I Have The Touch (Live)

This song is about a person who gets excited by any skin contact. Gabriel got the idea from a study where people of different nationalities were observed at restaurants. In Puerto Rico and Paris, they touched each other frequently, but in London, only twice, the hello and goodbye. This led him to the idea that the English were deprived of touch.

Gabriel programmed a Linn LM-1 drum machine, which was new to the market, to create the drum track. Like his former Genesis bandmate Phil Collins, Gabriel was very percussion-minded and eager to explore new technology. On this track, he also used three synthesizers: a Prophet-5, Polymoog, and Fairlight CMI.

This was the second and last single (following "Shock The Monkey") from Gabriel's fourth album, Security. He was quite prolific after leaving Genesis in 1975, issuing the four albums in the span of 1977-1982. He then turned his attention to other projects, including the WOMAD (World Of Music Arts and Dance) festival and the soundtrack to the film Birdy. His next solo album, So, appeared in 1986 and was a landmark, going to #1 in many territories and making Gabriel a video star as well.