[3] The song was inspired by the Depression-era photographs of Dorothea Lange, showing poverty-stricken Americans in Dust Bowl conditions.

[5] He tuned the programmed tom-toms to different pitches with the intention of having Tony Levin emulate the part on the bass guitar.

[7] Halfway through recording, Levin placed a nappy behind his strings to dampen the sound and achieve a softer tone.

Levin had packed the nappies in his gig bag for his two-month-old daughter because he mistakenly thought that the products were not sold in the UK.

[5] Gabriel developed the "don't give up" lyric and the verses early on, although he did not finalize the chorus until a few months after the melody was solidified.

"[5][10] The initial demos of "Don't Give Up" were around seven minutes in duration, although Gabriel later decided to edit the song down.

And then perhaps you'll come back and try to pull some of that energy into the earlier sections.Gabriel wrote the song from a reference point of American roots music and approached country singer Dolly Parton to sing it with him.

The first, by Godley & Creme, is a single take of Gabriel and Bush, as they sing, in an embrace, while the sun behind them enters a total eclipse and re-emerges.

[14] A second video, directed by Grammy Award–winning Jim Blashfield and produced by Melissa Marsland in 1988, features the singers' faces superimposed over film of a town and its people in disrepair.

"[16] Similarly, actor Matthew Perry (who struggled with substance and alcohol addiction) was enamored with the song; it was played at his funeral in November 2023 and was referenced in signed copies of his autobiography Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which was released a year before his death.

An all-orchestral recording featuring Ane Brun was released on Gabriel's ninth studio album New Blood (2011).

[24] All tracks are written by Peter Gabriel The song was covered as a duet between American musician Willie Nelson and Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor in 1993.

The single is included on Nelson's Across the Borderline studio album, produced by Don Was, Paul Simon, and Roy Halee.

Martin Monkman from AllMusic felt the duet is the "most stunning song" on the album, and "a brilliant piece of casting."

He added, "Nelson and O'Connor's rendition is quietly triumphant and every bit as powerful as Gabriel and Bush's original.

"[44] John Davis from Austin American-Statesman wrote, "The teaming of his crisp, autumnal baritone with the ethereal, spun-steel counterpoint of O'Connor's voice on Gabriel's paean of hope, "Don't Give Up", is little short of haunting.

[43] Pan-European magazine Music & Media remarked that Nelson's version "makes a rodeo queen out of his duet partner".

It's an understated rendering which, a few country twangs aside, leaves the interaction between Nelson's grizzled tones and Sinead's frail quavers to do the work.

[49] David Zimmerman from USA Today named it a "wonderful stop" on the album, noting its "hope-and-despair seesaw".

[57]Jann Klose and Renaissance vocalist and painter Annie Haslam released their version, produced by Rave Tesar in June 2017.

A cover version was recorded by Australian artist Shannon Noll and former Rogue Traders frontwoman Natalie Bassingthwaighte.