Harry Chapin “Cat’s in the Cradle” hit #1

Cat’s in the Cradle Harry Chapin

Writer(s): Harry Chapin, Sandra Chapin (see lyrics here) First Charted: September 28, 1974 Peak: 11 US, 11 CB, 2 GR, 11 HR, 3 RR, 6 AC, 1 CL, 3 CN, 6 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 73.4 video, 108.16 streaming

Cat’s in the Cradle Ugly Kid Joe

Released: March 25, 1993 First Charted: February 5, 1993 Peak: 6 US, 9 CB, 6 GR, 9 RR, 3 AR, 7 UK, 11 AU, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 49.0 video, 94.85 streaming

Awards (Harry Chapin): Click on award for more details. Awards (Ugly Kid Joe): Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Harry Chapin was rock’s master storyteller. His songs were narrative prose set to music.” FB He said his songs were “stories of oridinary people and cosmic moments in their non-cosmic lives.” FB However, the lyrics for “Cat’s in the Cradle” – his best-known hit – were written by his wife Sandra. He claimed she wrote the “four minute musical guilt trip” SG “to ‘zap’ him” SG but she actually wrote it about her first husband, James Cashmore, and his difficult relationship with his father. Harry didn’t write accompanying music for the song until about a year later – after he missed the birth of his son because he was on the road. It also let him deal with his own feelings about his father, a jazz drummer, who was often on the road as well. SG “Cat’s in the Cradle” “boils all the complexities of parenthood to the question of whether or not the dad is physically or mentally present. It has a big tearjerking coda about how the adult kid doesn’t have any time to spend with his father…His new job’s a hassle! The kid’s got the flu!” SG The power of the song is how “it hits you in the gut at the right moment…and turn you into a shuddering feelings-puddle.” SG It “doesn’t have all the layers of some of other Chapin’s songs. That’s fine. It sacrifices those layers for pure throat-lump effectiveness.” SG “Chapin’s got a declarative sing-speaking style, and he slowly tweaks it as the song builds, moving deliberately from distant wonder at his kid’s birth to heavy-hearted intensity. He never overplays any of the song’s big moments. When he reaches his big tearjerking finale – ‘My boy was just like me’ – he could go for high drama. Instead, he holds back, almost murmuring that line to himself, letting the words do the work.” SG “Musically, ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’ is an assured piece of ’70s folk-rock. Those lyrics demand so much attention that it’s easy to neglect all the subtle little flourishes in the arrangement…the vaguely Eastern string-figure, the weirdly catchy electric-sitar riff, the bass that wells up at the exact right moment.” SG The hair-metal band Ugly Kid Joe covered the song in 1993 and it reached #6. While the idea sounds cringe-worthy, it actually worked pretty well, largely because the band were faithful to the song and didn’t butcher it. It ended up introducing a whole new generation to the age-old father-son guilt dynamic. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Harry Chapin DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ugly Kid Joe FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 386. SG Stereogum (6/18/2019). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia First posted 7/25/2022; last updated 12/27/2022.

Styx “Lady” charted

Lady Styx

Writer(s): Dennis DeYoung (see lyrics here) Released: September 1973 First Charted: December 7, 1974 Peak: 6 BB, 6 CB, 3 GR, 7 HR, 7 RR, 5 CL, 19 CN, 23 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 20.6 video, 29.04 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Styx formed in 1972 in Chicago, Illinois. The band became arguably the biggest stadium rockers of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, but their beginnings were rather humble. The original lineup consisted of singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, guitarist James “J.Y.” Young, guitarist John Curulewski, bassist Chuck Panozzo, and drummer John Panozzo. The quartet released four albums with Wooden Nickel that showed no indication of where this band would go. In 1974, however, their fortunes changed thanks to the power ballad “Lady.” The song, which first appeared on Styx II, was originally released as a single in September 1973. At the time it became a local hit in Chicago, but was ignored elsewhere. However, Jim Smith, a DJ on Chicago station WLS, heard the song on a jukebox in a Chicago pizza place. He convinced the management at his radio station to let him play the song. His show had audiences in 38 states and even some foreign countries. WK The new-found attention launched “Lady” into the national spotlight and a re-release sent it up the charts where it peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Dennis DeYoung has stated this was the first song he wrote for his wife, Suzanne. He wrote the song in 1972 but the record company rejected it for Styx’s first album. SF When the band recorded it for their second album, DeYoung performed it on an acoustic piano although he’d originally written it on electric piano. He preferred the acoustic sound. WK DeYoung has said radio stations were unsure how to classify the song because it started slow and then picked up. SF The Detroit Metro Times called it “the first true power ballad.” MT Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Styx MT Detroit Metro Times (6/11/2003). “Power Me, Ballad Me: The Power Ballad Timeline” by Serene Dominic SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 2/14/2024.

