Classical musician reacts -- THE BATTLE OF EPPING FOREST -- Genesis -- FIRST TIME LISTENING

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]Okay, Kristina here to listen to some music and today we continue on once again with our full album listening of Selling England by the Pound by Genesis.

[00:00:10]This is track number five.

[00:00:13]The Battle of Epping Forest.

[00:00:16]Okay, wow, are we having fun with this album so far? We have the entire side one complete, all four tracks. So, Dancing with the Moonlight Knight, I Know What I Like, Firth of Fifth, and More Fool Me. And I also threw in a deep dive into Firth of Fifth because I had already reacted to Firth of Fifth many months ago before we decided to do this full album. So, please enjoy all five of those videos and then here we go with side two. And of course, all of this is for the Full Album Fridays series that is on Patreon and available for town members. But, we're not just here to just listen straight through a song or a full album. I am a professional classically trained musician, instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and professor. So, we take a closer look at this music, how it was composed, the instrumentation, form and analysis, music theory, maybe do some instrument demos to demonstrate some of the motifs and themes, and of course, how do we relate to this music? Why do we like it or why do we not like it?

[00:01:17]So again, very excited here to see how we continue on to side two of this album. I've been listening to side one a whole bunch and it's great that we're just halfway through.

[00:01:28]Okay, so no more delay.

[00:01:31]Let's listen.

[00:01:32]Okay, here we go.

[00:02:48]>> Along the forest road, there's hundreds of cars, luxury cars. He just got his load, our convertible bars, cuddly cars, super cars.

[00:03:03]Okay, that was tricky.

[00:03:05]Uh definitely got the visual there of the soldiers marching by, you know, the drum line and the Pied Pipers and all of that. And they, you know, yeah, it was like a little parade. And then, of course, I was like, all right, what's going to happen now? Like, I thought maybe they were going to like approach us and then get in our faces.

[00:03:24]But, when they started to march on by, I was almost preparing myself for a sort of jump scare moment. It wasn't too bad, but it still got me cuz that's just I I hate jump scares, but anyway.

[00:03:37]It still got me.

[00:03:39]All right.

[00:03:40]I think I'm hearing Peter Gabriel sing on this one.

[00:03:43]So, apparently, for more fool me, that was Phil Collins singing. I was having a hard time when I listened to that guessing which one it was because they sound so similar and again that's something that I never put together.

[00:03:58]Like I I know of some of Phil Collins' solo stuff from late '80s, early '90s and same thing just a couple of like the Sledgehammer songs for Peter Gabriel. So I recognize their voices. I my brain never connected those dots though. So this is really fun to finally connect those things and see how similar they are and of course they're going to be in the same band together.

[00:04:21]And you know, it fooled me. More Fool Me.

[00:04:25]Because I I really wasn't sure. I was I was really in the middle between the two of them who was singing that More Fool Me, but it was it was Phil Collins. I looked looked it up later.

[00:04:36]Excellent. I I I'm happy that I was fooled by that. Okay, so I think this is Peter Gabriel singing this one again.

[00:04:44]Um and I kind of got fooled again.

[00:04:47]You know, by the little tiny jump scare moment. I'm also hearing lots of rhyming I think happening.

[00:04:53]So obviously there is a battle here, but often there are metaphorical things behind the lyrics.

[00:05:00]So we'll figure it out as we go, but um I'm going to back it up to right before the uh jump scare and we'll take it from there.

[00:05:10]Along the forest road there's hundreds of cars, luxury cars.

[00:05:17]Each has got its load.

[00:05:19]Uncomfortable bars, luxury cars, super stars.

[00:05:25]But today is the day when they sort it out, sort it out cuz they disagree on a gangland boundary.

[00:05:37]They disagree on a gangland boundary.

[00:05:44]There's Willie Wright and his boys, one hell of a noise. That's little John's boys, with truly fashioned toboggans.

[00:05:53]That's little John's thugs, the barking of the slugs, super slugs.

