Is there something wrong with SUPPERS READY?

  • Well there is nothing actually wrong with SR, but is there a mistake the lyrics/ sections? Shouldn't Apocalypse in 9/8 finish at " in blood he's writing the lyrics if a brand new tune" and ASAEIE start with " And it's hey babe" . That makes sense lyrically and musically but according the lyrics in the gatefold it isn't. AI 9/8 continues until " it's going to work out fine" That seems wrong. Is a printing error? Never seen or heard a discussion on this. Thoughts?

  • Mr.Farmer

    Changed the title of the thread from “Is there something.with SUPPERS READY?” to “Is there something wrong with SUPPERS READY?”.
  • I'll be damned. I just pulled out my vinyl version (gatefold sleeve) and it's exactly that way on mine, too.


    I'm 100% with you....Apocalypse ends at "in blood, he's writing the lyrics to a brand new tune".....at least, that's the way I've always assumed it was.

  • I'll be damned. I just pulled out my vinyl version (gatefold sleeve) and it's exactly that way on mine, too.


    I'm 100% with you....Apocalypse ends at "in blood, he's writing the lyrics to a brand new tune".....at least, that's the way I've always assumed it was.

    Actually after listening to it for over forty years I've only just noticed myself . I had a double take ! Surely o must have noticed it before and ignored it. The remaster is an exact copy. Maybe they just can't own up to a mistake.!

  • That's it, I'm smashing my copy of Foxtrot, covering the pieces in nitric acid and bovril, burying the resulting gloop in six feet of clay in an undisclosed location and never listening to the album in any form ever again.

    Abandon all reason

  • That's it, I'm smashing my copy of Foxtrot, covering the pieces in nitric acid and bovril, burying the resulting gloop in six feet of clay in an undisclosed location and never listening to the album in any form ever again.

    In two thousand years some bloke will be out walking his dog and the hound will start pawing furiously at the earth. Jeez, what's wrong buddy? He'll dig down and find your relics. They'll end up in MOMA in NY. I'll say, I knew him. Yep I'm gonna live for two thousand years. BD was a fan of Bovril I'll say, but he was ok!


    Also if Foxtrot didn't have Watcher, Time Table, Can Utility, Get 'Em Out by Friday, Horizons or SR on it I'd do the same thing you propose.

  • BD was a fan of Bovril I'll say, but he was ok!

    As it happens, I can't stand the stuff. Never have it in the house although I've considered getting some in for disposing of albums with lyric sheets that blur the boundaries between sections of multi-part epics.

    Abandon all reason

    • Official Post

    Apocalypse peaks in the "brand-new tune" line, I agree, but I would argue that it does not end there. There is a bit of postlude to it before the music moves on to As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs.


    The bit between "brand-new tune" and "Can't you feel our souls ignite?" does not really fit to Apocalypse? But it doesn't really fit to Eggs, either! It's a transitional bit that's neither fish nor flesh (nor egg), but it's absolutely crucial to make the narrative of Supper's Ready come full circle.


    During the first parts we have moved from the couple on the sofa through a succession of most peculiar images to nothing less than The End Of The World, the ultimate, final battle between good and evil - but before everything and the song dissolves in the eternal bliss of the New Jerusalem the scene flashes back ever so briefly to the couple on the sofa - and then the big cinemascope finale of heaven.


    Should this transitional verse be assigned to Apocalypse? Or to Eggs? You could justify both. But as per the distribution of lyrics on the original Genesis have decided count it as part of Apocalypse. Artists' decision, and I can live with that. So, no, there's nothing wrong with Supper's Ready (apart from, depending on your recording and your point of view the facts that a) Peter sings it, or b) Phil sings it, or c) Ray has never fully sung it :) )





    As an aside, with the record company's unblemished record of at least one stupid mistake per (re-)release it is also entirely possible that Genesis could have assigned the transitional verse to Eggs. But they have been consistent in this, which they usually have not been in their mistakes...

  • There's a change in the music as well during the line "can't you feel our souls ignite". The "dit-dit-dit-diiit" starts. They borrowed that from Epitaph by King Crimson.

  • I agree with Liquid Len - It's a masterpiece.

    My favourite all time track :):thumbup:

    I’m on board with LL and SW. Supper’s Ready gives me chills and brings a tear to my eye nearly every time I listen to it. The song has gotten me through so many difficult times in my life. It’s one of a kind and I absolutely love it.

  • The "dit-dit-dit-diiit" starts.

    Interesting you articulate it like that. I always think of it as "beh-beh-beh-berrhhhhh". Though admittedly I'm far from certain about the spelling of beh and especially the longer 4th beh. But I've never imagined it as a series of dits. 'Dit' suggests to me a shorter, more tinny sound, or possibly the rapid "dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit" that comes in early on in Mama after the main keyboard line is introduced.

    Abandon all reason

  • I have noticed this before, I just put it down to some kind of idiosyncratic decision of Gabriel. But as martinus points out, it does feel like a sort of transitional verse that doesn't really fit in either part.


    Here's something else I've wondered about - why, at the end of the lyrics is "(CONTINUED)" printed? What's continued?

  • Here's another lyrical question I've wondered about for a long time - the lyrics "He's been stamped human bacon, by some butchery tool (he is you)" - I'm sure I hear this sung as "he is human" on the Seconds Out version - just a mistake on Phil's part?

    • Official Post

    Yeah I have noticed this before, I just put it down to some kind of idiosyncratic decision of Gabriel. But as martinus points out, it does feel like a sort of transitional verse that doesn't really fit in either part.


    Here's something else I've wondered about - why, at the end of the lyrics is "(CONTINUED)" printed? What's continued?

    The battle between good and evil. It’s ongoing. That’s why the song fades out.

  • The battle between good and evil. It’s ongoing. That’s why the song fades out.

    Yeah.. I guess. Seems like a bit of a stretch but could be the intention. I suppose it is meant to refer to the song fading out, but it still seems odd to me. It doesn't fade out on a repeated vocal refrain, so not sure why it's signposted in the lyrics.