For me, I've never really cared what the lyrics meant. For that matter, I never cared if they meant anything, as long as the song sounds good.
I've read interviews with Peter Gabriel where he mentioned he picked words that sounded good as opposed to those that made the most sense.
Having said that, I dislike 'Man of Our Times', but not necessarily for the same reason as the rest of you 
For me, I've never really cared what the lyrics meant. For that matter, I never cared if they meant anything, as long as the song sounds good.
I've read interviews with Peter Gabriel where he mentioned he picked words that sounded good as opposed to those that made the most sense.
Having said that, I dislike 'Man of Our Times', but not necessarily for the same reason as the rest of you
Some songwriters put the lyrics higher in importance than others. Classic example is Barclay James Harvest, where John Lees is more lyric focussed, while Les Holroyd would use words for their sound, rather than what they meant. I think most BJH fans would say John wrote better songs, true for me, though many of Les's are good, esp. when he wrote songs that made a point, like "Who do we think we are"
I was thinking about other potential Genesis lyrics that put a ? above the head...and I couldn't believe it, but OF COURSE I forgot about: Dodo/Lurker!! IMO one of the band's most obscure and nonsensical lyrics-unless I'm completely missing whatever intended message there...
Any ideas?
In Dodo there's a vague thread about humanity's treatment of animals, but it's buried in other stuff that's in line with Banks's assertion that he'd often put stuff in for its overall feel, sound and fitting the meter rather than any meaning. Regarding Lurker, he said he wanted to write a 'riddle' lyric but admitted there was no specific solution to it.
Someone suggested that based on the "clues" a possible answer to the 'who am I' was 'a submarine' which then led neatly into the third part of the originally planned suite. Which is frankly a bit of a stretch.
the originally planned suite
But was this really planned, or is it a random fan fantasy, based on his own understanding of the lyrics that got spread all over the fanbase, to the point it became a *fact* ?
But was this really planned, or is it a random fan fantasy, based on his own understanding of the lyrics that got spread all over the fanbase, to the point it became a *fact* ?
TB says in this interview there was such a plan. What's never been clear is whether Naminanu would have been the start or end of it.
What sounds sounds like tympani rolls at the end of Lurker are heard briefly at the start of Submarine which suggests a D/L-Sub linkage was intended.
TB says in this interview there was such a plan. What's never been clear is whether Naminanu would have been the start or end of it.
What sounds sounds like tympani rolls at the end of Lurker are heard briefly at the start of Submarine which suggests a D/L-Sub linkage was intended.
Interesting. I didn't know the 'Dodo Suite' was actually thought of by the band. I just thought it was put together by fans as part of the whole "Abacab Complete" bootleg thing.
I'd imagine Naminanu would've come first. Also re: Submarine-I would imagine it would've been developed a bit more if they did end up putting those together. The drums in there sound rather...improvised and sloppily mixed.
