Explanations about things in Genesis and solo songs

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The Shout -- info about the unreleased soundtrack Silver Song -- info about the unreleased Ant Phillips track

Giant hogweed makes triffids look like pansies (from Marianne Leitch in London)

John Wyndham's distinctly nasty but purely imaginary triffids wouldn't stand a chance against the latest alien plant which is taking over Britain's waterways.

Giant hogweed (heracleum mantegazzianum) has British botanists and day trippers worried. At 15 foot, its pungent-smelling white flower heads tower over all other riverside vegetation. An average sized specimen is twice the height of most human beings. More importantly, giant hogweed displays blatantly anti-social characteristics, as picknickers and angry farmers are painfully finding out.

"Anyone who touches the plant and is then exposed to sunlight can get a very nasty burn indeed," says hogweed expert, Dr Jim Forbes.

"The stem and leaf stalks of giant hogweed contain large amounts of sap and copious quantities are released if a stem or leaf is broken or cut. The sap contains furocoumarins, substances which photosensitise the skin on contact."

Victims can suffer anything from a mild rash to painful, watery blisters, which in severe cases can require treatment in hospital. For some super-sensitive types, contact with giant hogweed results in a severe case of recurrent dermatitis, with the rash sometimes reappearing months after the original contact with the plant.

Children are particularly at risk, as they are attracted to the plants by their spectacular height and large flowers.

The invasion of the giant hogweed is puzzling British agriculturists and scientists. The plant was introduced from the Russian Caucasus at the end of the 19th century as a decorative plant for the gardens of great houses.

Its effective reproduction system - the massive flower head on a single plant produces 5000 or more seeds - caused its immediate spread to neighbouring riverbanks and wild areas. But it is only over the past few years that giant hogweed has spread so rapidly as to give farmers and agriculturists grave cause for concern.

"There must be hundreds of miles of riverbanks overrun by now" said Dr Forbes glumly. "The Tweed is bad, but so are the rivers Deveron, Lossie, Findhorn, Nairn and South Esk. Over the past few years it has grown like wildfire."

The giant hogweed's extraterrestial characteristics are highlighted by its fantastic growth rate. In two months it can grow from a pretty harmless-looking six inch weed into a 15-foot monster. "You can almost hear it growing," said a harrassed county council official.

An Edinburgh professor believes the plant sends on average 10 Scots per week to hospital. Many people who are unaware of the plant's hostility are drawn to it by its stature and color - the reddish tinged stem and leaf stalks covered with bristles support a huge white flower head.

Cattle and sheep love it, and it doesn't seem to do them any harm. "Animals seem to relish giant hogweed, and they can graze on the young plants, but most grow too high," said Dr Forbes.

Children try to use the long, hollow stems as peashooters or "telescopes" - with dire results.

Dr Forbes describes the smell of giant hogweed as "unpleasant - a mixture of parsnips, celery, parsley and carrots." In fact, giant hogweed is related to the parsnip family but the family connections are loose, and don't extend to the nutritious aspects of its milder and more congenial cousins. Experts advise in the strongest possible terms against eating the plant.

They attribute its harmful effects on the skin to chemicals contained in the sap which are similar to those used in several leading tanning lotions. "It effects the skin in the same way as suntan preparations," said Dr Forbes. "The rash and blisters can be likened to a severe case of sunburn."

Giant hogweed poses a serious threat along British waterways and in areas of uncultivated land.

The only way to eradicate it for good is to cut the plant below ground level with a spade - a laborious and impractical method where thousands of plants have taken over whole tracts of land.

Dr Forbes and his colleagues are experimenting with herbicides, hoping to find one which will kill giant hogweed without harming surrounding vegetation.

"I don't want to be alarmist," he added, "it's still only a minor problem. But we ought to look out now before it becomes a major one. It's already taken over miles and miles of river banks, and its already at the stage where I think its going to be very difficult to control."

[Source: Ovid's Metamorphoses]

How the Fountain of Salmacis aquired its illrepute and why its evervating waters weaken and soften the limbs they touch.

A son born to Mercury and Venus was brought up by niads in Ida's caves. His name was Hermaphroditus. At 15 he left Ida and visited remote places just for fun. He saw a pool of water where Salmacis lived, the only nymph not known to Diana. She wouldn't hunt with the other nymphs, or do much of anything. She gathered flowers, and saw Hermaphroditus whom she longed to posess at first sight. She made herself beautiful, went to him, and asked to be his lover, and to marry him if he wasn't already. Hermaphroditus didn't even know what love was. Salmacis threw herself at him. She goes away and he goes swimming in the pool. When he is in the pool, Salmacis says "I have won! He is mine!" and jumps in after him. They have sex -- an are permanantly joined together into a single form. Hermaphroditus grows weak and enfeebled. He asks his father to curse the pool, so that "if any man enter this pool, may he depart hence no more than half a man, amy he suddenly grow weak and effeminate at the touch of these waters." Both parents went along with this and cursed the pool.

[Taken from the NURSERY CRYME C.D. Liner notes:]

"Hermaphrodite: a flower containing both male and female organs: a person or animal of both sexes. The child hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the result of a secret love affair.For this reason he was entrusted to the nymphs of the isolated Mount Ida, who allowed him to grow up as a wild creature of the woods. After his encounter with the water nymph Salmacis, he laid a curse upon the water. According to fable, all persons who bathed in the water became hermaphrodites."

From: David J W Fraser

- good old King Canute (or Knut if you like)

- I believe he was a Viking/Norse king who conquered the English throne in the 10th or 11th century AD (before William the Conqueror anyway). Much is made of the fact that his naval power was immense, so much so that this story got about that he thought he could even control the tide. It's now a bit of a folk tale (in Britain anyway). I don't give it any credence.