Yes Relayer released

Relayer Yes

Released: December 5, 1974 Peak: 5 US, 4 UK, 22 CN, 15 AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Genre: progressive rock

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Gates of Delirium [21:55] (7/1/75, “Soon” – excerpt, --) Sound Chaser [9:25] To Be Over [9:08] All tracks written by Yes. Total Running Time: 40:09 The Players: Jon Anderson (vocals, acoustic guitar, piccolo, percussion) Steve Howe (guitar, sitar, backing vocals) Chris Squire (bass, backing vocals) Patrick Moraz (keyboards) Alan White (drums, percussion)

Rating: 3.433 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Relayer was the seventh studio album from Yes and the only one to feature Patrick Moraz on keyboards, replacing Rick Wakeman who left after Tales from Topographic Oceans to pursue a solo career. Greek keyboardist Vangelis (later of “Chariots of Fire” fame) was a close contender for the job and later collaborated with Jon Anderson on several albums. Yes had fallen out of critical favor with Tales from Topographic Oceans, a two-record set of four songs that reviewers found indulgent,” WR but it was still a commercial success so the band “had little incentive to curb their musical ambitiousness.” WR “Critics continued to complain about the lack of concise, coherent song structures,” WR but Relayer still made the top 10 and was a gold seller. The group did actually trim from Tales, going back to a single-disc album format. The three long songs that comprised the album made this feel more like a cousin to 1972’s Close to the Edge with “a long epic on the first side, and two nine-minute pieces on the second.” WK However, Relayer “employs a radically different musical style” WK from that album. The “music [is] organized into suites that alternated abrasive, rhythmically dense instrumental sections featuring solos for the various instruments with delicate vocal and choral sections featuring poetic lyrics devoted to spiritual imagery. Such compositions seemed intended to provide an interesting musical landscape over which the listener might travel.” WR “The Gates of Delirium is is a dense, 22-minute piece that was inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace,” WK not exactly a work known for brevity itself. “It features lyrics about the futility of war and a lengthy instrumental middle section portraying ‘battle’ with galloping rhythms, martial melodies, dissonant harmonies, and clashing sound effects . The final section, in which the drive of the previous sixteen minutes is suddenly replaced by a gentle melody and a lyrical prayer for peace, was released as a U.S. single under the title Soon.” “Sound Chaser is a jazzy, mostly instrumental piece that echoes the then-popular jazz fusion of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return To Forever. To Be Over, the gentlest piece on the album, features complex, melodic arrangements of guitar and electric sitar (at one point quoting a theme from Tales from Topographic Oceans), and arguably features Jon Anderson’s most straightforward lyrics since the band's second album, Time and a Word.” WK Notes: The 2003 reissue added a studio run-through of “The Gates of Delirium” as well as single versions of “Soon” and “Sound Chaser.”

Resources and Related Links: WR William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide WK Wikipedia First posted 6/7/2011; updated 7/24/2021.

 

Nick Drake died: November 25, 1974

Originally posted November 25, 2012.

image from eachnotescure.com

Nick Drake was an English folk singer/songwriter born in Rangoon, Burma, on June 19, 1948. Only three albums were released during his lifetime and each sold less than 5000 copies upon initial release. However, after his death he emerged as a doomed romantic hero. In the mid-‘80s, musicians such as The Cure’s Robert Smith and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck cited him as an influence. The Dream Academy’s 1985 single “Life in a Northern Town” was about Drake.

Drake’s parents were musically inclined, even composing music. At an early age, Nick wrote songs and recorded them on reel-to-reel. He played piano in the school orchestra and learned clarinet and saxophone. In 1967, he won a scholarship to study English literature at Cambridge. He was a bright student who didn’t apply himself. He was more interested in playing and listening to music while smoking marijuana.

He discovered the folk scene via performers like Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs and began performing in clubs and coffee houses around London. With the help of college friend Robert Kirby and American producer Joe Boyd, Drake recorded Five Leaves Left in 1968.