[00:05:58]For today is the day when they sort it out, sort it out. Yes, these Christian soldiers fight to protect the poor.

[00:06:11]East End heroes got to score in the battle of Epping Forest.

[00:06:17]Yes, it's the battle of Epping Forest, right outside your door.

[00:06:27]And you ain't seen nothing like it. No, you ain't seen nothing like it, not since the Civil War.

[00:06:43]Coming over the hill, the boys of Epping All right, yeah. So, very typical Genesis progressive rock here. Yeah.

[00:06:53]Uh lots of changes, complex time signatures, surprising, I guess you could say, key signatures, you know, modulations.

[00:07:07]But nothing seems too upended as in the cadences of the chord progressions seem to be following a lot of the general classical music rules for voice leading and chord structure.

[00:07:22]But there is a sense of chaos here, and I sort of developed that observation separate from remembering that this is about some kind of battle. There's just a lot of energy and angst here, and I have no idea where we're going. I mean, it's kind of like running on and on and on here, but I think that's sort of might be the experience of battle.

[00:07:48]Like you're ready for some rest, some peace, and it's not always going to give it to you.

[00:07:54]So, here we go with this adventure. I love all the little plucky plickety things, you know, with the guitar and the imitation of that in the keyboard.

[00:08:06]And still more rhyming.

[00:08:08]I I could not wrap my ear around what the time signature was in that last section though. I thought it was more like a triplet feel, like a 6/8 or some kind of I don't know, a waltz or something. I don't know.

[00:08:24]Just a feeling of three, and then it would not do that.

[00:08:29]So, rocky terrain there, I think.

[00:08:33]So, I I'm actually not sure how literal to keep going with the interpretations from the music. It was very literal at the beginning with the marching soldiers marching by.

[00:08:43]But now I'm not quite sure how literal or metaphorical we should go. I'm doing my best with catching the words. I again, I just hear so much texture in the instruments that that tends to draw my attention. But anyway, that was a really cool section right there, and we are continuing on. Are we going to get any rest anytime soon?

[00:09:04]Let's keep going.

[00:09:06]Johnson laying still and very still.

[00:09:09]Some fire shout, they all start to cloud. There's no guns in this gentleman's bout.

[00:09:16]And your G moves in on the outside left with a chain of flowers round his head.

[00:09:23]That terrible demure from our literature gives up the air as creamy >> It's 5:00 to 4:00 on William Wright.

[00:10:36]He made his pile on Derby night. When Billy was a kid walking the streets, the other kids hid, so they did.

[00:10:49]And now, after working hard in security trade, he's got it made. The shops that needed it are those that haven't paid.

[00:11:02]Optima double show.

[00:11:04]Semi-clobbering.

[00:11:06]Fresh out the nick.

[00:11:08]So cheap all he day.

[00:11:11]The minute they leave, and the visit I pay, does it pay?

[00:11:17]And his friend, Liquid Land by name, of wine, women, and once worth things that I'll boy clean the legs over the bars to the coffee flying.

[00:11:29]I'll boy clean the legs over the bars the coffee flying.

[00:11:34]All right, well, that was that was a neat section there as well. Okay. I'm glad that we're sitting on some of these sections a little longer.

[00:11:43]It really they were very short and sort of chaotic in the first third.

[00:11:49]Are we out of the first third? Yeah, I think so. About halfway through now.

[00:11:52]Okay.

[00:11:53]The keyboard sound was really neat. The synthesizer, whatever that sort of laser-esque sound was, that was neat. And I enjoyed how they were I think they were saying picnic.

[00:12:05]I think so.

[00:12:06]But it was like a chorus of people saying that. Again, I'll check out the lyrics momentarily here to really see what we're talking about.

[00:12:15]But it seemed sort of lighthearted, almost humorous. But if we're talking about being in battle, a certain battle of some kind, we'll sort of want to take our um rays of sunshine and laughter whenever we can, however we can.

[00:12:32]But then this last section, I think there was some rest happening here.