Author: Kevin Ball

Date: 09-Oct-1992

With reference to David J W Fraser's former note on the above. He correctly does not attribute much reality to King Canute's legend of thinking he could control the waves. Here, to set the record straight, is the real story.

The Viking invasion of England commenced in 789AD, raiding and plundering being the order of the day. As time went by, the Danish economy was plunged into crisis, as changes to the map of Europe closed the long-established oriental trade route along the volga; Denmark enjoyed the fruits of being the western terminus of this route. Conquest and occupation of a foreign land was an effective way of extracting long-term assets to replace the loss.

Thus it was that Forkbeard the Conqueror, the greatest Viking leader, arrived to conquer England early in the 11 Century (he preceded William the Conqueror, who led an army of disaffected Vikings that had earlier settled in Normandy). Although a pagan, Forkbeard produced a son and heir, Knud (or Canute in English), who went on to succeed his father as the first of the Viking leaders to be accepted by the fraternity of the Christian Kings. Knud was reputably "of great size and strength, and very handsome except that his nose was thin, high, and very slightly bent. He had a light complexion and fair, thick hair, and his eyes surpassed those of most men, in beauty and in keenness." Knud had already been King of England for two years when he succeeded his brother as King of Denmark as well.

Tomas Ruden of Sweden adds: "The Danish royal dynasty began with Gorm, grandfather of Sven Forkbeard. Sven's father Harald was the first Danish king who became a Christian. I think that Sven hated him for that. One [condition] that for the other Christian Kings in Europe to accept Knud was that he converted to Christianity. All this was happening at the time when Christianity replaced paganism in Scandinavia.

"Queen Margrete of Denmark is the 53rd ruler of the dynasty that began with Gorm. It's Europes oldest royal dynasty."

Knud, surrounded by sycophants and obsequious courtiers, had an unwelcome and undeserved reputation of being master of anything in the universe, especially the angry North Sea separating his two seats, England and Denmark. Irritated and tired of this ridiculous assertion, he placed his throne on the beach - but not to defy the incoming tide. He sat on the beach and let the waves engulf him precisely to demonstrate that he was not master of the seas, whatever anyone said.

He did in fact swim to safety after he had proved his point. Thereafter he is reported to have reigned respected over a powerful and fruitful Baltic empire (including Norway and Sweden, whom he had also conquered) from his seat in England. Ruden notes: "Swedish history doesn't recognize Knud as conquerer of Sweden. He may have defeted Sweden in battle (I'm not really sure about what happened) but he wasn't able to hold on to his victory." However, the life and success of one of the most able and successful rulers in history was abruptly terminated with his tragic and sudden death at the age of 37. His story is not often told, hindered by the inaccurate legend of his beach escapade, and overshadowed as he is by William the Conqueror, a much less able, although more famous, man. Knud is credited with introducing Christianity into Denmark, to replace the barbarism of a pagan nation, and hence to enable the nation to become the prosperous democracy that is modern-day Denmark.

The song, enigmatic at the best of times (it doesn't even mention Knud or Canute), seems to be a curious mix of the truth and the legend:

They told of one who tired of all, singing Praise him, praise him We heed not flatters he cried

These lines seem to suggest the distaste that Knud had of his sycophantic supporters, but the next lines belie the historical accuracy of the song:

By our command, waters retreat, Show my power, halt at my feet

The throne sinks...

The waves surround the sinking throne...

...But he forced a smile even though His hopes lay dashed where offerings fell.

That last line seems to imply that Knud hoped he could defeat the waves; part of the fiction. But then we get a tantalising glimpse of the actual outcome when Knud failed to stop the waves:

More opened ears and opened eyes And soon they dared to laugh [the courtiers and supporters of the King laughing at their prior foolish assertions??]

As they above shows, the song is a curious mishmash of truth and fiction, which might explain why it is so intriguing and difficult to decipher. But still a brilliant song.

Kevin Ball, 9 October 1992

1379-1362 B.C. (died at 17!). King of Egypt (18th Dynasty), who may have ruled jointly for a time with Amenhotep III. His favourite wife was Nefertiti, whose portrait head (now in the Berlin museum) is the most beautiful known from ancient times, and 2 of his 6 daughters by her were married to his successors - Smenkhare and Tutankaton (later known as Tutankhamen). He developed the cult of ATON rather than the rival cult of Ammon.

Seems that his wife Jill's parents lived in this old house, and on the top floor there was a really strange room, all draped in purple and black, and permanently colder than the rest of the house. Now, for some reason Pete and Jill were up there one day, and they had this really wierd experience. Pete doesn't go into too many details, but it was probably something supernatural, and he does say that the climax was when he looked at Jill and actually saw another face inside hers - an evil one...(c.f. "I swear I saw your face change, it didn't seem quite right"). Quite understandably, this freaked Peter out to a high degree, and it inspired him to write "an epic story about good and evil" (his own words) which became "Supper's Ready". It gradually grew in the writing, until it picked up all the Book of Revelation stuff - Pete says that he sometimes felt he was being "led" to these sources (yes, but by what? :-)) All of which explains why Gabriel always had such a high emotional link to the song - he says that he felt sometimes that he was "singing for his soul"... wow! spooky, eh!