In the autumn of 1969, Drake moved to London to concentrate on music. 1970’s Bryter Layter sported a more upbeat and jazzier sound and featured John Cale and members of Fairport Convention. In October 1971, Drake recorded songs over two nights for what would become 1972’s Pink Moon. Thinking that the sound of Bryter Layter was too elaborate, Drake opted for a stark collection of bleak songs in which his singing was accompanied solely by his own guitar with one piano overdub on the title track.

He visited a psychiatrist in 1971 and was prescribed antidepressants. He also suffered from insomnia and his friend Kirby worried at one point that Drake was showing early signs of psychosis. In 1972, Drake had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for five weeks. He returned home to live with his parents. Musician John Martyn, who wrote the title song of his 1973 album Solid Air about Drake, described him as the most withdrawn person he’d ever met. Nick died at age 26 on November 25, 1974, of an overdose of amitriptyline, a prescribed antidepressant. The death has largely been assumed to be a suicide although some have considered it an accidental overdose.

A Skin Too Few (documentary about Nick Drake)

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Resources and Related Links:

• Nick Drake’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry
• the DMDB page for Five Leaves Left
• the DMDB page for Bryter Layter
• the DMDB page for Pink Moon
• NickDrake.com Nick Drake Biography
• Wikipedia.org Nick Drake

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Award(s):

• one of the top 1000 music makers of all time
• top 1000 albums of all time (1969’s Five Leaves Left, 1970’s Bryter Layter, 1972’s Pink Moon).
• NME Magazine’s Top 100 Albums of All Time (Leaves)
• one of the top 100 albums of the 1960s (Leaves)
• Q Magazine’s Top 100 Albums of All Time (Bryter)
• Q Magazine’s Album of the Year (Bryter) one of the top 100 albums of the 1970s (Bryter)

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Genesis The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway released

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Genesis

Released: November 18, 1974 Peak: 41 US, 10 UK, 15 CN, 80 AU, 13 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK), 5.55 EAS Genre: progressive rock

Tracks, Disc 1: Click on a song titled for more details. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway [4:55] Fly on a Windshield [2:47] Broadway Melody of 1974 [1:58] Cuckoo Cocoon [2:14] In the Cage [8:15] The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging [2:45] Back in N.Y.C. [5:49] Hairless Heart [2:25] Counting Out Time [3:45] The Carpet Crawlers [5:16] The Chamber of 32 Doors [5:40] Tracks – Disc 2: Lilywhite Lilith [2:40] The Waiting Room [5:28] Anyway [3:18] Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist [2:50] The Lamia [6:57] Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats [3:06] The Colony of Slippermen (The Arrival/A Visit to the Doktor/The Raven) [8:14] Ravine [2:05] The Light Lies Down on Broadway [3:32] Riding the Scree [3:56] In the Rapids [2:24] It [4:58] Total Running Time: 95:17 The Players: Peter Gabriel (vocals, various instruments) Steve Hackett (guitar) Mike Rutherford (bass, 12-string guitar) Tony Banks (keyboards) Phil Collins (drums, percussion)

Rating: 4.194 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings) Quotable: “Sooner or later, every progressive-rock band has to do its double-LP concept/opera/extraganza, and for Gabriel’s Genesis, it was The Lamb.” – Jon Pareles, Blender magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

