page_title: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
section_title: Songs
hierarchical_section_title: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway / Production / Songs
caption_attribution_description: Brian Eno in AVRO's TopPop (Dutch television show) in 1974
context_page_description: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is the sixth studio album by the English progressive rock band Genesis, their last with frontman Peter Gabriel before his departure in 1975. It was released as a double album on 18 November 1974 by Charisma Records. It tells the story of Rael, a Puerto Rican youth from New York City who embarks on a journey of self-discovery, and encounters bizarre incidents and characters along the way. During the writing and recording sessions Gabriel, who insisted on writing all of the lyrics, temporarily left the group in order to work with filmmaker William Friedkin; this put strains on the rest of the band.
  The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was released to a mixed critical reception, though it afterward received acclaim and has gained a cult following. It peaked at No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 41 on the US Billboard 200. Two singles were released in the UK, "Counting Out Time" and "The Carpet Crawlers", while the title track was released as a single in the US. Genesis promoted the album with their 1974–1975 tour across North America and Europe, playing the album in its entirety across 102 dates.
context_section_description: Much of the music developed through band improvisations and jams, often after setting a single idea, which Banks found particularly enjoyable. Examples of this are what he described as a "Chinese jam" which ended up as part of "The Colony of Slippermen", one named "Victory at Sea" which was worked into "Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats", and another known as "Evil Jam" which became "The Waiting Room". Though the album is written to a story concept, Gabriel described its format as being split into "self-contained song units". He thought the album contained some of the group's best material and songs that he was most proud of during his time in Genesis.
  Banks recalled writing "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" with Gabriel which turned out to be the last track they developed which was "a pretty good song to end on". At its conclusion, the song borrows music and lyrics from the 1963 single "On Broadway" by The Drifters. "Fly on a Windshield" originally came about through a band improvisation sparked by an idea from Rutherford, who suggested the idea of "Pharaohs going down the Nile" and proceeded to play two chords. Banks said: "Instantly the rest of us would conjure up that particular mood." Banks was particularly fond of the part when the drums and guitar come in, calling it one of the band's best ever moments. Hackett chose to play "Egyptian phrases", and noted that the group used a similar modulation to that of the end section of Bolero by Maurice Ravel. "Back in N.Y.C." sees Genesis adopting a more aggressive sound than in past compositions, and includes Gabriel singing an expletive in the line "I'm not full of shit". A personal highlight for Collins is "Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats" and "The Waiting Room" which developed as a "basic good to bad soundscaping" jam while it was raining, before they stopped and a rainbow formed outside. Collins said that "Steve [Hackett] played these dark chords, then Peter [Gabriel] blows into his oboe reeds, then there was a loud clap of thunder and we really thought we were entering another world or something. It was moments like that when we were still very much a unified five-piece".
  "Carpet Crawl" developed at a time when Gabriel had written some lyrics, but no music had been written for them. The band put together a chord sequence "in D, E minor and F-sharp minor with a roll from the drums flowing through it". Gabriel spent "hours and hours" on an out-of-tune piano in the house of his then-wife Jill's parents in Kensington to develop it. Jill later spoke of Gabriel's particular fondness of the track. "Anyway" and "Lilywhite Lilith" developed from two early unreleased songs, "Frustration" and "The Light" respectively. Hackett's guitar solo on "Counting Out Time" features him playing an EMS Synthi Hi-Fli guitar synthesizer.
  During the mixing sessions at Island Studios, Brian Eno was working on his album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974) in the adjacent studio. Gabriel asked him to add synthesized effects on his vocals on several tracks, including "The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging", which on the album's credits are dubbed "Enossification". As a repayment, Eno asked Collins to play drums on his track "Mother Whale Eyeless".
caption: Brian Eno contributed effects on the album; these were dubbed "Enossifications".
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