Peter Gabriel has said he becomes emotional when hearing “Blood of Eden”, a slow, atmospheric duet with Sinéad O’Connor from his 1992 album Us. Although the song was intended as a profound meditation on intimacy, unity and the difficulties between men and women, it performed poorly as a single, partly because O’Connor had become controversial in the United States after her 1992 Saturday Night Live protest.

The track was released in March 1993 as Us’s third single, after “Digging in the Dirt” and “Steam” had reached the UK top 25. Its accompanying video, created with directors Nichola Bruce and Mike Coulson and sculptor Zadok Ben-David, used biblical and cosmic imagery and featured O’Connor alongside Gabriel. Gabriel described their voices as emotionally needy and complementary, while O’Connor later characterised their relationship as an on-and-off fling in her memoir.