The “Difficult” Album “Any band that lasts long enough eventually makes one: the Difficult Album.” WH Especially in the case of progressive rock bands, they eventually have to do the “double-LP concept/opera/extravaganza and for Gabriel’s Genesis, it was The Lamb.” JP “Whether it’s overly long, pretentious, too ambitious, marked with creative difficulties or all of the above, there’s always that one album in a band’s catalogue that exposes the tensions surging under the surface.” WH “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway belongs in the same realm as The Wall, Quadrophenia, The White Album, Tales from Topographic Oceans and any other grand, complex work that creaks and groans under its own weight.” WH “It’s unlike anything else in the Genesis discography in that it’s a full-fledged rock opera double album, with all the intricacy that denotes.” WH The Plot Lamb is “a surreal odyssey” JP that follows Rael, “a half-Puerto Rican juvenile delinquent…living in New York City.” WK He “is swept underground to face bizarre creatures and nightmarish dangers in order to rescue his brother John” WK “and ascend to adulthood.” WK Phil Collins said, “It’s about a ‘split personality.’ In this context, Rael would believe he is looking for John but is actually looking for a missing part of himself.’” WK “Several of the story’s occurrences and places were derived from Peter Gabriel’s dreams, and the protagonist’s name is a play on his surname.” WK Gabriel “saw the album as a chance to continue indulging his love of theatrical costumes, so he cast himself as Rael, including crazy eyebrows, leather jacket and, yes, brownface. That’s an unavoidable problem and Gabriel should 100 percent bear the weight of it, but the album on its own stands apart from the stage show, even though the show contained a heavy amount of visuals that helped make the story (marginally) more comprehensible.” WH Aside from that, “it’s actually a surprisingly progressive depiction since Rael’s Puerto Rican heritage isn’t used to define him in a stereotypical way and is never mentioned in the lyrics (aside from one cringe-inducing mention of ‘chocolate fingers’). He’s a person of color who represents the everyman on a universal quest, and that’s good.” WH Thematically, the album addresses “urban alienation, Freudian paranoia, ironic mythology, childish wordplay and an overriding concern with whether innocence can be maintained into adulthood.” WH “The individual songs also make satirical allusions to everything from mythology to the sexual revolution to advertising and consumerism. You can read the full story of Rael, as written in the album’s liner notes by Peter Gabriel, here. That blog also breaks down the lyrics of all the songs from the album and how they fit into the story. The Writing Mike Rutherford initially proposed that the band do an album based on Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s The Little Prince. It caused friction when Gabriel insisted on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, a project in which he wrote the story and lyrics largely by himself, WK with some exceptions noted under comments about individual songs. Gabriel’s first wife was having difficulties with her first pregnancy so he was largely absent from writing the music, which was primarily handled by the rest of the band. WK In some cases, such as “The Lamia” and “The Supernatural Anaesthetist,” other band members suggested tweaks to the lyrics to make them better fit the music, “an action Gabriel did not take kindly to.” WK The Reception “There are some nicely creepy set pieces,” JP but “the piece’s length,” AM which has “filler [that] stretches on and on,” JP “makes it something of an acquired taste.” AM Lamb will exhaust you, and often try your patience, with enough seemingly throwaway bits to make the whole enterprise look pointless at times.” WH An article in New Yorker even called this “The Ulysses of Concept Albums.” WH “Lamb is not for everyone (not even, it seems, for most of the members of Genesis, who don’t seem to really care for it that much) but it was an album Genesis had to make, in some shape or form.” WH It “has some deeper richness to it if you’re willing to put up with its faults.” WH “Some of the songs here represent the apex of the Peter Gabriel era” WH and “most serious fans regard this as the best record the group ever cut.” AM Enossification Brian Eno contributed some synthesized vocal effects to several songs, including “In the Cage” and “The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging.” His work is credited in the liner notes as “Enossification.” Peter Gabriel was a fan of Eno and thought he “could enhance the adventurous aspect of the sound.” WK He was working on his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) while Lamb was being mixed at Island. Because Genesis had little money to pay him, Eno negotiated with the band to have Phil Collins play drums on his song “Mother Whale Eyeless.” WK Reissues The Genesis box set Archive 1967-75 features a full live performance of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 11 CL, 9 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 11.79 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The title track” WK “ranks with Genesis’ most majestic moments.” JP It was the last song Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel, who’d been friends since school, wrote together while in Genesis together although Gabriel says he only wrote the lyrics. WK The song’s title is the first line sung “after a fluttery Tony Banks intro that gets looser as the drums break down.” WH To play the unusual sequence of notes in the piano introduction, Banks had to cross his hands over. WK The song plunges “straight into the narrative, introducing the protagonist, Rael,…and also a lamb that is literally lying down on Broadway, in case you thought that was just a metaphor.” WH “This song is like the album in microcosm, a bunch of things stuck together that kind of work but also feel kind of ramshackle and random and weird. Better settle in.” WH Listeners will notice a clear difference in Gabriel’s singing style. WHHis “voice and the backing behind him shifts throughout, from long bellowing to nasally whining to that sarcastic version…in the outro.” WH That ending actually borrows music and lyrics from The Drifters’ “On Broadway.”

Fly on a Windshield Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 28 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.59 streaming About the Song: “Fly on a Windshield” grew out of “a group improvisation sparked by Rutherford's idea of Egyptian pharaohs going down the Nile, which Hackett compared to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. Banks described the part where the entire band comes in, signifying the moment a fly hits the windshield of a car, as ‘probably the single best moment in Genesis’s history.’” WK In his in-depth analysis of the album, blogger W.A. Hughes is more critical. He says, “This track does a good job integrating the synth into a heavy, pulsing texture, but there’s not much development here and the lyrics seem mostly like an excuse for Gabriel to throw in as many pop culture references as possible in a Dylanesque tangle rather than follow up on the scene he just set.” WH In regards to how it fits in the overall concept, “Rael’s lost in a miasma here and with all of what’s about to follow, you probably won’t remember much of this piece. Like the title track, though, there’s some important musical foreshadowing happening here, with melodies that will come back later at crucial moments, and the soft delivery of ‘needles and pins’ makes a nice change from the harsher vocals that came before.” WH