Well, there's more to it than that, as told by Peter in Gallo's Genesis book. Seems there was an ex-friend of Peter & Jill's who was dabbling with the occult, and sending very negative stuff towards Peter & Jill. While they were having their experience up in the strange room, Peter looked out the window and actually saw a ghostly procession on the lawn. He felt as if their lives were in actual

danger at that time. THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY - SUPPER'S READY as per it:

(John) Anthony, The Charisma house producer, befriended Peter and Jill more than the rest of the band. One night Anthony went with Jill and Peter to her parents' flat at the Old Barracks in Kensington Palace. They were in a cold room decorated in glaring turquoise and purple at the top of the house. "Jill and I were having a conversation about power and strength and will," said Anthony. "Suddenly I was aware that the whole room's atmosphere had changed. Jill had gone into some sort of trance. Suddenly the windows blew in, followed by extreme cold, followed by this psychic phenomenon."

"Neither Peter, Jill or I were doing drugs or drinking. I realized it was a basic manifestation. I have seen it before, the room was full of cold astral smoke, psychic ether. The thing that scared me was that it started moving in the form of a tourbillion - the great wheel that projects spirits into the astrosphere. It is nothing to do with death. It is a phenomenon that can occur with people with strong psyches. If you go through one there is a good chance that if you come back you will never be the same."

Peter admitted he was extremely frightened. "We saw other faces in each other. It was almost as if something else had come into us and was using us as a meeting point," he said. "The curtain flew wide open, though there was no wind, and the room became ice cold. And I did feel that I saw figures outside, figures in white cloaks, and the lawn I saw them on wasn't the lawn that was outside."

"I was shaking like a leaf and in a cold sweat, and eventually I made a cross with a candlestick and held it up to Jill when she was talking in this voice. She reacted like a wild animal and John and I had to hold her down." The incident inspired 'Supper's Ready', the epic track that takes up the entire second side of FOXTROT, the subsequent Genesis album. "I experienced a sense of evil at that point," said Peter. "I don't know how much of this was going on inside my head and how much was actually happening, but it was an experience I could not forget and was the starting point for a song about the struggle between good and evil."

One story Peter told to introduce the song at shows:

(Gabriel tells the story in His usual, very deep, monotonous voice)

"Old Henry, walked past the petshop - which was never open - into the park - which was never closed. And in the park was a very smooth, clean, green grass. So Henry, took off all his clothes, and began rubbing his flesh into the wet, clean green grass. He accompanied himself with a little tune.....It went like this:

(Phil plays a jazzy riff on hi-hats, and Peter begins making some obnoxious "Beepitty-Bop Boom Bang, Bumpety Bum Be-Boo" sounds. Very hard to transcribe in typing. At the famous Rainbow Theatre concert in October 1973, Phil pretends to have been not paying attention and does not come in on cue, and they joke with that before Phil joins in on the hi-hat. At any rate, crowd applauds when he finishes.)

"Beneath the ground, the dirty brown writhing things - called worms, interpreted the pitter-patter from above as rainfall. Rainfall in worm-world means two things: Mating and Bath time. Both of these experiences were found enjoyable to the worm colony......simultaneously. And within seconds, the entire surface of the park was a mass of dirty, brown, soggy, writhing forms. He was too pleased - old Henry - and he began whistling a tune this time, to accompany himself:"

(Same as before except Peter whistles to Phil's beat....)

"Jerusulem Boogie to us perhaps, but to the birds it meant THE SUPPER IS READY!" (the crowd erupts and the song begins..)

John McCartney & Serdar Uckun clarify this story by explaining that the tune that Peter is singing is a much-mangled version of the traditional hymn "Jerusalem". English people, such as the crowd that Genesis is playing to, would be much more able to recognize this than Americans. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer have their interpretation of the hymn on their album Brain Salad Surgery.

From Jack Beerman's collection of memorabilia comes a very fascinating explanation of Supper's Ready. The author of this pamphlet is unknown, but from the style of writing it is suspected to be written by Peter Gabriel.

He says: ``It is a handout that was given out at Genesis shows, I believe on part of the Selling England tour, but it may have been earlier, on the tour supporting Foxtrot. It is a handbill, done on one sheet but folded so it has four pages. The front has a picture of the band in Central Park, I believe, the one with Phil, Mike and Tony seated and Steve and Peter standing behind them on a rock or tree stump. They are all wearing heavy coats and there are no leaves on the tree. Peter's coat has a star on it. On top of the photo it says in tiny letters "John & Tony Smith in connection with Charisma present" above the Genesis Logo from Foxtrot with "On Tour" below the logo. Under the photo it says "Special Guests String Driven Thing."

``Inside are basically the lyrics to Supper's Ready with some annotations, divided with the same subtitles (except no. vi) as on the Foxtrot inner fold. I will transcribe the subtitles and the annotations. ''

The text of the booklet follows:

i.Lover's Leap

In which two lovers are lost in each other's eyes, and found again transformed in the bodies of another male and female

ii. The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man

The lovers come across a town dominated by two characters; one a benevolent farmer and the other the head of a highly disciplined scientific religion. The latter likes to be known as "The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man" and claims to contain a secret new ingredient capable of fighting fire. This is a falsehood, an untruth, a whopper and a taradiddle, or to put it in clearer terms; a lie.

iii. Ikhnaton and Its-a-con and their band of merry men

Who the lovers see clad in greys and purples, awaiting to be summoned out of the ground. At the G.E.S.M's command they put forth from the bowels of the earth, to attack all those without an up-to-date "Eternal Life Licence", which were obtainable at the head office of the G.E.S.M.'s religion.

iv. How Dare I Be So Beautiful?

