"Driving the Last Spike" is the third track on the

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 ...

album ''

We Can't Dance ''We Can't Dance'' is the fourteenth studio album by the English rock band Genesis (band), Genesis, released on 11 November 1991 by Virgin Records in the UK and a day later by Atlantic Records in the US. It is their last studio album recorded wit ...

'', released in 1991. The song's lyrics by

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 ...

are about the

Navvies Navvy, a clipping of navigator ( UK) or navigational engineer ( US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasionally in North America to refer to mechanical shovels and eart ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

workers of the 19th century, many of whom died constructing

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

s. The song narrates the thoughts and feelings of an unnamed railway worker in the form of a

soliloquy A soliloquy (, from Latin 'alone' and 'to speak', ) is a speech in drama in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud, typically while alone on stage. It serves to reveal the character's inner feelings, motivations, or plans directly to ...

or internal

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

. The title is a phrase meaning the completion of a major railway project—placing the " last spike" is often a momentous occasion. The original idea came from the book ‘The Railway Navvies’ by Terry Coleman that actor

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', ''Minder (TV series), Minder'' and ''New Tricks'', singing the ...

gave to Collins. Despite not being released as a single, "Driving the Last Spike" charted in Canada and the United States, peaking at number 51 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Top Singles chart and number 25 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" fo ...

chart.

Live performances

"Driving the Last Spike" was performed live on the band's 1992 '' The Way We Walk'' The Way We Walk Tour Songs & Dates
/ref> Tour. The second half of the song (starting at 5:41) was transposed to a lower key starting after the first nine shows of the tour. This was done to accommodate Collins' deepening voice without straining. (A recording of an early performance of "Driving the Last Spike" was released as an Atlantic Records promo CD featuring the second half of the song in the album key.) "Driving the Last Spike" was featured on the live album '' The Way We Walk, Volume Two: The Longs'', and the live DVD ''

The Way We Walk - Live in Concert ''The Way We Walk – Live in Concert'' is a 1992 live video from the ''We Can't Dance'' tour by Genesis. The footage was videotaped on 6th, 7 and 8 November 1992 at Earls Court in London, and first released on VHS on the 29th March 1993 as '' ...

''.

Personnel

* Tony Banks – keyboards *

– vocals, drums,

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

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 ...

– electric guitars, bass guitar

Charts

References

Genesis (band) songs 1991 songs Songs about labor Songs written by Tony Banks (musician) Songs written by Phil Collins Songs written by Mike Rutherford {{1990s-rock-song-stub

Live performances

Personnel

Charts

See also

References