TotW 05/01/2023 - 05/07/2023: GENESIS - Me And Sarah Jane

12 points good +.

The last Genesis' Song.

Quote from rkive

12 points good +.

The last Genesis' Song.

Bizarre you should say that, I was literally just thinking "probably the last song I really liked.

I'll give it 14.

I really like this track, the slightly discombobulated dreamy feeling in the opening bits, then the staccato, schizophrenic bit with Phil's yelped vocals and shuffling beat, the oblique lyrics, the trippy bridge and it finishes strong. Each part is well executed and evocative, and the juxtaposition of them makes for a very satisfying mid-length song that I enjoy coming back to. A solid 14.

This is in my top 10 Genesis songs and is a standout on (what's usually) my 2nd favourite Genesis album. For me it's one of Banks's best works. It's a skilful illustration of how well they managed their change of style and sound. It has the tight spacey feel of the album as a whole but also shows their prog DNA in its smoothly flowing multi-section form. I make it nine distinct parts:

1 - the dreamy (as thewatcher put it) intro

2 - pack on my back which is a lovely 'step-up'

3 - the brief instrumental segment

4 - all by yourself with its deceptively complex synth line which took me some time to 'tune in' to

5 - the and now I'm standing on a corner reggae-tinged part, which sounds something of a Fugitive /This Is Love precursor, then the dramatic escalation - does that count as a segment in its own right?

6 - searching for a clue (apparently Tracey's on the sand you know - where did she come from?!)

7 - the first I'm flying breakdown part which indeed has a sort of floaty airborne aeriel-view feel

8 - the exultant penultimate 'title segment' which is one of my favourite Genesis moments. Rutherford's work on this bit is especially good.

9 - the quiet bookending conclusion

Nine parts, beautifully moved through in 6 minutes and each part warranting a song in itself in other contexts - I can imagine other bands wondering that such striking segments could be so quickly dispensed with as parts of a song rather than developed into whole songs in their own right.

Also agreed re the pleasingly opaque lyrics. I particularly like "I invent a name" which suggests everything subsequently happens in the person's head, including apparently something very climactic.

Backdrifter breaks down the song a lot better than I could, but I'll go ahead and toss in my own similar (and much shorter) assessment: I always found it interesting how the song moves in linear fashion through various sections, never returning to any part after leaving it, except at the very end.

It is the last "linear" song Genesis ever did, isn't it?

I also found this the only listenable song when I heard Abacab for the first time. The album grew on me later on but Me and Sarah Jane really sticks out, like a misplaced song but what a beautiful one. It would have been a perfect fit on Duke.

Quote from Schrottrocker

... Me and Sarah Jane really sticks out, like a misplaced song but what a beautiful one. It would have been a perfect fit on Duke.

To my ears, MASJ has this Caribbean or reggae groove which is totally uncharacteristic of Genesis but fits in perfectly on an album with such diversity as Abacab.

I couldn’t add much more to what has already been said by others, especially Backdrifter’s excellent analysis. It’s outstanding, one of the very best of the three man, or any era. They didn’t do much that equals this afterwards. Such variety in what feels like a very coherent track. The band at one of their many peaks.

Not my cup of tea really, but worth 10pts.

Quote from rkive

12 points good +.

The last Genesis' Song.

Seriously? It's a Banks track.

Quote from DecomposingMan

I always found it interesting how the song moves in linear fashion through various sections, never returning to any part after leaving it, except at the very end.

Yes and even that end bit isn't a direct repeat of the opening. In that sense of always moving on through multiple parts and never returning to a part, it reminds me of You Never Give Me Your Money.

Quote from Schrottrocker

Me and Sarah Jane really sticks out, like a misplaced song but what a beautiful one. It would have been a perfect fit on Duke.

While I don't wholly share those views, they're interesting. In being a longer song that has something of their earlier feel, it's joined by Dodo/Lurker and has the overall feel of the album in general in having a more taut character than their then-previous/recent work. In that sense I personally don't think it would sit comfortably on Duke despite having some of the same piano-led nature of many songs on that album. Banks's similar-length Duke tracks Heathaze and Cul de Sac retain the lushness and grandiosity of previous work while M&SJ already, one album later, feels very different to me and all the better for it.

This is one of only a few Genesis songs I can't get into as much as I've tried. I'm not sure why, but it just doesn't make my play lists. I love 99% of the stuff Tony writes, but this is in that 1% I guess.

Although I get why people love this track, it has never worked for me. The bits seemed stitched together without creating a greater coherent whole. Each bit feels like an underdeveloped idea. So it is one of the few I typically skip on this album.

In the vein of "those little bits you notice", I love the guitar in the opening bit, which is so wistful and remote - it almost feels like it's trying to reach out to the rest of the music to make something whole, and the glitchy bit that goes in the background. I can't tell which of them is responsible for that, it sounds like a palm-muted guitar.

14/15

One of their outstanding tracks from their later Period (or maybe second half?). Probably also the one track where you can easily say it's Tony's. After that it wasn't until Calling all stations I could find a typical Tony track again.

One of my all-time favorite Genesis songs! Great analysis by Backdrifter It really is amazing just how much sonic ground this track covers in a short time, yet it feels so natural as it flows from one section to the next.

I love this song. Along with Dodo it was my favorite on Abacab. As others have pointed out, it is absolutely amazing how many different feels and grooves Tony packed into a 6 minute song. I remember the first time I listened to the album and heard Me and Sarah Jane thinking "This is like nothing I've ever heard before." Up until that point the only other Genesis album I owned was ATTWT, which quite honestly I was not terribly fond of. Me and Sarah Jane and Dodo inspired me to dive deeper into the Genesis catalog. 10 months later I was singling along to Supper's Ready at the Merriweather Post show on the Encore Tour.