Borges Music – Genesis
- At October 10, 2019
- By Great Quail
- In Borges
0
Genesis in 1976, left to right: Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks. Image credit: Mondadori Portfolio)
Genesis
(1967–2000)
One of the founders of the progressive rock movement, commonly known as “prog,” Genesis was formed in Surrey, England, in 1967. The original band consisted of singer Peter Gabriel, keyboardist Tony Banks, guitarist Anthony Phillips, bassist Mike Rutherford, and drummer Chris Stewart. They changed drummers a couple more times, and after releasing their second album Trespass, the brilliant guitarist Steve Hackett replaced Anthony Phillips. The equally-talented Phil Collins became Genesis’ fourth and final drummer.
Under this classic five-man line-up, Genesis recorded four masterpieces from 1971–1974: Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Known for their virtuoso musicianship, literary subject matter, and theatrical stage performances, Genesis became one of the most influential bands in the British progressive rock scene, along with such groups as Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Caravan, and Gentle Giant. Peter Gabriel was their seemingly-irreplaceable frontman, writing most of the lyrics and appearing onstage in bizarre costumes.
In 1975, Gabriel shocked fans by announcing his departure from the group. After auditioning numerous vocalists, drummer Phil Collins stepped into the role, and Genesis released their seventh LP, A Trick of the Tail. The album was surprisingly successful, and led to an even-better eighth outing, Wind & Wuthering. Writing shorter songs and establishing a more light-hearted stage presence, Genesis continued to tour actively in the U.K. and United States.
In 1977, Steve Hackett took his leave, embarking on a solo career devoted to progressive rock. Now a three-man outfit, Genesis shifted towards a more traditional sound, and their tenth album, Duke, was the first Genesis album to chart at #1. By the time Abacab was released in 1981, they had reinvented themselves as a pop group. Throughout the 1980s, Genesis were a dominant force on FM radio and MTV, their popularity buoyed by the runaway success of Phil Collins’ parallel solo career. Their shows were legendary, selling out internationally and helping to establish the “stadium concert” as a mainstay of modern music.
After Phil Collins left the band in 1996, Genesis faltered, releasing one critically-shunned album to tepid sales before declaring themselves inactive in 2000. (Although they did reunite for a sold-out world tour in 2006–2007.) (Your humble author was there, at Giants Stadium.) (And again for their second “final” tour in 2021, at MSG).
To this day, music fans recognize two separate versions of Genesis—the proggy Genesis of the Peter Gabriel years, and the poppy Genesis of the Phil Collins era. Causing endless flame wars, passionate pub discussions, and the ending of friendships, this divide was even spoofed by Bret Easton Ellis in American Psycho. Needless to say, Patrick Bateman likes the latter Genesis! (As all serial killers and wrong-minded people would, naturally.) (I’m just kidding, Phil! While I worship the proggy Genesis, I have nothing against Phil Collins. He’s one of the best drummers in rock, and “In the Air Tonight” is an awesome song. You cannot deny this. Not even you, Micah.)
Historically overlooked by fans of “both” Genesises are the pair of albums released in between the departures of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. Interestingly, these albums—A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering—have recently come under renewed interest, reevaluated by modern listeners on various Internet forums and in the pages of Prog magazine. Redeemed by the passage of time, they have finally escaped the stigma of Gabriel’s absence and are rightly judged on their own merit. And on the first of these albums, we have “Squonk.”
Borges-Related Works
Squonk (1976)
From A Trick of the Tail, this is the tale of the hunter and the squonk, as found in Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings. Described below.
Squonk (1976)
Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
LP: Charisma CDS 4001 (1976)
Purchase: CD [Amazon]
Online: YouTube [Squonk | Album Playlist]
Track Listing
Side One
1. Dance on a Volcano (5:55)
2. Entangled (6:27)
3. Squonk (6:29)
4. Mad Man Moon (7:36)
Side Two
1. Robbery, Assault and Battery (6:16)
2. Ripples… (8:06)
3. A Trick of the Tail (4:35)
4. Los Endos (5:46)
Musicians
Phil Collins—drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals.
Steve Hackett—electric guitar, 12-string guitars.
Mike Rutherford—12-string guitar, bass, bass pedals.
Tony Banks—pianos, synthesizers, organ, Mellotron, 12-string guitar, backing vocals.
Mythical creatures populate many early Genesis songs, from Eden’s wily serpent to the venomous rampages of the Giant Hogweed. One of the standout tracks on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is “The Lamia,” in which the album’s protagonist is waylaid by the seductive vampires of Greek legend. (Although the lamia also appears in Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings, Peter Gabriel’s inspiration was the Keats poem, so it is not included here.)
