Listening to the music of the soul: Don’t give up

AS THIS ADVENT SEASON invites us to ponder the mystery of Jesus’s coming at Christmas, I’m sharing a series of reflections inspired by Listening to the Music of the Soul, the Archbishop of York’s Advent book for 2025 by Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani.

In her exploration of faith, identity, beauty and vulnerability, Bishop Guli invites us to listen for the melodies that shape our inner lives and connect us more deeply with God and one another.

In the first post in this series I shared Bishop Guli’s invitation to compile our own Desert Island Discs – eight pieces of music

‘to help you better understand yourself and the things that are important to you… [and] remind you of seminal moments in your life’.

This challenged me to reflect on the ‘music of my soul’ and the stories it evokes that tell me something about who I am now and how I came to be here. In the days up to Christmas Eve I will share one of those reflections – pieces of music and moments of meaning. Here is the second:

Don’t Give Up  by Peter Gabriel (ft. Kate Bush)

I could have chosen one of his more upbeat songs, like Solisbury Hill or Sledgehammer, both of which I love. But in seeking to hear ‘the music of my soul’, this song spoke more deeply to my state of mind as a teenager questioning who I was, and was becoming, what I believed, and whether I believed in myself.

I hoped to go and see Peter Gabriel live with a friend (whom I later realised I had a crush on too!) but that didn’t work out. When trying to appear more ‘normal’ than I felt at that time, I imagined singing it as a duet with a girl whom I thought might be my girlfriend. That never happened either!

I finally got to see Peter Gabriel live in Liverpool in December 2014, and got a CD of that performance for Christmas that year. When he performed this song, it took me right back to my teens, and I was in tears.

Here are the lyrics that spoke to me most at that time, as I wrestled with depression and sometimes wished I didn’t exist.

Don’t give up ’cause you have friends
Don’t give up you’re not the only one
Don’t give up no reason to be ashamed
Don’t give up you still have us
Don’t give up now we’re proud of who you are
Don’t give up you know it’s never been easy
Don’t give up ’cause I believe there’s a place
There’s a place
Where we belong

While reflecting on this music choice, I found a blog about it called ‘The Song That Saves Lives‘ – I don’t know that it saved my life, but it certainly helped me hold on to hope.

Tune in tomorrow for my next Desert Island Disc!