In which our intrepid heroes invesitigate the aftermath of the battle and discover a solitary figure, obsessed by his own image. They witness an unusual transmutation, and are pulled into their own reflections in the water.

v Willow Farm

Climbing out of the pool, they are once again in a different existence. They're right in the middle of a myriad of bright colours, filled with all manner of objects, plants, animals and humans. Life flows freely and everything is mindlessly busy. At random, a whistle blows and every single thing is instantly changed into another.

vi Apocalypse in 9/8 (Co-starring the delicious talents of wild geese)

At one whistle the lovers become seeds in the soil, where they recognise other seeds to be people from the world in which they had originated. While they wait for Spring, they are returned to their old world to see Apocalypse of St John in full progress. The seven trumpeteers cause a sensation, the fox keeps throwing sixes, and Pythagoras (a Greek extra) is deliriously happy as he manages to put exactly the right amount of milk and honey on his corn flakes.

vii As sure as eggs is eggs (aching mens' feet)

Above all else an egg is an egg 'And did those feet ............' making ends meet.

(then after all the lyrics)

Jerusalem= place of peace.

mad-ri-gal \'mad-ri-gel\ n [Word derivation: It. madrigale, fr. ML matricale, fr. neut. of (assumed) matricalis simple, fr. LL, of the womb, fr. L matric-, matrix womb, fr. mater mother] (1588) 1: a medieval short lyrical poem in a strict poetic form 2a: a complex polyphonic unaccompanied vocal piece on a secular text developed esp. in the 16th and 17th centuries b: PART-SONG; esp: GLEE P mad.ri.gal.ian \,mad-re-'gal-eE-en, -'gaEl-\ adj

P mad-ri-gal-ist \'mad-ri-ge-lest\ n

2a in layman's terms means: a song sung by a small group(less than 16) written in 4 or 5 voice parts without accompaniment, mostly written in the Renissance time period.

(from _Bullfinch's Mythology_ and Funk & Wangnalls) This is reproduced without permission.

Tiresias, in Greek mythology, a Theban seer. He was said to have been struck blind by the goddess Athena because he had seen her bathing, but to have been recompensed by her with the gift of prophecy. According to another version, he was for a time transformed into a woman (by Athena). Later, having become a man again, he was asked by Zeus and Hera, king and queen of the gods, to tell which sex had more pleasure in love (making). When he replied that woman had nine times as much pleasure as man, Hera in anger blinded him (he probably hurt her ego, I guess :-J ), but Zeus granted him a long life. Tiresias played a prominent part in Theban legends, delivering prophecies to Oedipus, King of Thebes. He died while fleeing the wrath of the Epigone, descendants of the Argive heroes killed in the war of the Seven Against Thebes.

By Kevin Ball, 09-Oct-1992

This song, the second longest on the 'Selling England...' album, is perhaps the most complex of the eight. [Probably most complex of all Genesis -ed] The lyric, deceptively simple, triangulates first a Romeo and a Juliet, then Tiresias, who bridges the sexes.

Within the field of 20 Century literature, there stand two pinnacles of the Modernist movement, both published in the year of 1922: Joyce's revolutionary novel 'Ulysses', and T.S.Eliot's poem 'The Waste Land'. It is to the latter that we turn our attention.

'The Waste Land' is a long, famous poem, dealing with many complex and seemingly unrelated matters. Yet, behind the confusion, Eliot brings together a wealth of sources (from Greek legends to 16 Century English poets like Spenser) to create a poem rich in meaning and inference. The title itself is the key: The Waste Land. The poem's concern is the moral, spiritual and sexual decay of modern society. The Great War had recently be fought, seeming (at the time) to seal the fate of society. It seemed that all the modern age could offer was sterility and deep intellectual uncertainty, and disillusionment about all that 'progress' had brought in the years of great advancement from the 1870s onwards. There was a general feeling within society of the failure of science, sociology, religion, politics and the arts to provide a confidence for modern man.

The above is necessarily brief, and I refer those with more interest to the Penguin book's (Viking Penguin in the US) critical studies series volume 'The Waste Land' by Stephen Coote for further information, as well as, of course, the poem.

Eliot separated the poem into five distinct parts, the third of which is called 'The Fire Sermon'. In the first two parts, Eliot has chronicled the decline into sterility of the modern world, painting it against a background of searching spiritual experience (Grail myths, Old Testament prophets, Dante, bankrupt family traditions, Tarot cards). Now, in the third section, both the observation of real life and the search for insight are raised to a higher level. This is considered to be Eliot's most subtle and comprehensive view of the modern world, and as such is one of the most difficult and at the same time most moving parts of the whole poem.

Lines 215 to 256 are what we are interested in. Here, Eliot deals with the issue of a world where sex is devalued and meaningless, where dignity and purpose have been swept away to become selfish acts of conquest (remember the background that Eliot was writing from in the 1920's).

I quote the text without permission:

"At the violet hour, when the eyes and back Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits Like a taxi throbbing waiting, I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives, Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea, The typist home at teatime, clears her breakfast, lights Her stove, and lays out food in tins. Out of the window perilously spread Her drying combinations touched by the sun's last rays On the divan are piled (at night her bed) Stockings, slippers, camisoles, and stays. I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs Perceived the scene, and foretold the rest- I too awaited the expected guest. He, the young man carbuncular, arrives, A small house agent's clerk, with one bold stare, One of the low on whom assurance sits As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire. The time is now propitious, as he guesses, The meal is ended, she is bored and tired, Endeavours to engage her in caresses Which still are unreproved, if undesired. Flushed and decided, he assaults at once; Exploring hands encounter no defence; His vanity requires no response, And makes a welcome of indifference. (And I Tiresias have foresuffered all Enacted on this same divan or bed; I who have sat by Thebes below the wall And walked among the lowest of the dead.) Bestows one final patronising kiss, And gropes his way, finding the stairs unlit...

She turns and looks a moment in the glass, Hardly aware of her departed lover; Her brain allows one half-formed thought to pass: 'Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over.' When lovely woman stoops to folly and Paces about her room again, alone, She smooths her hair with automatic hand, And puts a record on the gramophone."

