"Abacab" is a song by the English rock band

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

, released on 14 August 1981. It was produced by Genesis and distributed in the United States by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

. The song, mainly written by

Mike Rutherford Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, best known as co-founder, lead guitarist and bassist of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis. He and keyboardist Tony Banks (musici ...

with Tony Banks and

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and later became the lead singer of the rock band Genesis (band), Genesis and had a successful solo career, ac ...

with lyrics by Rutherford, was featured on Genesis' studio album of the same name and was a top 10 hit on the British pop chart, where it peaked at No. 9. The song was the second single from the album in the US, where it peaked at No. 26 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in early 1982. It stayed in the Top 40 for six weeks.

Background

The title is taken from the structure of an early version of the song. Guitarist

explained in an interview in 2006:

here are Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...
three bits of music in "Abacab" and we refer to them as 'bit A', orrecting self'Section A', 'Section B', and 'Section C'. And at different times they were in a different order. We'd start with section A and then have section C and then have section ausesand at one point in time, it spelt "ABACAB". And you've got the final version where it's not that at all, it's like "ACACACUCUBUBUGA".

Different versions

The track was regularly performed on the band's 1981 Abacab tour, the 1982 ''

Three Sides Live ''Three Sides Live'' is the third live album by the English rock band Genesis, released as a double album on 4 June 1982 on Charisma Records in the United Kingdom. It was released by Atlantic Records in the United States. After touring in su ...

'' Encore Tour, the 1983/84

Mama Tour Genesis were an English rock band formed at Charterhouse School, in Godalming, Surrey, in 1967. The band's longest-lasting and most commercially successful line-up consisted of keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford and d ...

and the 1986/87

Invisible Touch ''Invisible Touch'' is the thirteenth studio album by the English rock band Genesis, released on 6 June 1986 by Atlantic Records in the United States and on 9 June 1986 by Charisma/Virgin Records in the United Kingdom. After taking a break in 1 ...

tours. On the first two tours, Phil Collins would sing the chorus in a high falsetto while Banks and Rutherford sang the lower harmonies. For the later tours, Collins would sing the chorus in a lower octave while Rutherford sang the higher falsetto harmonies. Genesis rehearsed the song for the 2007 reunion, but it was not included in the final setlist. The song's LP version features an extended instrumental

jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

as an outro, while the single version instead repeats the intro of the song after the final chorus then quickly fades out. (The single edit is used for the music video, and is included on their 1999 greatest hits album, '' Turn It On Again: The Hits''.)

Critical reception

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that "sinuous keyboards, pulsating synthesizers and a driving rock beat transport Phil Collins' lead vocal."

Charts

Personnel

Genesis *

– lead and backing vocals, drums, percussion * Tony Banks – keyboards *

– electric guitar, bass pedals Additional musicians * EWF Horns (uncredited) – sped-up horn noises in ending instrumental section

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abacab (Song) 1981 singles 1981 songs Genesis (band) songs Songs written by Phil Collins Songs written by Tony Banks (musician) Songs written by Mike Rutherford Atlantic Records singles Charisma Records singles Virgin Records singles