We’ve already had some fantastic compositions in this section but this one, Genesis’ ‘Supper’s Ready’, from their fourth album ‘Foxtrot’ (1972) truly is in a league of its own.
Together with others in the series it really should be on the modern school music curriculum as an example of musical composition (as opposed to songwriting) in the latter part of the 20th Century, especially the late 1960s to early 1980s; the anni mirabiles of that century when writing from the likes of Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull and others apart from Genesis was at its zenith and every bit as credible as the works of the classical writers in centuries before them.
The 23-minute long masterpiece, a concept piece as opposed to a full concept album (although it is largely made up of what were individual songs, cobbled together) is divided into seven sections but in common with the mores of the time several musical and lyrical themes do re-appear throughout.
In total they amount to a hugely surreal and often biblically influenced story of good versus evil, love, and apocalypse. The then front man Peter Gabriel wrote the lyrics, which mainly describe a personal journey of scenes out of the Book of Revelation, together with several real life experiences providing further inspiration, some of them involving his then wife, Jill.
It isn’t the only time Gabriel wrote such imagery into his work. Neither is it known to what degree he was, or is religious; musical personalities tend to hedge their bets on things like that and to keep the fans guessing. And he has hinted that certain substances might have been in play when he found his greatest inspiration.
Even so it is difficult to see how such a piece could have been produced without a level of adherence to religious doctrine, especially in the final, overwhelmingly epic seventh section ‘As sure as eggs is eggs’, with its final lines, “Lord of Lords, King of kings, has returned to lead his children home/to take them to the new Jerusalem.”
In fact there is so much you could read into that final section (seven being the number of the lamb as opposed to six for the beast, the preceding section in which the apocalypse is rained down on the lovers, in 9/8 time). I’m surprised that no scholar has turned to it for an interpretation of the Arab/Israeli conflict in the Middle East as the young Genesis saw it. The War of Attrition there which had followed the Six Day War had taken place in the immediately preceding years and the erudite young Charterhouse students would have been brought up on it during college debates.
The journey of discovery was mainly crafted by Gabriel in a dress rehearsal for ‘The Lamb lies down on Broadway’, his final album and for which he was the main protagonist as well and which, arguably, led to his breakup from the band. (And which again was replete with religious imagery).
The weird and wonderful locations and adventures that take place throughout ‘Supper’s Ready’ are the musical equivalent of, say, Lindsay Anderson’s British new wave apocalyptic films If…, and O Lucky Man, which were made at roughly the same time (1968 and 1973).
It was a time of the deepest introspection and experimentation in British film, theatre and music, certainly in the contemporary pop/rock era and possibly ever, and it fascinates me to watch the modern day You Tube ‘reactors’, who were not born when these works were released, trying to get a handle on a variety of complex but utterly alluring music they have never previously encountered and which they probably never will again.
One of the things that throws them is how just when you think ‘Supper’s Ready’ is settling into a theme that will see it through to the end it veers off in another direction completely, and then again a few moments later, although the fact that it is based on a coming together of numerous shorter songs does promulgate that effect. Genesis had previously written other songs in a similar fashion including ‘Stagnation’ on the album ‘Trespass’ and ‘The Musical Box’ from ‘Nursery Cryme’.
Everyone has their own favourite part of the song and for many it is the burlesque, imagination-bending ‘Willow Farm’ but I have to opt for the final two sections, ‘Apocalypse in 9/8’ and ‘As sure as eggs is eggs’ which keyboardist Tony Banks has acknowledged as probably their creative “peak.”
Earlier, in ‘Willow Farm’, Gabriel had sung “and the real stars are still to appear”…and they are:Gog & Magog, representatives of evil and the sworn enemies of God. The power of this section is off the scale as bass and drums play in 9/8 time signatures while other instruments (keys and guitar) are in other signatures (4/4 and 7/4).
Phil Collins’ percussion in particular is wildly impressive. At one stage in ‘Apocalypse’ he appears to play a syncopated offbeat (I hope the technical terminology is correct) that literally takes your breath away. He claimed that the piece was his favourite to play as it gave him endless opportunities for expression, live.
In some performances, including at the Drury Lane Theatre in London that I was privileged to see, at the moment of ‘victory’, with the repeated line “and it’s hey babe, with your guardian eyes so blue” Gabriel was hoisted, in a blinding magnesium flare flash, into the air, shedding his black Magog outfit in favour of a shimmering silver suit in what was the most spectacular piece of stage art I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a few).
One other thing I feel obliged to mention is the standard of production recording. In an era when they were still using 16-track and 24-track analogue tape machines, the clarity is outstanding.
I genuinely feel sorry for latter day music lovers that can only imagine what a live performance of ‘Supper‘s Ready’ must have been like, because they will never get close to it. And of course, no-one will ever see it again. Genesis has officially retired since 2022 and there will be no more comebacks.
There are excellent tribute bands of course. The Musical Box (Canada) and Genetics (Argentina) come to mind. But there will never again be anything quite like ‘Supper’s Ready.’
Incidentally, there is a very good fan lyric animated video that is worth searching out.
