GENESIS


A Trick Of The Tail

(1975)



1. Dance On A Volcano 5'53
(Mike Rutherford / Tony Banks / Steve Hackett / Phil Collins)
2. Entangled 6'27
(Steve Hackett / Tony Banks)
3. Squonk 6'29
(Mike Rutherford / Tony Banks)
4. Mad Man Moon 7'34
(Tony Banks)
5. Robbery, Assault & Battery 6'17
(Tony Banks / Phil Collins)
6. Ripples 8'06
(Mike Rutherford / Tony Banks)
7. A Trick Of The Tail 4'35
(Tony Banks)
8. Los Endos 5'48
(Phil Collins / Steve Hackett / Mike Rutherford / Tony Banks)

Total Time: 51:09


  • Mike Rutherford - Basses, 12-String Guitar, Bass Pedals
  • Tony Banks - Synthesizer, Organ, Mellotron. 12-String Guitar, Backing Vocals
  • Phil Collins - Drums, Percussion, Lead & Backing Vocals
  • Steve Hackett - Electric Guitar, 12-String Guitar

    GENESIS - Producer
    David Hentschel - Producer, Engineer
    Nick "Haddock" Bradford - Engineer
    Chris Blair - Remastering
    Nick Davis - Remastering
    Geoff Callingham - Remastering
    Tex and Jeff - Equipment
    Colin Elgie - Design
    HYPGNOSIS - Sleeve Design
    Bastian Lamb - CD and Booklet Design (except page 1 - original LP Cover Design)

    Liquid sustanence: Neal, John and Terry

    All Material Arranged And Performed by GENESIS

    Special Thanks To:

    Tony Smith, Alex Sim and Regis

    Recorded at TRIDENT STUDIOS, London Oct. / Nov. 1975





    1. Dance On A Volcano

      Holy Mother of God
      You've got to go faster than that to get to the top.
      Dirty old mountain
      All covered in smoke, she can turn you to stone
      So you better start doing it right
      better start doing it right.

      You're halfway up and you're halfway down
      And the pack on your back is turning you around.
      Throw it away, you won't need it up there, and remember
      You don't look back whatever you do.
      Better start doing it right.

      On your left and on your right
      Crosses are green and crosses are blue
      Your friends didn't make it through.
      Out of the night and out of the dark
      Into the fire and into the fight
      Well that's the way the heroes go, Ho ! Ho ! Ho !

      Through a crack in Mother Earth,
      Blazing hot, the molten rock
      Spills out over the land.
      And the lava's the lover who licks your boots away. Hey ! Hey ! Hey !
      If you don't want to boil as well.
      B-B-Better start the dance
      D-D-Do you want to dance with me.

      You better start doing it right.

      The music's playing, the notes are right
      Put your left foot first and move into the light.
      The edge of this hill is the edge of the world
      And if you're going to cross you better start doing it right
      better start doing it right.

      You better start doing it right.

      Let the dance begin.

    2. Entangled

      When you're asleep they may show you
      Aerial views of the ground,
      Freudian slumber empty of sound.

      Over the rooftops and houses,
      Lost as it tries to be seen,
      Fields of incentive covered with green.

      Mesmerised children are playing,
      Meant to be seen but not heard,
      "Stop me from dreaming !"
      "Don't be absurd !"

      "Well if we can help you we will,
      You're looking tired and ill.
      As I count backwards
      Your eyes become heavier still.
      Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall ?
      Nothing can hurt you at all.
      With your consent
      I can experiment further still."

      Madrigal music is playing,
      Voices can faintly be heard,
      "Please leave this patient undisturbed."

      Sentenced to drift far away now,
      Nothing is quite what it seems,
      Sometimes entangled in your own dreams.

      "Well, if we can help you we will,
      Soon as you're tired and ill.
      With your consent
      We can experiment further still.

      Well, thanks to our kindness and skill
      You'll have no trouble until
      You catch your breath
      And the nurse will present you the bill !"

    3. Squonk

      Like father like son
      Not flesh nor fish nor bone
      A red rag hangs from an open mouth.
      Alive at both ends but a little dead in the middle,
      A-tumbling and a-bumbling he will go.
      All the King's horses and all the King's men
      Could never put a smile on that face.