[00:12:40]You know, a lull in the battle.

[00:12:43]You're able to sort of um recharge a little bit.

[00:12:47]It was also fun to hear and this is I think this is just a stylistic fingerprint of Genesis is having the instrument lines double what the vocals are doing with the lyrics.

[00:13:02]And it's all kind of all over the place.

[00:13:04]Like it's starting to remind me of recitative from opera. Because you know, an opera is basically a a play where no word is actually spoken and it's all supposed to be sung. So all the dialogue, you know, monologue, it's it's all put to to music.

[00:13:24]Like the arias and the recitative. That's what that is. And so sometimes the melody line has to sort of follow the flow of the lyrics themselves.

[00:13:38]But this was all still metered. So Rachets of Tive you actually kind of whole accord and then the singer goes ya da da da da da da da da da da da and then we go da you know.

[00:13:50]Uh I've done a lot of pit orchestra playing for operas so um this sort of reminded me of that but again it was there was always a steady time signature. I did pick up on a solid 7/4 or 7/8 you know a a bar with seven full counts in it. I mean and that could also be split up into like three or four depending you know but just a total of uh seven for the roundness of it.

[00:14:18]Okay but I'm going to back this up a little bit because this was a really cool section. So much going on.

[00:14:24]But I'm kind of waiting for something to happen in the battle. The height of the battle.

[00:14:30]Liquid land by name of wine, women, and worse with things and our boy clean legs over the bars that got me flying.

[00:14:41]Our boy clean legs over the bars that got me flying.

[00:14:58]They called me the reverend when I entered the church upstairs.

[00:15:06]My employers have changed but the name has remained.

[00:15:15]It all began when I went on a tour hoping to find some furniture. Followed a sign saying beautiful chest led to a lady who showed me a vest. She was taken by surprise when I quickly closed my eyes. So, she rang the bell and quick as hell Father now came out on his job to see what the trouble was.

[00:15:42]Louise, the Reverend hard to please.

[00:15:46]>> You're killing me.

[00:15:47]Perhaps so. If it's not too late, we could interest you in our old-fashioned Staffordshire plate.

[00:15:55]Oh, no, not me. I'm a man of repute. Who who who.

[00:16:03]But the devil caught hold of my soul and a voice called out, "Shoot."

[00:16:12]To save my steeple, I visited people.

[00:16:14]For this I'd gone when I met Little John. When his name came, I understood when the judge said, "You are a robbing hood."

[00:16:24]He told me of his strange foundation, conceived on site of the Woodstock Nation. He'd had to hide his reputation.

[00:16:39]When Paul took salvation from door to door, but now with a pinup guru every week, it was love, peace, and truth incorporated for all who seek.

[00:16:52]He employed me as a karma mechanic with overall charms.

[00:17:00]His hands were then fit to receive receive arms.

[00:17:16]That's why we're in the Battle of Epping Forest. Okay, there's the namesake. All right.

[00:17:24]I liked that la- last section quite a lot.

[00:17:27]And what was sort of resonating in my mind about it is that it was storytelling.

[00:17:34]I was hearing every word.

[00:17:36]And I think they were allowing us to do that.

[00:17:39]Like there was an extra important message that needed to be delivered there, maybe. I don't know. I'm sure it's all important, but the lyrics up to that point had been deliberately sort of messed with, manipulated with the layering and the choruses and but this was just suddenly telling the story, I'm catching on to all of it, and I believe this might be about Robin Hood.

[00:18:05]So, the Epping Forest, um, is that in the story of Robin Hood? It seems familiar to me, but also not quite, so it might be close to it. So, is is it an actual forest in the UK somewhere?

[00:18:22]Why does it seem so familiar?

[00:18:24]Well, regardless, I heard something about a reverend, and then there were voices, and Louise, we heard her in the background.

[00:18:32]Um, and then I heard Robin Hood.

[00:18:35]So, at this point, it could be a metaphorical battle, it could be a literal telling of this story of Robin Hood, or it could be about something else entirely, and then they just brought in Robin Hood to represent something within it.

