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" Family Snapshot" is a song written and performed by the English rock music musician Peter Gabriel. An early iteration of the song was performed live in 1978, with initial tracking occurring that same year. The song appeared on his third eponymous studio album. Portions of "Family Snapshot" were reworked for the track "Close Up", which was included on Gabriel's 1985 Birdy soundtrack album. Lyrically, the song relates to an assassin recounting their plans and mindset in carrying out an assassination.
Gabriel stated in the introduction to the song during his concert at the Paramount Theatre, Seattle in 1983 that the song is "partly taken from the writings of Arthur Bremer and The Diary of an Assassin and mixed with a few images of Dallas twenty years ago", referring to the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Larry Fast recalled that the song's second half derived from an instrumental that was developed during from Gabriel's tour promoting his second solo album. He said that the composition did not "firm up" until the recording sessions for Gabriel's third solo album began. Jerry Marotta, who played drums on the song, agreed with this assessment, saying that "the sections were kind of there, but we didn't know where to put them." The working title was "FMR", according to early tour setlists. PETER GABRIEL 3 (album 1979, tour 1980) (from Larry Fast Synergy site, archived) Early tracking was conducted on 28 August 1978 at Trident Studios with members of Gabriel's touring band. The final recording features Gabriel's first use of the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano. Some melodic ideas were recycled from an unreleased song titled "Why Don't We", which Gabriel played on his 1977 concert tour. (2025). 9788890912252, L.I.L.Y Publishing. ISBN 9788890912252
Gabriel recalled that Hugh Padgham and Fast assisted with the processing of a Prophet synthesizer. "There was a sound I used to like on 'Family Snapshot' which was a small variation on a Prophet noise. It was OK on its own, but it was magical with the processing. And then Hugh Padgham, at that time, made some nice additional stereo imaging and delays, so it was a beautiful swirl sound. In the mix you don't hear it as much, but it's the sort of G minor where the band comes in." When Gabriel's third self-titled album was being sequenced, one of the assistant engineers accidentally cut off the first minute of "Family Snapshot", so Padgham was required to mix the part back in.
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