"The Silent Sun" (album title "Silent Sun") is the debut single by English rock band

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

. It was written by Tony Banks and Peter Gabriel when the band's producer,

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

, first discovered them, before he decided to produce an entire album, a heavy investment. Knowing that King was a fan of the Bee Gees, Banks and Gabriel wrote the song specifically to capture his attention. The song was released as a single on 2 February 1968. See als
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They would soon begin work on their debut album, ''

From Genesis to Revelation ''From Genesis to Revelation'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Genesis, released on 7 March 1969 on Decca Records. The album originated from a collection of demos recorded in 1967 while the members of Genesis were pupils of Charterh ...

.'' "The Silent Sun" is a fusion of folk rock and pop rock. The heavy use of orchestral strings and lightweight romantic lyrics make this song different from the progressive music on Genesis' second album, ''

Trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, woundi ...

.'' The song, like most of ''From Genesis to Revelation'', has not appeared on any Genesis compilation or live album. It was reissued in very limited quantities in July 2006 as a CD-single under the title "The Silent Sun 2006", with "When the Sour Turns to Sweet 2006" as its B-side. The versions on this CD-single are remix/remaster versions, also available on the 2006 reissue of the band's 1969 debut album. Since this is the last official single release by Genesis, this makes The Silent Sun both the debut and the final single released by Genesis.

Personnel

* Tony Banks – piano, backing vocals * Peter Gabriel – lead vocals *

Anthony Phillips Anthony Edwin Phillips (born 23 December 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, producer and singer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play m ...

– acoustic guitar, backing vocals *

Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, co-founder of the rock band Genesis. Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group's two continuous members. Initially servin ...

– bass, backing vocals * Chris Stewart – drums ;Additional personnel * Arthur Greenslade – orchestral arrangements

References

1968 songs 1968 debut singles Decca Records singles 2006 singles Genesis (band) songs Folk rock songs Songs written by Peter Gabriel Songs written by Tony Banks (musician) Songs written by Mike Rutherford Songs written by Anthony Phillips Baroque pop songs Psychedelic pop songs {{1960s-single-stub