Peter Gabriel always felt like “the guy with funny videos who went serious”. Blame it on the MTV megahit Sledgehammer. Or the lesser known follow up, Steam. Both songs have trippy, technically deft videos that sort of damage the song from my viewpoint. The songs are great, that’s a fact, but the videos seem to overtake the talent involved on both songs.

Not so much with Mercy Street, a massively overlooked song lost in the shuffle of the meteoric So, Peter Gabriel’s best selling album. Caught between In your eyes and Big time, both massive hits with memorable videos, Mercy Street is a melancholic, reflective track based on the work of Anne Sexton. The lyrics reek of the pain Sexton went through on her life, with mental issues troubling her at every second of her short time on Earth.

Daniel Lanois and Peter Gabriel produce the track and it frankly sounds superb. Crisp, with every instrument equally distributed, Gabriel’s vocals convey Sexton’s work in such a painful, honest way, you can’t but feel drained by the end. It’s cathartic and I love it, you understand the sadness you feel is shared by more people, and you no longer feel so alone.

Mercy Street is a spiritual predecessor to Gabriel’s Lovetown, a highlight from the Philadelphia soundtrack, and possibly as great a song. In days of massive rain, or simply when I feel down in the dumps, Mercy Street’s sweet atmosphere feels almost like joy, and gets several plays on the stereo.

-Sam J. Valdés López