Home by the Sea

Song_infobox
Name = Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea
SorA = album


Artist = Genesis
Album = Genesis
Released = October 3, 1983
track_no = 3-4
Recorded = February - August 1983
Genre = Progressive rock/Pop rock
Length = 11:14 (4:53 and 6:21)
Writer = Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford
Composer =
Label = Atlantic, Virgin, Vertigo
Producer = Genesis, Hugh Padgham
Chart position =
prev = "That's All"
prev_no = 2
next = "Illegal Alien"
next_no = 5

Home by the Sea is a suite of two songs by English progressive rock band Genesis. It first appeared on their eponymous album in 1983. Lyrically, the song is about a burglar who breaks into a house only to find it is haunted. [Tony Banks interview, "The Way We Walk - Live in Concert" DVD (2001)] The burglar is captured by the ghosts who force him to listen to their stories for the rest of his life - "let us relive our lives in what we tell you".

The story in the lyrics very closely resembles a portion of the the story told in Stephen R Donaldson's Thomas Covenant Chronicles. That portion of story in book form, tells of a party of giants who find an abandoned dwelling of giants who had found their "Home by the Sea". The giants dwelling there had been killed and their spirits captured by Lord Foul, the Despiser. During the night those captured spirits appear and hold in thrall, the giants who had come upon the village by telling them how they had come to this place and how they had been killed and captured. The living giants barely escape the same fate and continue their quest.

Background

The piece was written at a point in Genesis' career when they were transitioning from progressive rock to a more streamlined, commercial approach. As such, it combines simple pop hooks with an extended section more characteristic of progressive rock into one two-part piece. Played together, "Home by the Sea" and "Second Home by the Sea" are over eleven minutes long.

In an interview, Phil Collins noted the track as an example of how the band often recorded songs without playing together as a group. Using a prerecorded drum machine as initial background, the band members would first produce 'guide' parts (such as vocal or guitar) to settle on the format of the song, and later rerecord them for final compilation into the song, adding 'real' drum parts as well. The result was hailed as sounding very much like the group playing together live. [ [http://www.philcollins.co.uk/hitmen86b.htm Interview with Phil Collins] (from "Hitmen", 1986 Part Two. Retrieved 2007-12-15.)]

ingle and Live Performances

In some countries, the song was a single with a music video to go with it (a mimed live performance).

The song was played live during the "Mama" [ [http://www.genesis-movement.org/php/listtour.php?tourid=14&addcommentsall= Mama Tour Songs & Dates] ] , "Invisible Touch" [ [http://www.genesis-movement.org/php/listtour.php?tourid=15&addcommentsall= Invisible Tour Songs & Dates] ] , "The Way We Walk" [ [http://www.genesis-movement.org/php/listtour.php?tourid=16&addcommentsall= The Way We Walk Tour Songs & Dates] ] , "Calling All Stations" [ [http://www.genesis-movement.org/php/listtour.php?tourid=17&addcommentsall= Calling All Stations Tour Songs & Dates] ] (with Ray Wilson on vocals), and "" [ [http://www.genesis-movement.org/php/listtour.php?tourid=18&addcommentsall= Turn it on again Tour Songs & Dates] ] Tour.

Live versions have also appeared on the DVDs "Genesis Live at Wembley Stadium" ,"The Way We Walk - Live in Concert" and "When In Rome". As well as the Home Video "The Mama Tour"

During the lastest "", it was transposed down a key to account for the deepening of Phil Collins's voice over the years. [Genesis - The Movement ( [http://www.genesis-movement.org/tioa2007europe.html link] )] The "Second Home by the Sea" section, being mostly instrumental, was performed in its original key, including the brief vocal part near the end of the song.

References