Broadway Melody of 1974 Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.89 streaming About the Song: This is “filler music that’s probably more useful as a scene changing vamp than an actual tune.” WH It flows straight from “Fly on a Windshield” “although the two pieces were written independently and only connected later on.” WK

Cuckoo Cocoon Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 19 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.67 streaming About the Song: Steve Hacket wrote the vocal melody and the two opening chords of “Cuckoo Cocoon.” The music was done with his brother John a few years earlier, although John is uncredited. WK In terms of the story, at this point “Rael is trapped in a mysterious dark hole somewhere and muses on what might be going on. He’s not scared yet, and part of what makes the track work is the lyrics, which actually reflect a normal thought process for once instead of Gabriel’s idea of edginess (‘The only sound is water drops / I wonder where the hell I am? / Some kind of jam?’).” WH “Unlike the brutal ‘Fly on a Windshield,’ the tone here is softer, gentler, a throwback to Trespass in a way…Some truly beautiful piano work from Tony and watery overlay on the vocals gives it a nice Sunday-morning-breakfast vibe.” WH

In the Cage Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 22 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.03 streaming About the Song: Banks wrote nearly all the music for “In the Cage,” presenting it to the band when it was almost finished. Brian Eno contributed vocal effects to this and other songs on the album. WK “Phil Collins dominates on this track as well and would go on to do an admirable job manning vocals in a later live performance.” WH “The indulgent keyboard solo in the middle” WH plugs seamlessly “back into the main melody” WH although “a left-field reference to ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’ [is] one of many pop culture references that pop up out of nowhere throughout Lamb).” WH Here’s “where all of the bombastic arrangements and amped up drama work in the band’s favor, creating a truly exhilarating, pounding, mesmerizing little number, depicting Rael’s growing fear and claustrophobia.” WH “It all culminates in a semi-religious moment of epiphany when the cage finally breaks and Rael sees his brother, John, whom he will chase after for the rest of the album.” WH

The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 24 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.82 streaming About the Song: This is one of the few instances where the lyrics were written first. Banks said, “I just started playing these two chords, a dopey kind of riff really ... I just keep one note going through the whole thing and just change the chords underneath it, letting it build. Then what Pete did on top was kind of wild and he didn’t really make any use of the melodic content of the piece, but I think it works very well.” WK “It’s hard to really determine what qualifies as ‘weirdest song on the album’ when you’re already dealing with magical cocoons, celestial lambs and ominous moog noises, but this is…odd. It kind of sounds like something off of a children’s record, with whistles and echoes and wacky voices, as Rael travels through a magical factory, catching another glimpse of his brother in the process. You might think that awkward title would be impossible to fit in a song but Gabriel manages it, and this is, perhaps strangest of all, one of the catchier Lamb tunes that will probably stick with you after a first listen.” WH

Back in N.Y.C. Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 21 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.33 streaming About the Song: “Back in N.Y.C.” sees “Genesis adopt a more aggressive sound than before.” WK “Peter is angry! Peter is screaming! Peter is swearing! Peter is…cuddling a porcupine? All joking aside, this is a great song.” WH It has “a unique fusion of edgy vocals, relentless synth, and a bridge that’s so good it makes up for…some of the worst lyrics in Genesis’ entire catalogue (‘No time for romantic escape / When your fluffy heart is ready for rape’? ugh).” WH In fact, the lyrics “are filled with unusually violent imagery, such as gasoline, razors, fires and blood.” WH In the story, “Rael is either transported back to his New York youth or just remembering it.” WH His “entire character is about the struggle between two personalities: the aggressive tough guy punk and the lost, sensitive child underneath, with John representing a kind of ideal self. Again and again, we’ll see examples of Rael bouncing from one extreme to another. But first we have to see him shave a farm animal.” WH Mike Rutherford said it was a group composition that emerged from improvisations but Banks says it was he and Rutherford alone who wrote the song. WK