Of course, this is instantly recognisable to anyone who knows the lyric of 'The Cinema Show'. What we have here is a case of Genesis using one of the most famous poems verbatim to form one of their songs. And they also interpret some of the finer points, but more of that later...

First, let us consider Tiresias, as he is the key to unlock the lyric, if not the poem as well. Eliot, in his notes on the poem, refers us to the Latin poet Ovid, who relates the story of Tiresias. He was wandering through a forest one day, when he saw two serpents entwined. Tiresias struck them with his staff, and was instantly turned into a woman. He was thus blighted(?) for seven years, until in the eighth year he saw the same two snakes entwined again. He reasoned that if striking them changed one's sex, then by striking them a second time he could reverse his position. Thus he was returned to his natural gender.

Some time later, the two gods Jupiter and Juno were playfully arguing together as to which gender derived the most enjoyment from love. Jupiter maintained that the woman enjoyed love more than the man, which Juno denied. They decided to ask wise old Tiresias, who had experienced both genders. Tiresias confirmed that the woman enjoyed love more, upon which Juno became very indignant indeed. She condemned poor Tiresias to blindness the rest of his days (bit extreme, eh?). Unfortunately, no god was able to counteract the act of another god, but Jupiter mitigated Tiresias' punishment by giving him the power to know the future.

Alternative sources (as well as disagreeing with which gods they were) credit Tiresias with being awarded longevity as well, a claim born out by references to Tiresias in the poem - that Tiresias has "foresuffered all / Enacted on this same divan or bed;". Tiresias is painted by Eliot as the blind, eternal epitome of unhappy, loveless, sexual experience. In fact, the poem is seen through the eyes (or rather the perception, as he is blind) of Tiresias; he is our ever-present narrator and observer of human experience.

So much for the poem (I must stop there, as this is not really about the poem). We can now see that Genesis have taken the substance of 'The waste Land', and presented a pastiche of the ideas. But further study of the lyric of 'The Cinema Show' reveals that Genesis have taken the original and added something of their own interpretation of it:

"Home from work our Juliet Clears her morning meal. She dabs her skin with pretty smells Concealing to appeal. 'I will make my bed' She said, but turned to go. Can she be late for her cinema show?

Romeo locks his basement flat, And scurries up the stair. With head held high and floral tie, A weekend millionaire. 'I will make my bed With her tonight,' he cries. Can he fail armed with his chocolate surprise?

Take a little trip back with father Tiresias, Listen to the old one speak of all he has lived through. I have crossed between the poles, for me there's no mystery. Once a man, like the sea I raged, Once a woman, like the earth I gave. There is in fact more earth than sea."

Firstly, we note the symmetry of the structure of the first two verses: man and woman compared, similarly dealt with. The punctuation is very important in these verses. Note that the question line (the last) of each of the two verses is separated from the others by a period. Rhetorical in presentation, each demands the answer 'No'. No, the typist can not and will not be late for her cinema show; her bed remains unmade. No, of course the acned clerk cannot fail to win his conquest, armed to charm and beguile the lady. Man, the stronger sex, will always triumph over the weaker sex.

But not if Tiresias has anything to do with it. He urges us to take heed of his experiences, for he knows who is dominant: although the ocean covers over 70 per cent of the surface of the globe, there is, if one thinks long enough, much more 'earth'. Beyond all appearances, man is in fact less dominant than woman. Tiresias turns the rhetorical 'No' into certainly a 'Maybe', if not a resounding 'YES!'

An interesting use of the original, but I do think they have rather masked its point to make their own. Still, the background complexity and literacy of the song is outstanding even for Genesis, let alone any other group, in my experience.

(From Genesis Magazine No. 17, Oct. 1980)

From William Wordsworth's `The Daffodils':

"I wander'd lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host of golden daffodils."

The daffodils bit refers to these lines from "The Slippermen":

"I wandered lonely as a cloud Till I came upon this dusty street I've never seen a stranger crowd; Slubbedegullions on squeaky feet ..."

*********************** * {)___/} * THE SQUONK

* (-`-) * * //"(~)--,/"" * * (/ " (/ * (Lacrimacorpus dissolvens)

* ,.....( ) * * :.. (__), * * // // * * "" "" * *********************** a Squonk as pictured in ASCII by Rob Petrone

The range of the squonk is very limited. Few people outside of Pennsylvania have ever heard of the quaint beast, which is said to be fairly common in the hemlock forests of that State. The squonk is of a very retiring disposition, generally travelling about at twilight and dusk. Because of its misfitting skin, which is covered with warts and moles, it is always unhappy; in fact it is said, by people who are best able to judge, to be the most morbid of beasts. Hunters who are good at tracking are able to follow a squonk by its tear-stained trail, for the animal weeps constantly. When cornered and escape seems impossible, or when surprised and frightened, it may even dissolve itself in tears. Squonk hunters are most successful on frosty moonlit nights, when tears are shed slowly and the animal dislikes moving about; it may then be heard weeping under the boughs of dark hemlock trees. Mr. J. P. Wentling, formerly of Pennsylvania, but now at St. Anthony Park, Minnesota, had a disappointing experience with a squonk near Mont Alto. He made a clever capture by mimicking the squonk and inducing it to hop into a sack, in which he was carrying it home, when suddenly the burden lightened and the weeping ceased. Wentling unslung the sack and looked in. There was nothing but tears and bubbles.

---- William T. Cox -------- "Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts"

From: serdar@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (Serdar Uckun)

>From an interview done by Steve Clarke of the New Musical Express in December 1976 on the eve of the start of the W&W tour with the reopening of the Rainbow Theatre in London:

Eleventh Earl of Mar

Phil: "There's bits of it that actually we played and you listen to a groove and that is obviously the best way to do it so I suppose in that respect it's a group track."