[00:18:49]Everything is still sort of wide open here, but that's kind of the fun of it.

[00:18:52]I just really enjoyed that last section.

[00:18:55]Lots of imagery being painted by the musical lines and the instruments. Like there was one uh, they were talking about the devil, and and then you heard this really cool sound in the bass. That was That was so cool. And speaking of opera and classical music, that's like, uh the Dies Irae, which um bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum that that progression represents evil or the devil or hell or what have you. And so when you hear that in classical music you know that that idea or character or feel is brought in. So I didn't hear the Dies Irae here, but you know I don't know. I don't think so. Were they sneaking it in there and I didn't notice? Hmm.

[00:19:43]The time signature was also really cool.

[00:19:46]It was more of like I think a a straight four and it wasn't in triplets.

[00:19:52]But the beats were sort of misplaced, I think. I don't know. It was really really cool.

[00:19:57]Okay, I am going to be totally honest here, y'all.

[00:20:00]I'm still not sure who's singing. Are they Are they going back and forth?

[00:20:06]It's It's messing me up, y'all. Okay.

[00:20:10]This is really great. And now I think this is a return from the opening chaotic sections. We'll see.

[00:20:18]Is this the actual battle still coming up?

[00:20:22]Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen here. Okay.

[00:20:24]So let's find out.

[00:20:26]This is the battle of the pin forest right outside your door.

[00:20:37]We got your souls for free nuts and we got your shops and houses for just a little more.

[00:20:47]Just a little more.

[00:20:52]In with a left hook is the best known green butcher, but he's countered on the right by Mix Tape gang fights and Liquid Lena with his smashed bottle men is loving Bob with another cross the jaw back with his kiss of arena mess, Bob seems a little stress, but don't the jockey stand right in the mall and how would they know?

[00:21:16]He's still not quite sure. I think all the matter of the evening is going to be a mess.

[00:21:34]Above above the crowd.

[00:21:37]It's time to super cloud.

[00:21:40]Don't blow.

[00:21:42]The bold and brazen brass.

[00:21:45]See darkly through the glass.

[00:21:48]The butler's got jam on his rails.

[00:21:51]Roy goes out of the lot with tea from a silver pot and just like any picnic.

[00:22:01]Picnic.

[00:22:04]Picnic.

[00:22:08]Picnic.

[00:22:22]All right, we're headed somewhere new.

[00:22:23]Um, well, that was a good recap of everything from the first part. So, I'm starting to see this in large form. So, we have the fun little marching soldiers go by and then kind of in general there was just the the chaotic section A.

[00:22:42]And then in section B, that's where there were some smoother lines and even more distinctive storytelling and then the whole A section came back. Kind of verbatim, maybe a a truncated a shortened form, but it was Actually, in the chaos, I was starting to feel grounded because just because of that balance.

[00:23:09]And then because of the chaos in the A sections, the B section to me feels even more I don't know, comfortable, easy-going. I know there's a lot of funny stuff going on with the you know, the the different formal accents and um in fact, that was happening a little bit just now. The person sing speak singing, you know, here was using a certain kind of accent and it was a a cute I thought it was cute um accent and it that just the accent itself was kind of distracting me from what some of the words were. But we had the layering, you know, the purposeful sort of manipulation of some of the lyrics in there again, so I was going to catch all of them.

[00:23:54]But you know what? That might be enough of not catching the lyrics. Let's take a look at them right now before we finish the song out because this new section we got into, it's it's taking hints from the previous material, but it's it's very different.

[00:24:11]I'm unsure if it's going to be a good resolution or not.

[00:24:16]Like a happy ending or not.

[00:24:17]Okay, let's check out these lyrics though.

[00:24:20]Oh, okay. So there's a little side note here saying that it's taken from a news story concerning two rival gangs fighting over East End protection rights, okay.