Hairless Heart Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 3.50 streaming About the Song: “Hairless Heart” grew out of a guitar melody by Steve Hacket. Tony Banks then composed the rest as backing. WK The instrumental piece is essentially Banks playing scales at different speeds “played multiple times with different effects and a zither vibrating somewhere.” WH The results, though, are “positively mind-blowing.” WH “and does a good job capturing that sense of majesty that many…come to prog for in the first place.” WH He wasn’t happy about the title, which is a reference to a lyric in “Back in N.Y.C.,” because, as he said, “shaving hair off the heart, it’s a horrible concept!” WK It is a weird vibe that the song soundtracks “a boy grooming a heart into a lamb’s fur.” WH

Counting Out Time Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: single (11/15/1974), The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 23 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.41 streaming About the Song: Peter Gabriel wrote this before the concept of Lamb had come about. It is one of the few songs not written collaboratively by the band. WK The guitar solo by Steve Hackett “was filtered through an EMS Synthi HI-Fli guitar synthesizer.” WK It is “one of the few tracks that can stand alone reasonably well as that dreaded creature, the ‘pop single.’” WH “Rael, for no real reason, reminisces about that one time he tried to get his girlfriend off using a dodgy sex manual from a bookstore: needless to say, it did not go well. It’s a fun song on its surface, and you certainly won’t find many bands willing to use the phrase ‘erogenous zones, I love you” as their chorus. But the goofy electric banjo or whatever that is that comes in before the final verse (‘Taake it away, Mr. Guitar!’) might be a little too much to take, especially considering the heaviness surrounding it on the album.” WH

The Carpet Crawlers Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: single (4/18/1975), The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 12 CL, 19 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 19.33 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Peter Gabriel wrote some lyrics for “The Carpet Crawlers” before it had any music. Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford then “put together a chord sequence in D, E minor and F-sharp minor with a roll from the drums flowing through it.” WK “Gabriel spent ‘hours and hours’ on an out-of-tune piano at home developing the song, and his wife recalled his fondness for the track.” WK She said he wrote the main melody. WK The beginning of the song reprises “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.” WK This “is probably the biggest single success to come from the whole of Lamb, lasting as a live Genesis staple well after Gabriel’s departure and serving as a sort of bridge between the pop and prog factions within the group.” WH It’s “a pretty sweet jam, building up masterfully yet again and letting Gabriel change vocal costumes multiple times, from mystical to murky to ecstatic.” WH “It’s a rare example of a song where the verses are louder than the chorus and shows that not all of the band’s sonic adventures were trips up their own arses. They could deliver the goods, even when the plot was slipping hopelessly away from them.” WH

The Chamber of 32 Doors Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.00 streaming About the Song: “Carpet Crawlers” “ends so well that it seems like a shame to pivot directly into this monster, which features what feels like nine or ten dramatic pitches, blathering Blake-esque descriptions of fantasy people and a bizarre country section with the lines ‘I’d rather trust a man who works with his hands’ (yes, really) that’s unintentionally pretty funny, mainly for the WTF factor.” WH The song details “Rael’s fruitless attempts to travel through the Chamber only to end up right where he started.” WH “There’s a quick appearance from Rael’s parents that doesn’t have any real impact on the plot. With all the Freudian angst going on, it seems a little strange that Mom and Dad don’t get involved.” WH

Lilywhite Lilith Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 23 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.67 streaming About the Song: "Lilywhite Lilith" was built on two song fragments written by Phil Collins. One was from the 1969 song “The Light” which Genesis never recorded and the other came later on. WK “This is a pleasantly upbeat little rock tune that almost feels like it could stand on its own, still flecked with distinctive Genesis weirdness, like the way Peter’s voice spikes up on the chorus or the mix of grinding guitars and wispy keyboards. Then, rather abruptly, this melody disappears, replaced by a motif from ‘Fly on a Windshield.’” WH In the story line, Rael “was lost and confused…in a ‘Chamber of 32 Doors,’ begging for help.” WH Now he gets it “in the form of a mysterious old blind woman who takes him out of the darkness to a throne room.” WH Then “Lilywhite Lilith is suddenly gone, and Rael is left to face another terrifying ordeal.” WH “The lack of an ending is really the only mark against this song, since it’s otherwise very listenable, and adds some more action to the proceedings after the stultifying ‘Chamber.’” WH

The Waiting Room Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.31 streaming About the Song: “The Waiting Room” developed as a ‘basic good to bad soundscaping’ jam while it was raining outside Headley Grange. When the band stopped, a rainbow had formed. Collins remembered Hackett playing ‘these dark chords, then Peter blows into his oboe reeds, then there was a loud clap of thunder and we really thought we were entering another world or something. It was moments like that when we were still very much a unified five-piece.’ Banks regretted not recording the improvisation as it took place, as he felt the band were unable to recreate the tone of the original in their later renditions.” WK Blogger W.A. Hughes calls the song, “which is all weird noises and undulations…a bargain basement version of ‘On the Run,’” WH from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. He even accuses Genesis of “trying to rip off one of the best-known and most popular prog bands of all time, even if it doesn’t really serve any purpose other than being tedious.” WH