      He's a sly one, he's a shy one
      Wouldn't you be too.
      Scared to be left all on his own.
      Hasn't a, hasn't a friend to play with, the Ugly Duckling
      The pressure on, the bubble will burst before our eyes.
      All the while in perfect time
      His tears are falling on the ground
      BUT IF YOU DON'T STAND UP YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE.

      Go a little faster now, you might get there in time.

      Mirror mirror on the wall,
      His heart was broken long before he ever came to you.
      Stop your tears from falling,
      The trail they leave is very clear for all to see at night
      all to see at night.

      In season, out of season
      What's the difference when you don't know the reason.
      In one hand bread, the other a stone.
      The Hunter enters the forest.
      All are not huntsmen who can blow the huntsman's horn
      By the look of this one you've not got much to fear.

      Here I am, I'm very fierce and frightening
      Come to match my skill to yours.
      Now listen here, listen to me, don't you run away now
      I am a friend, I'd really like to play with you.
      Making noises my little furry friend would make
      I'll trick him, then I'll kick him into my sack.
      You better watch out... You better watch out.

      I've got you, I've got you, you'll never get away.

      Walking home that night
      The sack across my back, the sound of sobbing on my shoulder.
      When suddenly it stopped,
      I opened up the sack, all that I had
      A pool of bubbles and tears - JUST A POOL OF TEARS.

      All in all you are a very dying race
      Placing trust upon a cruel world.
      You never had the things you thought you should have had
      And you'll not get them now,
      And all the while in perfect time
      Your tears are falling on the ground.

      ---<>---

      The Squonk is of a very retiring disposition and due to its ugliness,
      weeps constantly. It is easy prey for hunters who simply
      follow a tear-stained trail.
      When cornered it will dissolve itself into tears.

      True or False ?

    4. Mad Man Moon

      Or was it just another dam.
      When the evil of a snowflake in June
      Could still be a source of relief.
      O how I love you, I once cried long ago,
      But I was the one who decided to go.
      To search beyond the final crest,
      Though I'd heard it said just birds could dwell so high.

      So I pretended to have wings for my arms
      And took off in the air.
      I flew to places which the clouds never see,
      Too close to the deserts of sand,
      Where a thousand mirages, the shepherds of lies
      Forced me to land and take a disguise.
      I would welcome a horse's kick to send me back
      If I could find a horse not made of sand.

      If this desert's all there'll ever be
      Then tell me what becomes of me.
      A fall of rain?
      That must have been another of your dreams,
      A dream of mad man moon.

      Hey man,
      I'm the sand man.
      And boy have I news for you;
      They're gonna throw you in gaol
      And you know they can't fail
      'Cos sand is thicker than blood.
      But a prison in sand
      Is a haven in hell,
      For a gaol can give you a goal
      [and a] goal can find you a role
      On a muddy pitch in Newcastle,
      Where it rains so much
      You can't wait for a touch
      Of sun and sand, sun and sand...

      Within the valley of shadowless death
      They pray for thunderclouds and rain,
      But to the multitude who stand in the rain
      Heaven is where the sun shines.
      The grass will be greener till the stems turn to brown
      And thoughts will fly higher till the earth brings them down.
      Forever caught in desert lands one has to learn
      To disbelieve the sea.

      If this desert's all there'll ever be
      Then tell me what becomes of me.
      A fall of rain?
      That must have been another of your dreams,
      A dream of mad man moon.

    5. Robbery, Assault & Battery

      They considered the phone call a hoax.
      Furtively glancing then jauntily prancing
      The youth caught the guards unaware.

      Slipping between them he ought to have seen then
      The eyes and their owner so near.
      With torch shining bright he strode on in the night
      Till he came to the room with the safe.

      "Hello son, I hope you're having fun."
      "You've got it wrong Sir, I'm only the cleaner."
      With that he fired, the other saying as he died,
      "You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever.

      Robbery, assault and battery,
      The felon and his felony.
      Robbery, assault and battery,
      The felon and his felony.