[00:24:31]So there there is a battle of sorts here, but they're sort of metaphorically relating more older traditional stories like Robin Hood to the present day of 1973.

[00:24:46]50 years ago, okay.

[00:24:48]That's cool. All right. Um and I do sort of understand the West End and East End sort of issue.

[00:24:55]I mean, remember 80s kid here, so I do know the the West End Girls song. And uh and what's the show that I watch? Um Call the Midwife. It talks a lot about the different parts of London. So, I'm assuming that's what this is. Okay, so I think I have the right idea. It's going to be um wealth disparity. All right.

[00:25:20]Along the forest road, there's hundreds of cars, luxury cars, each has got its load of convertible bars.

[00:25:29]Cutlery cars, super scarrs. Okay.

[00:25:33]For today is the day when they sort it out, sort it out cuz they disagree on a gangland boundary.

[00:25:41]There's Willie Wright and his boys, one hell of a noise. That's Billy's boys.

[00:25:45]Yeah, so that's all of this It's almost alliteration, but a lot of rhyming here.

[00:25:50]With fully fashioned mugs, that's Little John's thugs. Um Little John, okay.

[00:25:56]Fully fashioned mugs.

[00:25:58]The barking slugs, super slugs. Okay.

[00:26:02]For today is the day when they sort it out. These Christian I heard them pronounce that Christian soldiers fight to protect the poor. East End heroes go to score in.

[00:26:14]Okay, the Battle of Epping Forest, it's right outside your door.

[00:26:18]You ain't seen nothing like it not since the Civil War.

[00:26:22]Yeah, so it's a battle from within here and sort of against each other from within.

[00:26:28]But is it West End against East End or it was two rival gangs in the East End?

[00:26:34]Okay.

[00:26:36]Coming over the hill are the boys of Bill. So, I'm assuming these are the names taken from the news article. And Johnny's lads stand very still. With a thump your shout, they all start to clout.

[00:26:47]There's no guns in this gentleman's bout, so more rhyming there, love it.

[00:26:52]Georgie moves in on the outside left with a chain flying round his head.

[00:26:58]And Harold Demure from art literature nips up the nearest tree. Here come the cavalry.

[00:27:06]Okay, so now we're talking about the battle itself admits the battle roar keeping score 10-4.

[00:27:12]I've never been alone after getting a radio phone.

[00:27:15]The bluebells are ringing for sweet meal Sam Real Ham handing out bread and jam just like any picnic. So yeah, that was the word picnic.

[00:27:26]I love how they say it in the song picnic.

[00:27:30]Okay, so oh gosh, there are so many lyrics here. All right, I'm going to skip ahead a little bit. I'm just skimming.

[00:27:36]All right, now here's the part with the reverend. They called me the reverend when I entered the church unstained.

[00:27:42]So innocent. My employers have changed but the name has remained.

[00:27:47]It all began when I went on a tour hoping to find some furniture.

[00:27:53]I followed a sign. It said beautiful chest. It led to a lady who showed me her best. Okay.

[00:27:59]Aha. Is that Louise? I don't know. She was taken by surprise when I quickly closed my eyes. Okay, I heard something about closing eyes.

[00:28:06]So she rang the bell and quick as hell.

[00:28:08]Oh.

[00:28:10]Okay.

[00:28:11]Perhaps sir if it's not Oh, somebody's really getting into trouble here. Hmm.

[00:28:15]Oh no, not me. I'm a man of repute. But the devil caught hold of my soul and a voice called out shoot. Hmm.

[00:28:24]Yeah, there was some nefarious stuff happening there.

[00:28:26]I think with the lady.

[00:28:28]To save my steeple I visited people. So to sort of improve who he was, who his soul was cuz he had sort of fallen into some bad behaviors.

[00:28:40]And he went out to maybe try to do some good.

[00:28:45]Ah, when the judge said you're a robbing hood." Hmm, that's different than Robin Hood.

[00:28:50]Sort of.

[00:28:53]You told me of his strange foundation.

