Genesis “Mama” charted

Mama Genesis

Writer(s): Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford (see lyrics here) Released: August 22, 1983 First Charted: September 17, 1983 Peak: 73 US, 60 CB, 5 AR, 4 UK, 43 CN, 45 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.25 UK, 0.75 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 17.9 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The evolution of the band Genesis is one of rock history’s most intriguing stories. They formed as a progressive-rock group in 1967 with singer Peter Gabriel at the forefront. They reached a commercial and artistic peak with 1974’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, a cornerstone of progressive rock which reached the top 10 in the UK and achieved gold status in the U.S. Then Gabriel left. Instead of recruiting a new lead singer, the band promoted drummer Phil Collins into the role. In 1978, they entered new territory with And Then There Were Three, their first platinum album in the U.S. It gave the band their first top-40 hit with “Follow You Follow Me.” The next two albums, Duke (#11, 1980) and Abacab (#7, 1981), gave the band the core of its classic-rock staples with “Turn It on Again,” “Misunderstanding,” “Abacab,” “No Reply at All,” and “Man on the Corner.” The latter album was the group’s first of four consecutive top-ten, multi-platinum albums. The group’s self-titled 1983 album gave Genesis yet another first when “That’s All” became their first top-10 hit. There would be more to come – 1986’s Invisible Touch churned out five top-5 hits. However, the Genesis album found the group in an interesting middle ground. They now had one foot in the pop world with “That’s All” but they also maintained their presence in album rock with seven songs reaching that chart, including three top-10s. The first of these was “Mama,” the album’s lead single. The song only reached #73 in the United States, but in the UK its #4 peak made it the most successful song in the band’s career. The song was marked by its “harsh drum machine introduction composed by Mike Rutherford, which leads into minimalist synthesizer lines in a minor tonality and finally Phil Collins’ reverb-laden voice.” WK Some interpreted that song as being about abortion, with the narrator being the voice of a fetus pleading with the pregnant woman not to abort. SF However, Collins based the song on David Niven’s book The Moon’s a Balloon in which a young man falls for a prostitute who is not interested in him. In the song, Collins gives the man an Oedipal complex, meaning he is fixated on referring to the sex worker as “Mama.” SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Genesis SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/29/2022.