      Picked up the diamonds and bundles of fivers
      He pushed them well down in his sack.
      But the alarm had been sounded, he was completely surrounded
      But he had some more tricks up his sleeve.

      "Come outside with your hands held high."
      "You'll not get me alive Sir, I promise you that Sir."
      With that he fired, the other saying as he died
      "You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever.

      Robbery, assault and battery,
      The felon and his felony.
      Robbery, assault and battery,
      The felon and his felony.

      "He's leaving via the roof, the bastard's got away.
      God always fights on the side of the bad man."

      "I've got clean away but I'll be back some day,
      Just the combination will have changed.
      Some day they'll catch me, to a chain they'll attach me,
      Until that day I'll ride the old crime wave.

      If they try to hold me for trial
      I'll stay out of gaol by paying my bail
      And after I'll go to the court of appeal saying
      "You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever."

      Done me wrong - same old song - done me wrong.

    6. Ripples

      Bluegirls come in every size
      Some are wise and some otherwise,
      They got pretty blue eyes.
      For an hour a man may change
      For an hour her face looks strange -
      Looks strange, looks strange.

      Marching to the promised land
      Where the honey flows and takes you by the hand,
      Pulls you down on your knees,
      While you're down a pool appears.
      The face in the water looks up,
      And she shakes her head as if to say
      That it's the last time you'll look like today.

      Sail away, away
      Ripples never come back.
      Gone to the other side.
      Sail away, away.

      The face that launched a thousand ships
      Is sinking fast, that happens you know,
      The water gets below.
      Seems not very long ago
      Lovelier she was than any that I know.

      Angels never know it's time
      To close the book and gracefully decline,
      The song has found a tale.
      My, what a jealous pool is she.
      The face in the water looks up
      She shakes her head as if to say
      That the bluegirls have all gone away.

      Sail away, away
      Ripples never come back.
      They've gone to the other side.
      Look into the pool,
      Ripples never come back,
      Dive to the bottom and go to the top
      To see where they have gone
      Oh, they've gone to the other side...

      Sail away, away
      Ripples never come back.
      Gone to the other side.
      Look into the pool,
      The ripples never come back, come back,
      Dive to the bottom and go to the top
      To see where they have gone
      They've gone to the other side
      Ripples never come back
      Sail away, away ...

    7. A Trick Of The Tail

      Bored of the life on the city of gold
      He'd left and let nobody know.
      Gone were the towers he had known from a child,
      Alone with the dream of a life
      He travelled the wide open road,
      The blinkered arcade,
      In search of another to share in his life.
      Nowhere.
      Everyone looked so strange to him.

      They've got no horns and they've got no tail
      They don't even know of our existence.
      Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
      That lies in the deep distance, he cried

      And wept as they led him away to a cage
      Beast that can talk, read the sign.
      The creatures they pushed and they prodded his frame
      And questioned his story again.
      But soon they grew bored of their prey
      Beast that can talk?
      More like a freak or publicity stunt.
      Oh
      No.

      They've got no horns and they've got no tail
      They don't even know of our existence.
      Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
      That lies in the deep distance, he cried

      And broke down the door of the cage and marched on out.
      He grabbed a creature by the scruff of his neck, pointing out:
      There, beyond the bounds of you weak imagination
      Lie the noble towers of my city, bright and gold.
      Let me take you there, show you a living story
      Let me show you others such as me
      Why did I ever leave?

      They've got no horns and they've got no tail
      They don't even know of our existence
      Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
      That lies in the deep distance, he cried
      And wept.

      And so we set out with the best and his horns
      And his crazy description of home.
      After many days journey we came to a peak
      Where the beast gazed abroad and cried out.
      We followed his gaze and we thought that maybe we saw
      A spire of gold - no, a trick of the eye that's all,
      But the beast was gone and a voice was heard:

      They've got no horns and they've got no tail
      They don't even know of our existence
      Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
      That lies in the deep distance

      Hello friend, welcome home.

    8. Los Endos

      There's an angel standing in the sun.

      There's an angel standing in the sun,
      Free to get back home.