Peter Gabriel [So - 1986] - 08_ We do what we're told (Milgram's 37) | Текст песни

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• Peter Gabriel [So - 1986]
• 08_ We do what we're told (Milgram's 37)

We do what we're told
We do what we're told
We do what we're told
Told to do

We do what we're told
We do what we're told
We do what we're told
Told to do

One doubt
One voice
One war
One truth
One dream

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Songfacts:

This is about the social experiments of Stanley Milgram, a Yale professor who had subjects administer electric shocks to a person if they answered a question wrong. The person being shocked was an actor who writhed in pain as the shocks got larger. Milgram wanted to see if the subjects would administer the shocks when the experimenter told them to, even though they were causing apparent pain in the person. Almost all subjects administered the highest level of shock despite the actor pounding the wall in apparent agony.

"37" came from the number of subjects who administered the maximum shock in one of the experiments.

Gabriel summarized the results of these experiments with the phrase "We do what we're told." The subjects did not want to administer the shocks, but did so because the experimenter told them to.

Gabriel sung versions of this in concerts long before it was released.
When he performed this in concert, Gabriel got the crowd chanting "We do what we're told." Since the song was not yet released and the crowd did not know its meaning, they were ironically aping the results of the experiment by doing just as Gabriel told them.

Gabriel asked Milgram for permission to use video of his experiments for stage displays and music videos, but Milgram refused, not wanting his work used for entertainment.
This song was featured on the episode of Miami Vice "Forgive Us Our Debts," December 12, 1986. (thanks, Pablo - Miami, FL)