[00:28:56]Conceived on site of the Woodstock nation. He'd had to hide his reputation.

[00:29:00]I love the rhyming of this. This is great. When poor to a salvation from door to door. There's just so much of the rhyming in different places. It's so much fun.

[00:29:11]But now with a pinup guru every week, it's love, peace, and truth incorporated for all who seek. Okay.

[00:29:19]So, the cheapening of peace. Like it's talking about Woodstock and and so there were people that were sort of you know, peace not war. But then it kind of became popular and sort of cheapened a little bit perhaps.

[00:29:33]Regard your souls for peanuts and we guard your shops and houses for just a little more.

[00:29:39]Okay, I'm going to go ahead and read ahead now even though I haven't heard the end of it.

[00:29:45]Cuz I want to see what happens. In with a left hook is the Bethnal Green Butcher. But he's countered on the right by mixed chain gang fight and liquid Len with his smashed bottle men. Hmm, that's not good. Is lobbing Bob the knob across the gob with his kisser in a mess. Bob seems under stress. Oh my goodness, but Jones the jug hits Len right in the mug. This is great.

[00:30:14]Fires eight corns from out of a sling.

[00:30:17]Here come the cavalry with a slingshot.

[00:30:19]Okay. Up up above the crowd inside the silver cloud done proud.

[00:30:25]The bold and brazen brass. See that alliteration? Love it. Seen darkly through the glass. The butler's got jam on his Rolls Roy dolls out the lot.

[00:30:36]The tea from silver pot just like just like any picnic.

[00:30:40]Picnic.

[00:30:42]Along the forest road, it's the end of the day and all the clouds roll away.

[00:30:46]Okay, here's the ending. Each has got its load, they'll come out for the count at the break in of day when the limos return for their final review. It's all through.

[00:30:58]All they can see is the morning goo.

[00:31:01]There's no one left alive. Must be draw.

[00:31:05]So, the black cat barons toss a coin to settle the score. All right.

[00:31:10]And in the end the bosses win.

[00:31:15]Hmm. But at what cost?

[00:31:20]It sounds like it got kind of ugly. So, it's not Robin Hood, it's Robbing Hood, which is I mean, Robin Hood could be sort of the same thing, but I Oh my goodness. Um the play on the words, the usage of the rhyming, all of that is just it's sort of out of control. And if you have to write music to match that, here you go.

[00:31:44]Yeah, I I would just I would expect nothing less from Genesis on this album at least.

[00:31:50]All right. Let's hear it on out. I'll back it up a little bit, as usual. Let's hear this last section.

[00:31:56]We're going to hear the coin toss, you know, we'll see.

[00:32:29]Along the forest road the end of the day and the clouds roll away.

[00:32:37]Each got it load. wrong.

[00:32:40]They'll come out with the kind of the breaking of day when the limos return for their final review.

[00:32:48]It's all through.

[00:32:50]All they can see is the morning dew.

[00:32:54]There's no one left alive.

[00:32:56]Must be a draw.

[00:33:04]So, the black cat barons toss a coin to settle the score.

[00:34:06]Okay.

[00:34:10]All right.

[00:34:11]That was a good ending.

[00:34:14]Not really a fade out, but sort of a wind down, and then it was still settling into the seven count, and it was sort of like kind of hanging in there to the bitter end. It sort of fell apart at the end.

[00:34:31]Here's the drum, great drum work there.

[00:34:35]I'm sure that was Mr. Collins.

[00:34:38]Um I think what comes to mind is what a shame.

[00:34:46]That, you know, a typical tale of humanity here.

[00:34:51]Greed and disparity and just sort of conflict in general.

[00:34:58]But also sort of the wealth divide.

[00:35:02]Yeah.

[00:35:03]I think at the end it really tried to be more positive.

[00:35:08]Sort of make the best of all of, you know, humanity and all of our behavior.

[00:35:14]But in the end it was kind of like, "Ah, but what a shame. What a shame it has to be this way."

