[3] In 1990, an extended version of the song was included on Gabriel's Shaking the Tree: Sixteen Golden Greats compilation album.
[2] As Gabriel was climbing the mountain, he noticed that some of the trees were adorned with ribbons, which he reckoned were associated with a Native American initiation process.
[5] The lyrics pertain to a young individual undertaking a rite of passage led by a medicine man, who takes the youth into the mountains and exposes him to a snake bite.
[3] Upon being bitten by the snake, the youth enters a poison-induced hallucinatory state, with the accompanying "I hold the line" lyric reflecting their determination to survive the initiation process.
[2] Larry Fast, who played synthesizers on the song, commented that Gabriel constructed "San Jacinto" using sampled sounds on the Fairlight CMI.
[4] During the final section of "San Jacinto", all of the instruments drop out with the exception of sampled voices and a blown drainpipe recorded at a scrapyard, which Gabriel triggered through the Fairlight.
[10] Author Durrell Bowman called "San Jacinto" a "key album track" and highlighted the song's lyrics, saying that they "contrast the artificial world in part of California - of celebrity mansions, golf courses, and swimming pools" with impoverished Native American reservations.
[2] Gabriel performed the song in a 30 minute set for A Conspiracy of Hope, a series of benefit concerts for Amnesty International in 1986.
During these performances, which was documented on the Live Blood album/DVD, Gabriel shined a beam of light into the audience at the conclusion of the song.