Anyway Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.41 streaming About the Song: “Anyway” developed from a song named ‘Frustration,’ which Banks wrote before Genesis was formed.” WK Gabriel does “a jaunty recitation with a little bite to it, held up by some pretty rad guitars, especially the soaring jam at the end.” WH “Narrative-wise, there’s nothing really going on here, as Rael goes on a stream-of-consciousness rant about mortality, but there’s at least one good line (‘Anyway/they say she comes on a pale horse/but I swear I hear a train’) and strong work from Hackett to help it stand out, as well as some ghostly piano bookend bits.” WH

Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.40 streaming About the Song: “These last few songs are supposedly about Rael’s encounter with Death.” WH The second half of this song is “a pretty decent instrumental rock-waltz…way better than the silly beginning, with stupid lyrics.” WH

The Lamia Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 2.16 streaming About the Song: “The music for ‘The Lamia’ was primarily written by Banks. After he brought it to the band, Gabriel wrote the lyrics, and Banks brought it home to write the vocal melody.” WK Conceptually, the song “ is kind of like a mini-rock opera in itself, with Gabriel oddly switching tenses from first to third person and an entire story playing itself out over the whole song. Basically, Rael finds himself in a pool filled with snake women…They seduce him and bite his flesh, which essentially gives him an orgasm, but his blood kills them instantly…Then he eats their bodies (?) and peaces out as the room grows cold and the ‘water turns icy blue.’” WH “If you can get past the intentional ickyness, the song is an effectively disturbing portrayal of sexual fears/moral panic, specifically the idea that sex will corrupt you and make you a monster (which, unfortunately, dominates the next few songs).” WH “The strange, evocative lyrics, sing-song melody and dramatic flair actually do all work together the more you pay attention, and the amazing guitar solo from Hackett at the end kicks it up a whole star rating all on its own.” WH

Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.39 streaming About the Song: “Genesis goes ambient.” WH “By now you should be well used to these ‘scene change’ ditties which are only there to kill time, and this one is in the middle: not as bland as ‘The Waiting Room’ but not as dramatic as ‘Hairless Heart’ either. It smacks of Brian Eno’s interest in experimental ‘music for airports,’ though in a good way, even if no one is going to put this at the top of their Prog Genesis list.” WH There ae also some “biblical vocal effects that rise in the middle, making this feel like we’re at least building up to something. And are we ever…” WH

The Colony of Slippermen Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.30 streaming About the Song: “The Colony of Slippermen” is divided into three parts – “The Arrival,” “A Visit to the Doktor,” and “Raven.” The riffs preceding the latter song were recycled from the unrecorded 1969 Genesis song “The Light” which was also used for “Lilywhite Lilith.” WK “Slippermen” also elements of an untitled song from the group they simply called “Chinese Jam.” WK “The synthesizer solo was developed as a joke, parodying traditional rock forms, but when played back the band found it sounded stronger than they had intended.” WK Blogger W.A. Hughes asserts, however, that it definitely “feels like the band has become a bad parody of itself.” WH The music is “confusingly busy as it jumps from one section to another.” WH “Gabriel introduces his most infamous character, the warty, debauched Slipperman. Apparently, everyone who encounters the Lamia (or ‘tastes love’) gets deformed and bulbous, including Rael, though he doesn’t realize this until he sees someone else who has gone through the same thing.” WH “Rael meets his brother again and the two of them are ushered to a Nazi castrationist named Doktor Dyper, also voiced by Gabriel, to get their ‘windshield wipers’ removed, which apparently de-slippermanizes them.” WH “Then a blackbird comes down and steals Rael’s severed penis, dropping it down a cliff into a river. John…refuses to help Rael go get it, so our hero has to chase it himself, but he’s too late and watches it float out to sea helplessly.” WH

Ravine Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 0.97 streaming About the Song: “Ravine” “was another piece improvised by the band, with Hackett using a fuzz box and wah-wah pedal to emulate the sound of wind.” WK Blogger W.A. Hughes says, “I’m not really sure what the best music to listen to after watching your genitals drift down a river is, but this probably isn’t it. Creepy theremin-style stuff has its place, certainly, and the general vibe is very eerie, but this is another two minutes of nothing that could have been shortened to an outro, or a segue into the next song.” WH