Tony: "It has a group arrangement on bits that were written by me, and Steve and Mike wrote the lyrics. The synthesizer line reoccurs later on in the album. It's a thing that sounds really nice loud as well as soft. Plus the album title is conjured up very well with that line. It's quite an awkward track to open an album. It takes two or three listens before it gets through to you."

Steve: "One of the reasons we have so many different elements in one song, let alone an album, is that if the listener doesn't respond to one thing, he probably will to another thing. If you're going to lose them there, you'll catch them somewhere else."

Mike: "What you do is I sit down in the music room and you play it through two or three times and think what it can be about. And try and get an idea. I had this idea after reading this history book about a failed scottish rising. I liked the idea of him -- he was a bit gay, a bit camp, and a bit well-dressed."

Steve: "There's another song in the middle of it as well which was intended to go somewhere completely different. It was a song by itself. I was working on the idea of wind, if you like. I had a title `The House and Four Winds' which I wanted to do as a whole kind of thing and that's what remains of it."

From: David J W Fraser

In summary, the song concerns the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. The Earl of Mar led the rebel forces (in the name of the Great Pretender), but was an incompetent general, who threw away all (hence another historical song "Throwing It All Away" :-) strategic advantage by encamping around Perth for a week giving the opposing Royal forces time to get organised.

My pet gripe is that it was the _SIXTH_ Earl of Mar, not the eleventh who was responsible!! Apart from that the song is pretty accurate and sarcastic about our friend the Earl and his master.

The lyrics say: - See the fifteen going by

OK, so it's the 1715 Jacobite rebellion.

See the Stewart all dressed up ... Couldn't even lift a sword ..... Dressed too fine and smelling of wine

OK, James Stewart - "The Great Pretender" to the throne. He had lived in exile in France for years and was considered a bit of a Frenchified dandy by the native Scots.

However, he was late arriving in Scotland (I can't remember whether it was due to adverse weather conditions or reluctance to go), so the Earl of Mar, kicked off the rebellion in his absence, and succeeded in rapidly capturing the ill-defended town of Perth:

Out on the road in the direction of Perth Backwards and forwards in circles they went Found a city half open and ready to greet The conquering heroes (with blisters on their feet)

a bit sarcastic since they hadn't gone very far!

Eleventh Earl of Mar Somehow got them all this far

However, the Earl was no general and decided to wait around Perth in strength until James Stewart arrived:

Waited a week still they hadn't appeared That glorious timing that everyone feared

By doing this he lost the element of surprise, and the momentum of his "victory" and gave his enemies all the time in the world to muster forces against them. And yes the rebellion went nowhere.

They're headed for London - and that will be their grave Eleventh Earl of Mar Well he couldn't get them down that far

This from cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke):

I just realised that many Americans may not understand an aspect of this song: for years there was a pan-European TV programme called "Jeux Sans Frontieres", in which teams from different European countries would dress up in costumes, and play silly games. The teams often got rather carried away with competitiveness and tended to lose sight of the fact that they were just silly games, played for entertainment. Peter Gabriel may have gotten annoyed at the overly serious attitudes of the competitors. I know I was. In Britain, Jeux Sans Frontieres was called "It's a Knockout".

Stephen Biko was a black South African who led the resistance against the policies of Apartheid. He was arrested and tortured while in jail, resulting in his death.

There are several books on Steve Biko, and the movie Cry Freedom tells the story of Biko and his relationship with a white journalist.

(absolutely without permission, from: Boetie, Dugmore (Barney Simon, ed.), _Familiarity is the Kingdom of the Lost_ (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1969), pp. 71-72)

'Chocholoza!' Chocholoza is the song that South African blacks sing under hardship. Especially by long-term convicts when engaged in hard labour. Chocholoza is like a child with no parents. Nobody knows when or where it originated from, but what everyone knows is that when there is some kind of deep-rooted ache in the heart, the first thing to visit the lips will be 'Chocholoza'. The song with no beginning and no end, as old as misery itself.

This mystery song of dark ages was passed down to us by our ancestors through generations of hardship. Its sound rises from the very depths of a tortured soul. It encourages faith to take up when hope threatens to leave off. The word _Chocholoza_ means 'Go forward' or 'Make way for the next man'.

'Chocholoza!' The convicts in the first row were beginning to sing in high-pitched, almost soprano voices. This was the cue for the rest of us to lift our pickaxes high above our heads in one smooth motion and hold them suspended in mid-air. The more experienced convicts would twist the handles of the picks with one deft movement of the wrist, causing the two sharp points to blur as one in the air. Then they held them poised for the earthward drive.

The bass voices repeated, 'Chocholoza!' The signal to strike. The pickaxes came down swiftly in one smooth motion like conducted lightning bolts piercing the stubborn ground with a forty-in-one sound.

'Kwezantaba!' (At those far away mountains). Up went the axes to remain poised in the air, waiting for the bass voices to repeat the word 'Kwezantaba' before coming down in rhythmical precision.

I wished they wouldn't hold the song out so long when the pickaxes were in mid-air. My arms couldn't carry the weight too long. Clearly this was no place for weaklings. I wondered how Tiny was making out.

The singing went on: "Wena uya goloza". (You're a cheeky man). The bass voices would echo the words. 'Goba uya baleka'. (Because you're running away.) The bass voices repeat. . .

'Chocholoza!' God! Is this how I was to spend five years of my life?

'Chocholoza!'

To hell with the song, it was doing nothing to help my aching muscles. . . .

(end quote)

(a great book, btw... especially if you are interested in the beginnings of the Apartheid state and African resistance to it...)