The third track on A Trick of the Tail, “Squonk” is based on a legendary American creature known for its ability to dissolve into tears. Although Rutherford and Banks found the squonk in Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings, Borges himself copied the entry wholesale from another source, Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts, written by William Cox in 1910. As few people other than cryptozoologists and folklorists have read Cox’s book, Borges may be thanked for the squonk’s introduction to wider society. Indeed, I am myself from the Pennsylvania woodlands—the reported sole habitat of the fearsome squonk—and I managed to grow up without ever once hearing about the creature; not even at Boy Scout campfires situated in the “hemlock forests” of its supposed homeland! (Although I can tell you all about the Watermelon Baby of the Appalachian Trial, a tale that still gives me shudders!)
Whether or not Cox was engaging in his own Borgesian games, his story is the basis for the song, which uses the fairy tale of the hunter and the squonk as a loose metaphor for the strong overcoming the weak. While the lyrics are neither as coherent nor poetic as Gabriel’s, the format is classic Genesis; social satire masquerading as an abstract and fantastical narrative. Phil Collins had yet to find that bright, powerful voice that would one day make him a household name, but he sings strongly and with conviction. Perhaps afraid to alienate fans, he occasionally mimics Peter Gabriel’s phrasing and delivery with startling verisimilitude, including sudden breaks into hoarse falsetto and sing-song spoken word. The music is a touch heavier than one might expect for a song about a tearful woodland critter, and Phil Collins later remarked that the bass and drums were an attempt to capture the energy of Led Zeppelin: “That was always our Zeppelin kind of song, kind of a bit of ‘Kashmir,’ a bit of ‘When The Levee Breaks.’ When you listen to it, it doesn’t sound like that, but that’s what it was meant to be, with the heavy guitar chords and my John Bonham hat on.”
More Musical Squonking
Recorded in 1976, the Genesis song was not the first time the squonk appeared in popular music, and it wasn’t the last. In 1970, ZZ Top introduced their audience to the “Squank,” the creature’s stinkier brother; and in 1974, Steely Dan asked “Have you ever seen a squonk’s tears?” on “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.” In 2008, nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot admitted he “Got a Mongolian death worm at my house, right next to Squonk and the Aqueous Mouse” in his song “Scare Goat.” (Thanks, Wikipedia!)
The Squonk
The entry on the squonk in The Book of Imaginary Beings is merely a Spanish translation of the entry in William Cox’s book:
The Squonk
(Lacrimacorpus dissolvens)
The range of the squonk is very limited. Few people outside of Pennsylvania have ever heard of the quaint beast, which is said to be fairly common in the hemlock forests of that State. The squonk is of a very retiring disposition, generally travelling about at twilight and dusk. Because of its misfitting skin, which is covered with warts and moles, it is always unhappy; in fact it is said, by people who are best able to judge, to be the most morbid of beasts. Hunters who are good at tracking are able to follow a squonk by its tear-stained trail, for the animal weeps constantly. When cornered and escape seems impossible, or when surprised and frightened, it may even dissolve itself in tears. Squonk hunters are most successful on frosty moonlight nights, when tears are shed slowly and the animal dislikes moving about; it may then be heard weeping under the boughs of dark hemlock trees. Mr J. P. Wentling, formerly of Pennsylvania, but now at St Anthony Park, Minnesota, had a disappointing experience with a squonk near Mont Alto. He made a clever capture by mimicking the squonk and inducing it to hop into a sack, in which he was carrying it home, when suddenly the burden lightened and the weeping ceased. Wentling unslung the sack and looked in. There was nothing but tears and bubbles.
William T. Cox:
Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts
Lyrics
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.
(By Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks)
Additional Information
Wikipedia Squonk Page
Contains a shocking amount of useful information about the squonk, and the original illustration from Fearsome Creatures.
Wikipedia Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods Page
The Wikipedia page on Cox’s book, with links to a PDF download.
Wikipedia Genesis Page
Wikipedia’s extensive page on this multifaceted band.
Wikipedia A Trick of the Tail Page
Wikipedia’s page on the Genesis album featuring “Squonk.”
Genesis: The Miracle of A Trick of the Tail and Life Without Peter Gabriel
1 February 2019, Prog. Mark Blake discusses this underrated Genesis album in one of the few magazines I actually subscribe to.
Author: Allen B. Ruch
Last Modified: 7 August 2024
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