The Light Lies Down on Broadway Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.24 streaming About the Song: “The Light Dies Down on Broadway” reprises the verses from “The Lamia” and the chorus from the album’s title cut, although the latter are arranged at a slower tempo. WK It’s neat and theatrical, but it also underlines the duality theme, with one song representing the tough-guy vision of ‘home’ Rael longs for and the other representing whatever this weird nightmare land full of horny snake people is.” WH Banks and Rutherford did write words for “The Light Lies Down on Broadway” when Gabriel couldn’t up with a piece to link “Ravine” and “Riding the Scree.” WK It was the only song on the album with lyrics from someone other than Gabriel, although he did tell them what action needed to take place during the song. WK It makes for “the most coherent plot of all the songs here, in a way that feels dramatically fulfilling, like we’re watching a musical.” WH “Kudos to Banks and Rutherford for putting some narrative heft back into the story.” WH “There’s a real sense of grandeur here that would have made for a great finale.” WH “After a series of random events in which Rael had had little to no agency, our hero finally, finally, finally gets a big moment where he has to actually make a choice, and the encounters from the previous track feel like they have actually led to something.” WH “It almost brings everything together.” WH “Opening with some more eerie music that actually works, this song has Rael discover a portal back to New York, though he doesn’t entirely trust it (‘Is this the way out/of this endless scene/ or just an entrance/ to another dream?’). He’s about to go through when he notices John has fallen into the river, and has to choose between saving himself or helping someone who has been totally useless to him for the whole album…It doesn’t take him long to decide, though…and the portal closes for good as he dashes after his brother.” WH

Riding the Scree Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.10 streaming About the Song: Other than a brief vocal by Pete Gabriel, “Riding the Scree” was entirely played by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford on bass and guitar. WK “It was a particularly difficult track for Banks to play on stage due to its irregular meter with multiple time signature changes, so he played the solo in 4/4 time and hoped to end up with the rest of the band at the end.” WK The song’s “keyboard regalia and odd time signature” WH make for a good first half of the song, but the “latter half is marred by misdirection and a woefully bad Frank Zappa impression from Pete.” WH “It’s not funny or particularly inspired, just random, confusing and alienating.” WH As far as the word “scree,” it is defined in Merriam-Webster as “an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.” WH In the context of this song, the lyrics are about “Rael getting down to the water to save John, because things were apparently moving way too quickly.” WH

In the Rapids Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 36 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.05 streaming About the Song: According to Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford is the sole composer on “In the Rapids,” WK “probably the slowest song about rushing rapids ever written.” WH It is “a beautiful, short ballad with some tender vocals in the lower register for Peter, an unusual and powerful sound for him.” WH “There’s no goofy wordplay here, just a sober and earnest crescendo.” WH “Because it’s essentially just a long verse, there’s no resolution, just a bigger and bigger swell as Rael catches up with John and holds him close, united with him at last. But wait! ‘Something’s changed!’ Rael exclaims. ‘That’s not your face! It’s mine! IT’S MIIIIINEEE!’” WH

It Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford Released: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) Peak: 23 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 1.19 streaming About the Song: “Genesis were unable to come up with ideas that they liked for a finale, so they settled for a piece Banks and Hackett wrote as an instrumental as the music for the closing track.” WK “After all of the build-up and ordeals both we and Rael have been through, not to mention the band, you’re probably going to end the whole experience by simply saying ‘Wait. That’s it?’” WH It “doesn’t call back to any of the previous motifs” WH and “vaguely resembles the Charlie’s Angels theme.” WH “We’re supposed to feel the joy of Rael finally accepting himself.” WH “At least there’s a triumphant scream (‘It is RAEEEL!’) to signify some sort of high point for Rael’s character development, and a somewhat happy ending, if you consider vanishing into a cloud of purple mist to be happy.” WH Peter Gabriel said the lyrics were about forming “substance from negatives.” WK The final lyric, “It’s only knock and know all, but I like it” was a play on the Rolling Stones’ “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It).” WK

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by Bruce Eder WH W.A. Hughes (2017). “Classic Genesis Album Review: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Part 1) and (Part 2) AP Andy Phillips (3/19/2020). The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: The Full Inner Gatefold Story and Lyrics” JP Jon Pareles, Blender magazine. (10/07), pp.118-9. WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/4/2010; last updated 9/13/2025.