From: "DAVID BALCOM" dbalcom@gmuvax.gmu.edu

Anne Sexton is an American poet/writer of the 60's and 70's. She wrote poetry in the "confessional" manner that became popular in the 60's, a style that for her was disturbing in its autobiographical nature. From Norton Anthology (American) vol. 2:

"Sexton writes about sex, illegitimacy, guilt, madness, suicide. Her first book portrays her own mental breakdown, her time in a mental hospital, her efforts at reconciliation with her young daughter and husband when she returns."

Sexton was sexually abused as a child and, in turn, sexually abused her own daughter. From these experiences, of abused and abuser, she wrote a play, Mercy Street, about incest. She committed suicide in 1975.

From: Markus F. Boie

This is from Gabbleratchet 23 (autumn 87). Enjoy!

Gabriel wanted to scatter songs about Mozo over several albums, though they would make a complete story whrn put together. The songs were:

* Here Comes The Flood - an apocalyptic vision

* Down The Dolce Vita - a ship leaving harbour on an intrepid journey

* On The Air - Mozo and his fantasy world

* Exposure - the struggle for salvation

* Red Rain - denying one's inner feelings

* That Voice Again - judgement

More on Mozo, quoting "Peter Gabriel: An Authorized Biography" by Spencer Bright, Headline Book Publishing PLC, London, 1989.

"Little more than a year after Rael was conceived, Gabriel invented the 'mercurial stranger' Mozo. 'He was partly based on Moses, but he was a fictional character who came from nowhere, disrupting people's lives and causing changes and then disappearing,' said Gabriel. Mozo was part of a 'master plan' dreamed up during his sabbatical in 1975-6 which he alternately wanted staged or filmed.

"Mozo was inspired by _Aurora Consurgens_, a medieval alchemical treatise based on the Song of Solomon. It was brought to light by Carl Jung who thought it the work of St Thomas Aquinas. The text is full of alchemical and religious symbolism and apocalyptic imagery.

"Jung saw alchemy and psychology as having the common aim of self- transformation. Gabriel was captivated by Jung's alchemical writings. 'I have always been interested in transformation of one sort of another [sic],' said Gabriel. 'When Mozo came in he upset the status quo and the story is about the struggles after his appearance.' Mozo was a catalyst for spiritual change. This was true alchemy of which changing base metal to gold was a mere analogy.

"Mozo was at the core of what Gabriel tries to express in music. Perhaps he sees himself as that mercurial stranger able to transform and uplift people.

"Gabriel wanted to scatter songs about Mozo over several albums, though they would make a complete story when put together. The songs were 'Here Comes the Flood' -- an apocalyptic vision; 'Down the Dolce Vita' -- a ship leaving harbour on an intrepid journey; 'On the Air' -- Mozo and his fantasy world; 'Exposure' -- the struggle for salvation; 'Red Rain' -- denying one's in her [sic] feelings; and 'That Voice Again' -- judgement.

"'Mozo is set in this fishing village, which is very upmarket, not quite Mediterranean, but something of that ilk,' explained Gabriel in 1987. 'There is this volcanic sand which gives the sea a red colour. Everything is focused on the sea, which is very rough, and the great macho feat is to cross the water, which no one has done.

"'Mozo is discovered in a tip, in a house built out of rubbish, on the edge of the city. And initially kids and passers-by are just very curious to look inside this little shed, and they see in it what they are most afraid of. They project their fears on to him because he is different.

"'I remember in Horsell Common near Chobham, where my parents live, there was this beaten up old caravan, with newspapers in the windows. I used to think there was a witch inside there. And I think it probably fueled this setting for Mozo.

"'Eventually the people who have discovered Mozo in this hut on a tip get disturbed. They are getting upset by what they are seeing, by what they are projecting onto him and they try to kick him out. He escapes, and he proves later that he has crossed the sea. So he goes from being the tramp underneath society to the hero on top of it.

"'And then having been placed above other people he is challenged by the people who put him up there. They then have him as a target to push down to the bottom again.'

"'On The Air', on the second album, introduces Mozo, who lives in a fantasy world created by what he picks up and transmits on his short-wave. 'Through short-wave radio he becomes whoever he wants, but in real life, on the street, he's totally ignored,' explained Gabriel.

I got power, I'm proud to be loud; my signal goes out clear I want everybody to know that Mozo is here On the air... ('On The Air'; Gabriel, 1978)

"'Down The Dolce Vita', from the first album, introduces characters setting out on the intrepid journey across the sea. Aeron and Gorham, like Mozo, have corrupted biblical names.

"'Here Comes The Flood' was written at the height of Gabriel's fascination with short-wave radio. If radio signals got stronger at night, he reasoned, maybe psychic and telepathic awareness could be similarly increased and made to flood the mass consciousness. Those who were honest and straightforward could take on board their new insights, while those who hid their thoughts and feelings would be lost.

When the flood calls You have no home, you have no walls In the thunder crash You're a thousand minds, within a flash Don't be afraid to cry at what you see The actors gone, there's only you and me And if we break before the dawn, they'll use up what we used to be ('Here Comes The Flood'; Gabriel, 1976)

"'Exposure', from the second album, is stark and minimal. The music was co-written by Gabriel and Robert Fripp, who named his 1979 album after the track. The version sung by Gabriel on Fripp's album is introduced by a recording of English sage J. G. Bennett uttering, 'It is impossible to achieve the aim without suffering.'

[My note: Gabriel simply SPEAKS the letters spelling "Exposure" over and over again. The song is "sung" by Terre Roche. Also, the version of "Here Comes the Flood" on this album is by far the superior version to any previously or subsequently recorded versions.]

"The final Mozo-linked songs to appear on record were 'Red Rain' and 'That Voice Again' from the _So_ album. 'Red Rain' is about repressed feelings and pain that become expressed by the elements.

