TotW 12/05/2022 - 12/11/2022: GENESIS - Dancing With The Moonlit Knight

    • Official Post

    Your rating for "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight" by GENESIS 24

    1. 15 points - outstanding (10) 42%
    2. 14 points - very good (10) 42%
    3. 13 points - very good - (3) 13%
    4. 12 points - good + (1) 4%
    5. 11 points - good (0) 0%
    6. 10 points - good - (0) 0%
    7. 09 points - satisfactory + (0) 0%
    8. 08 points - satisfactory (0) 0%
    9. 07 points - satisfactory - (0) 0%
    10. 06 points - sufficient + (0) 0%
    11. 05 points - sufficient (0) 0%
    12. 04 points - sufficient - (0) 0%
    13. 03 points - poor + (0) 0%
    14. 02 points - poor (0) 0%
    15. 01 points - poor - (0) 0%
    16. 00 points - abysmal (0) 0%

    We invite you to share interesting facts and tidbits about this track. Let's look at the track in the context of the band's / the artist's history, at the music, the songwriting and all other aspects that are relevant for this track. Please do stick to the discussion of the track above. Comparisons to other tracks are okay, but remember that the other track you may be keen to talk about has or will have its own Track Of The Week thread. If you spot a mistake or if you can close a gap in the fact sheet above please feel free to contact martinus or Christian about it; we will gladly add and improve!


    GENESIS - Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
    Year: 1973
    Album: Selling England By The Pound
    Working title: ?
    Credits: Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett, Rutherford
    Lyrics: Yes
    Length: 8:03
    Musicians: Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford
    Played Live: 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 (intro), 1997/1998 (intro), 2021/22 (intro)
    Cover versions:

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    Notes: Peter Gabriel's costume madness did not stop at the opener of the Selling England album, nor did the early Genesis' penchant for abstract lyrics. However, the song was never set in the live set. However, the beginning of the song was even performed in 1998, as part of the "Campfire" unplugged section and also during the very last Genesis tour, as an intro to the last Encore.
  • Love the studio version (gave it top marks) but I've always been even more captivated by the early live renditions, being one of the very few Genesis tracks that allowed for some improvisation.

  • A top 10 Genesis track for me, and my favourite on SEBTP.


    If anyone were to ask if there's a track that sums up PG-era Genesis this is what I'd direct them to without hesitation. While Foxtrot of course has high points (and Lamb is my personal favourite by some distance) I feel SEBTP is where the 5-man lineup fully gels, the two 'new boys' really find their feet and everyone's reaching the top of their game, and this opening track gets the whole thing off to a perfect start.


    It contains every kind of early 70s Genesis dynamic and texture, but not in a way that feels like they just threw everything in to see if it would stick, which is the sense I sometimes got with, say, Yes. Instead, while yes it's clear there are a few segments they joined together they've done it very skilfully and with a good flow. For me it's a sort of shorter punchier Supper's Ready. In a way it's also the perfect prog song, showing how different styles could mesh together in a logical way that didn't sound like a band trying to be too fiddly or longwinded for the sake of it. In 8 minutes you get plainsong, pastoral folkiness, rock music with nice flourishes (great guitar work and effective stellar mellotron choir), some jazzy touches and a slight note of tension at the "Old man says..." segment. Oh and of course, terrific singing and top quality drumming.


    Firth and Cinema seem to get all the top votes on this album and obviously they are landmark tracks but for me this one outdoes them.

    Love the studio version (gave it top marks) but I've always been even more captivated by the early live renditions, being one of the very few Genesis tracks that allowed for some improvisation.

    Yes the London Rainbow rendition on Archive 1 is superb and has a real surging energy. No wonder critics and audiences raved about those shows, the killer intro of Watcher then this - what a double to open a gig with.

    Abandon all reason

    • Official Post

    12 points for me. I never understood why some see this one on the same level like FoF or Los Endos. It's great, but probably a bit too long.

    The 1998 acoustic intro version really worked well!

  • It's outstanding, because it's the only song via which I can transport myself back to England in 1972, when they were recording it. and remembering eating in a Wimpy Bar on our first day in London, and collecting Green Shield stamps at every petrol station we visited. Plus, it's still relevant.

  • Years ago a certain prolific writer had a website with numerous record reviews, and one feature he decided to include was going to be somewhat similar to our "Track of the Week." Basically, he wanted to take various great songs and do an in-depth lyrical and musical analysis of each one. However, he only managed to do one such article, and it happened to be about "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight."


    Regarding the extended outro: It apparently gets a lot of criticism, but I think it's a nice touch. Someone (on this board, I think, but I can't find it now) wrote something about how it makes fairly little impression (though in a good way) even though it takes up a "full quarter" of the song. I did the math, though, and found that it actually only takes up a fifth of the song.

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

  • Years ago a certain prolific writer had a website with numerous record reviews, and one feature he decided to include was going to be somewhat similar to our "Track of the Week." Basically, he wanted to take various great songs and do an in-depth lyrical and musical analysis of each one. However, he only managed to do one such article, and it happened to be about "Dancing With the Moonlit Knight."

    Is it still up?


    Quote

    Regarding the extended outro: It apparently gets a lot of criticism, but I think it's a nice touch. Someone (on this board, I think, but I can't find it now) wrote something about how it makes fairly little impression (though in a good way) even though it takes up a "full quarter" of the song. I did the math, though, and found that it actually only takes up a fifth of the song

    I like the coda too. I get if someone might not like it as it seems to bear no relation to the song as a whole and comes across as a mere add-on. I see that, but it doesn't bother me. I like the short bridge from the main part of the song as it breaks down and goes a bit 'aimless' then cross-fades into the coda with that brief moment of 'seagull' type sounds - it's very un-Genesis and creates a nice little flurry of confusion before settling into the coda, which itself brings to my mind the sense of drifting down a slow river overhung by trees, with sunlight dappling through. It's tranquil yet there's a very slight hint of something darker.


    I like your observation about the coda taking up only a fifth of the song rather than the previously claimed quarter, but not as much as I like how it was specified earlier the whole song is 8:04 (cd) or 8:02 (lp) and is now listed at the top of this thread as 8:03. I'm not being sarcastic by the way, I really do like that.

    Abandon all reason

  • 14 for me. It's a highlight off SEBTP along with firth of fifth. Apart from that I find the album altogether too 'pastoral' for my liking.


    I love how tight the band sounds on this and as others have noted, it's prog without the bloat or meandering noodly quality prog often has (which I find Genesis has very little of mostly). The "there's a fat old lady outside the saloon" bit really hits and is my favorite part. It's a highlight in the Genesis catalog really. I don't like the inclusion of the word unifaun so prominent and so early though - it's a clangy bit of progginess to my ears.

  • I didn't think it was until I looked for it. At some point he even added further information to it, which I didn't see before.


    George Starostin - Song analysis

    OK thanks. One thing he didn't amend was his notion that the mellotron choir is "backing vocals". I love the idea the rest of the band made themselves sound like a synthetic choir.


    On that, the ghostly distant entry of the choir after "...don't give a damn", then gloriously swelling at "the captain leads..." is one of my favourite Genesis moments.

    I don't like the inclusion of the word unifaun so prominent and so early though - it's a clangy bit of progginess to my ears.

    Hahaha! I've always been struck by 'unifaun' but never in that way. If anything it amuses me in the same way as Steve Miller's "pompatus".

    Abandon all reason

  • 14 from me. Lyrically, it's all over the place, some good bits, some bad, but musically, it's Genesis at their best, Mount Everest looking down on the valley that is the likes of "That's All" (Or "That'll Do" as I call it) 10 years later.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!