#naminanu naminanu naminanu namina!

[blindrapture]

As much as I do love Salmacis, that is a heavy song to leave You with, and the impression I want to leave is that Genesis brings me joy. So here's the Dodo suite.

After six albums, Peter Gabriel left the band and Genesis was led by Phil Collins. Everyone knows that, more or less; that is the Genesis factoid. And then after two more albums, guitarist Steve Hackett left, and Genesis became its long-running three-piece form who wrote 80s pop music and got mainstream success (this is the other Genesis factoid). I happen to love both distinct forms of the band, myself (I am a big boy with a lot of love to share), but what definitely helped me appreciate the Collins era is that they never really stopped making longer-form developed experiments; they just reserved these to maybe one per album. Duke has the 25-minute Duke suite, the self-titled has "Home By The Sea," Invisible Touch had "The Last Domino," We Can't Dance had two different ten-minute tracks. Abacab seemed the exception, and it is an album that hangs its hat on pleasantly abstract pop music.

But there was one song on the album, "Dodo/Lurker," which maybe stood out. It was clearly two songs tied together, and the Lurker section was weird and mysterious and I always liked it for that. And that's when I bring up... the B-sides. These took me a long time to learn about, since I was working with the CDs alone as a kid. A lot of them are just extra Collins-era songs, there are a couple of Gabriel-era ones which made me so happy (IF YOU LIKE GABRIEL-ERA GENESIS AND WANT JUST ONE MORE NEW SONG FROM IT, HERE IS "TWILIGHT ALEHOUSE," IT WOULD HAVE BEEN ON SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND AND IT SHOWS), there's also "Pigeons" which is just fucking charming,

and, pertinently, there are the two B-sides from Abacab: "Naminanu," and "Submarine." Alone, they're interesting wordless curiosities. But when bookended onto "Dodo/Lurker," they become The Dodo Suite. The band confirmed this to be the intended order, and I seem to recall they only broke it up because they didn't want Abacab to have such a long song on there. It's 15 minutes. It is fucking adorable Phil Collins. It ends like a fucking chill Pink Floyd song, seriously see for yourself.

It is a Good Time.

LYRICS:

NAMINANU:

naminanu naminanu naminanu namina

DODO:

Too big to fly, Dodo ugly so dodo must die. Dog go, with fear on its side; Can't change, can't change the tide.

Dog baiter, agitator, Asking questions, says he wants to know why. Ain't no reason that money can't buy. Mink, he pretty, so mink he must die, Must die, must die.

Sun, he giving life in his light, Part of the system. Friend to man and friend to the trees, No friend to the snowman.

Where does he go? What does he do? Does he meet with the mole, the stream, the cloud, And end up at the bottom of the sea?

Fish, he got a hook in his throat, Fish, he got problems.

Where does he go? What does he do? Does he hope he's too small, to poor a haul, Who'll end up bein' thrown back in the sea? I'm back in the sea.

Caretaker, horror movie, Only one eye, only needs one boot. Sweet lady, she know she looks good. Vacuum coming for the bright and the brute.

Big noise, black smoke, So pig-headed, couldn't see the joke. But it ain't funny, ask the fly on the wall. It's only living, it don't matter at all, At all, at all.

Pimp, he make you drool and grunt, He got an answer. One, he got a dream of love Deep as the ocean.

Where does he go? What does he do? Will the siren team with Davy Jones And trap him at the bottom of the sea? I'm back in the sea. I'm back in the sea. I'm back in the sea.

LURKER:

Meanwhile lurking by a stone in the mud Two eyes looked to see what I was and Then something spoke and this is what It said to me…….

Clothes of brass and hair of brown Seldom need to breathe Don't need no wings to fly And a heart of stone A fear of fire and water Who am I?

SUBMARINE:

(instrumental)