Bully for You: A Song on the Edge

Why Peter Gabriel’s raw cover reveals the true emotional core of Tom Robinson’s lyrics

Lyrical Analysis: “Bully for You”

by Tom Robinson Band – Peter Gabriel version

If you’ve never heard the song, you can listen to both versions here:

🎧 Peter Gabriel version

🎧 Tom Robinson Band version

Title: “Bully for You”

The phrase “bully for you” is deeply sarcastic — an old-fashioned way of saying “good for you”, used here with bite. It sets the emotional tone right away: the speaker isn’t congratulating anyone — they’re seething.

Verse 1:

Cut the cackle / Cause we’re getting to the facts now

Guilt edge security / Hold me back now

Wet blanket at the drop of a hat man / Bully for you, I’m just mad about that, man

This opening is tense and confrontational.

1. “Cut the cackle” means stop the nonsense or superficial talk.
2. “Gilt-edge security” — a clever pun that may combine “gilt” (as in gold) with “guilt,” suggesting false safety or manipulated stability.
3. “Wet blanket at the drop of a hat” paints a picture of someone who instantly spoils joy or undercuts any momentum.
4. “Bully for you, I’m just mad about that, man” is pure sarcasm, but specifically aimed at the wet blanket’s attitude — a mocking, “Oh sure, I really love that”, loaded with disdain. Gabriel delivers it with blistering irony.

Chorus 1:

I hear the sound of dogs in the rain / I know you won’t be back again

We’ve seen it three times on the run / Pass up the chance to / Cut the crap and make it happen / Giving can be fun

This is the first true chorus — melodically distinct and emotionally pivotal.

1. “Dogs in the rain” evokes loneliness, sorrow, and a sense of warning.
2. “Three times on the run” suggests repeated failures or missed emotional opportunities.
3. “Cut the crap and make it happen” becomes a breaking point. In Gabriel’s voice, it’s not a suggestion — it’s a demand. A declaration of: “Enough. Do something.”
4. “Giving can be fun” is delivered with biting sarcasm — shouted, not sung sweetly — exposing the hollowness of idealistic advice.
5. Importantly, this line shares melodic structure with “Make the aching stop”, later in the song. In both, Gabriel draws out the final word like a howl — making both lines echo with emotional anguish rather than hope.

Verse 2:

I’m not afraid, but I don’t want to fight now / This movie’s over so turn that light out

Turn of the screw, tomorrow soon will come and / Wake in the morning, wonder what have you done man

The emotional unraveling deepens here.

1. “I’m not afraid, but I don’t want to fight now” shows the speaker isn’t backing down from fear — they’re just tired.
2. “This movie’s over” signals the end of a personal drama, and “turn that light out” suggests finality.
3. “Turn of the screw” introduces tightening emotional pressure.
4. The morning-after line — “wonder what have you done” — is the bitter residue of a breakdown or lashing out. Regret is already waiting at sunrise.

Chorus 2:

There ain’t another place in town / I’m moving over, going down

Killing time, the morning drop / Final judgement, stay a day to / Find your way to / Make the aching stop

This second chorus shifts into total emotional collapse.

1. “No other place in town” suggests a feeling of exile — physical, emotional, or spiritual.
2. “Going down” signals decline: mental health, emotional control, stability.
3. “Final judgement” adds existential weight.
4. And then: “Make the aching stop.” Like “Giving can be fun,” the line is delivered with identical melodic phrasing — Gabriel draws out the final word, giving it that same howling, tormented quality. It’s not a quiet plea — it’s a desperate scream into the void.

Instrumental Bridge and Chorus Reprise:

After a brief instrumental passage, Chorus 2 is repeated, reinforcing the sense of spiraling despair. The repeated delivery of “Make the aching stop” lands even harder the second time around — an echo of torment, or a soul refusing to go numb.

Final Section:

We don’t need no aggravation (repeated)

The song closes with a stark chant — a mantra for peace, or perhaps emotional surrender.

In Gabriel’s version, Tom Robinson himself joins in vocally — a small but powerful collaboration that confirms this version has the original songwriter’s blessing. It’s like a seal of emotional truth between two artists who’ve both known how heavy a song like this can be.

Performance Contrast:

The original Tom Robinson Band version is solid and sharp — punk-rooted, well-executed, but emotionally guarded. In contrast, Peter Gabriel turns it inside out. Every word is weighted. Every phrase feels like it costs him something.

He doesn’t just sing the song — he bleeds through it.

And for many listeners, myself included, that makes his version not just different — but definitive.