"'That Voice Again', Gabriel explained, was about 'judgemental attitudes being a barrier between people. The voice is the voice of judgement. A haunting internal voice that instead of accepting experience is always analysing, moralizing and evaluating it.' The song was originally called 'First Stone', but Gabriel abandoned the biblical allusions. He went through three sets of lyrics before David Rhodes came to the rescue and co-wrote them with him.

"Gabriel first sought to perform Mozo in early 1976, soon after the Genesis album _A Trick of the Tail_ became their biggest success to date. It was an unfortunate time to make an approach. Genesis' good fortune overshadowed Gabriel's. There was little enthusiasm from publishers and record companies for what promised to be an expensive exercise and Gabriel was forced to wait until he had commercial success as a solo artist.

"He had discussed his ideas with Bob Ezrin, the producer of his first solo album. Ezrin told him about the Czech theatre Laaterna Magica and the pioneering Josef Svoboda. Gabriel visited him twice in Prague in the late seventies. He was interested in Svoboda's 'perforated screen' combining cinema with theatre. In it a film was complemented by live action using a device that made actors appear to go in and out of the screen.

"Gabriel was later introduced to Czech animator Raduz Cincera who developed his 'Kineautomat'. Cincera was working on opera sets for London Coliseum when he met Gabriel. 'The Kineautomat has cinema seats with yes/no buttons,' said Gabriel. 'There were about a dozen decision points, the plot chosen by vote. So, for example, an actor would come out of the screen and say to the audience, "Should I stay with my wife, or go with this woman?" And the cinema would become as lively as a football match.'

"Eventually the Mozo idea lost impetus, though in autumn 1985 Gabriel was still considering working on developing the story into an hour-long video. 'Maybe I should look at it again some day, there's still stuff in it I like. It's always the thing, the new is more attractive than the old,' Gabriel said in 1987."

From: Markus F. Boie

Here you see the last two paragraphs of D J OWENS well researched "review" of SO from the June 86 edition of the Denver, USA magazine FRONT ROW. It was greeted with incredulity in Bath.

Finally, a not of concern. Instead of singer/songwriter, he lists himself as "prophet" on the credits. This is dangerous stuff. Especially considering a song like "Red Rain" in which he "prophesizes" "red rain coming down." (actually, he sings the line a total of 21 times. Pretty repetitious, huh?) Prohpet or no prophet, only devout Gabriel fans will profit from this album.

Peter, from "Eros & Enchantment: Gabriel's US", Timothy White, Billboard, Aug. 22, 1992:

"...The ancient allegory [of Eros and Psyche] was the forerunner of the Bros. Grimm tale of "The Frog Prince," as well as "Kiss That Frog," the pivotal track on Gabriel's US, wherein a princess must have faith in the affections of a bewitched reptile in order to restore him to human form. Gabriel said he concocted his droll rock bestiary after 'reading this book by [child psychologist] Bruno Bettelheim called "The Uses of Enchantment," in which he talked about different fairy stories and what they might have been used for from a psychological perspective." As Bettelheim writes, "It is difficult to imagine a better way to convey to the child that me need not be afraid of the (to him) repugnant aspects of sex. The story of the frog--how it behaves, what occurs to the princess in relation to it, and what finally happens to both frog and girl--confirms the appropriateness of disgust when one is not ready for sex, and prepares for its desirability when the time is ripe."

The learning curve of fairy tales as celebrated in the witty/wise "Kiss That Frog" permits the child in all of us to atain a vivid prior comprehension of life's most complex maturational challenges. (Mike's note--I've read this sentence ten times now and I still have no idea what it means. Go figure)

"In terms of sex education, the fear and horror that actually go with young people's first sexual experience aren't always addressed," Gabriel says. "And Bettelheim was arguing that the legend of the princess and the frog was very good, because what sat in the psyche after the story was that something that might at first seem repulsive can turn out to be very pleasant."

Transcribed by Adrian Catchpole on 12 Jan 1993.

Genesis Magazine No. 6 January 1978

"For the past few weeks, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford have been very busy writing a film score, and have been spending a lot of time at Shepperton and Pinewood studios. More details will follow..."

Genesis Magazine No. 8 July 1978

"As mentioned previously, Tony and Mike wrote and recorded the theme and incidental music for the film 'The Shout', which has won the Special Award Grand Prix de Jury at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Mike commented "They seem to have drowned our music out with other noises", and this definitely seems to be the case. Having seen the film, I wouldn't recommend to anyone else because there is very little actual music and the story itself is rather weird. Anyway, if you're curious, give it a try. The electonics are by Rupert Hine, by the way." - Geoff Parkyn

(Rupert Hine produced Wise After The Event and Sides for Ant Phillips)

'Genesis: A Biography' by D.Bowler & B.Dray, 1992

"...some songs suffering from being cut short - 'Undertow' was a prime example of a stunning piece of music which would have scaled Olympian heights had it been stretched further, an irony at a time when critics were castigating the progressive bands of the day for extending the flimsiest of themes way beyond breaking point. (Tony did, however, return to a theme from this song on his album A Curious Feeling, also employing it on a soundtrack for The Shout which he co-authored with Mike once the recording of ...And Then There Were Three... was completed.)"

"Silver Song" is a song recorded and scheduled for a release in 7", which finally was cancelled, planned as an Anthony Phillips release. Phil and Mike both play on it.

More recently, in the re-issues on CD of Ant, he has included a version of Silver Song on one of his CDs, as a bonus track. This version is a re-recording, or at least so are the vocals, because Ant asked Phil to give his permission to release the song, but Phil didn't agree, so Ant did the vocals.