vets were dying from the health related illnesses due to the herbicide. 5 years later in 1991 the Gov't took responsibility for it when Congress enacted the Agent Orange Act of 1991.

The entire song fits the story of "Operation Ranch Hand", the U.S. Air Force's herbicide program in Vietnam.
Agent Orange was manufactured for the U.S. Department of Defense primarily by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical. It was given its name from the color of the orange-striped barrels in which it was shipped, and was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides".

I think the song is about Agent Orange. Gabriel was born in 1950 so that puts him @ 18 in 1968. Just the right age to have
a very good knowledge of Vietnam and what was going on there.

And Last of all, whether "Red Rain" was specifically written from what happened in Vietnam or not,
It is about Our Environment, Our Seas, being poisoned with deadly chemicals.
Why else would "Red Rain" by Peter Gabriel appear on Track Three of the (GreenPeace Rainbow Warriors [#1] Disc 2) CD?

This was inspired by a recurring dream where gabriel was swimming in a sea of red water.
Gabriel: "if feelings of pain do not get brought out, not only do they fester and grow stronger but they manifest themselves in the external world. "
Hi-hat cymbals were used to simulate rain. At one point, gabriel wanted this song to tell the story of mozo, a mercurial stranger who would come and go, changing people's lives. Other songs that told the mozo story are "on the air," "down the dolce vita," "exposure", "here comes the flood," and "that voice again. " gabriel envisioned a movie or play based on the mozo character, but it never happened.
To me, this song represents fostering deep emotions and finally letting them spill out like red rain. It also represents a very vivid experience like a dream or a haunting place where one has witnessed something truly dramatic. Red rain is definitely not comparable to regular rain.

Wow! Once again showing how music impacts people differently, and how people derive the meaning they perceive from the lyrics contained therein. Both of the meanings above are not only solid and well stated, but heartfelt This forum with this particular artist has potential for profoundly interesting results, as I have read thus far. I believe that it was written in a show of solidarity amongst humanity against capitol punishment. That being said, I just love what was expressed in the post above me. Great quote! Really interesting information about Mozo (too bad the movie or play never developed,) and I quite agree, Red Rain is not comparable to regular rain.

I am listening to this song through the lens of a counselor's perspective. What I hear is:
- helplessness and overwhelmedness (Pouring down all over me / I cannot make a single sound as you scream / I will come to you, defenses down; I'm begging you)
- dissociation - a dreamlike state; sensory distortion (It can't be that cold; Hey, no pain / Seeing no red at all, see no rain)
- dread, fear, forboding (This place is so quiet, sensing that storm; I've seen them buried...; putting the pressure on much harder now; I can't watch anymore)
- references to burial, wounds, blood (Red rain = flowing blood; They tell you this rain can sting; I've seen them buried...)
- references to repetition of trauma (repetition of 'red rain'; To return again and again; I'm begging you)

It's a very dark song about being abused and frozen in helplessness, surrounded by blood. It is full of metaphors for the state of mind of a person who experienced childhood abuse and remembers / re-experiences it.