[00:35:19]Okay, but the structure of this piece really helped me sort of digest the chaos within it.

[00:35:28]I have to openly admit here that sometimes music that changes too much and seemingly without reason kind of gets on my nerves sometimes.

[00:35:38]But at the same time music that is sort of over lyrical, if that's such a thing, can also do the same thing. Like you don't want to be too far on either end of the spectrum.

[00:35:50]But sometimes you want to spend a little bit of time there just to make the rest of everything sort of stand out. I mean, I get it. I get how it you have to have a mix of everything.

[00:36:01]I think the mix here of this was really, really well done.

[00:36:04]Yeah, if this was playing in the background, it could sort of get lost a little bit.

[00:36:10]But, you know, I one reason why I enjoy doing this so much is because I get to take that deeper look at this music and then I don't get so lost.

[00:36:19]Like if I hadn't done that, I think I would be getting more lost listening to it. Mhm.

[00:36:25]But I get the idea of the chaos and what it represents for sure. But I love how they mix together the old stories and the new stories and, you know, the the army that or militia that, you know, walked by in front of us definitely would not be what you would see in two battling gangs in the East End of London in the 1930s. So, that's pretty cool. I love it. Using the the historical military imagery. Very cool. Okay, so I just want to point out a couple of neat examples here.

[00:37:02]Let's see. Okay, well, first, the coin toss. I think I did hear a coin toss at the end. It happened actually before they mentioned the coin toss, but then it happened again at the coin toss.

[00:37:13]So, I'm I'm just going to consider it that. Let's hear it.

[00:37:18]All they can see is the morning dew.

[00:37:22]There's no one left alive.

[00:37:24]It's very quiet.

[00:37:30]I think that's it.

[00:37:31]It's foreshadowing of the coin toss.

[00:37:36]There it is.

[00:37:37]Yeah.

[00:37:39]Okay, so this is like, you know, that's the way the story goes for humanity sometimes.

[00:37:49]Yeah, not really good, not really Okay, yeah. Excellent use there of the the musical gestures.

[00:37:58]Okay, and so one thing that I picked up on, it actually makes more sense now that I've read the lyrics as well.

[00:38:06]Let's see if we can go back and find this. Has to do with the keyboard. Let's listen for it.

[00:38:17]That's why we're in the battle of the bean forest. This is the battle of the bean forest. My outside your door.

[00:38:32]We got you souls for peanuts, and we got So, do you hear that sort of tipsy keyboard da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da?

[00:38:42]I don't know, there's something I was like it sounds like someone who's drunk, like stumbling around out there.

[00:38:48]And so, uh now that I know more about the story talking about how some people have sort of fallen from grace, how there's this conflict sort of imposed on everybody, well, almost everybody.

[00:39:01]Some people will profit from that conflict. But, there was just something sort of unsettling about that. And now I can sort of see how that makes more sense.

[00:39:10]Okay, but I think my favorite little gesture was the devil gesture. So, let's find that one. I just thought it was a really creative way to represent it.

[00:39:20]Interest you in our old-fashioned Staffordshire ale?

[00:39:24]Old-fashioned. Oh, no, not me. I'm a man of repute. Reputed.

[00:39:32]I love you.

[00:39:33]That's a great thing.

[00:39:34]But, the devil caught hold of my soul.

[00:39:37]There's the devil's Do you hear it?

[00:39:39]Mhm.

[00:39:41]Okay.

[00:39:42]Sorry, I was once again getting caught up in in the accents. Um listen for again the grumbly bass down below. To me, that absolutely speaks like it's own DSR, it's it's own representation of the devil. Interest you in our old-fashioned Staffordshire ale?

[00:40:02]Oh, no, not me. I'm a man of repute.

[00:40:11]But, the devil caught hold of my soul.

[00:40:14]There it is. A voice called out, Shoot.

[00:40:18]Okay.

[00:40:19]So, it it sort of starts out up high and then it just kind of sits down low and it's just sort of hiding there causing trouble, the devil, you know, and then it it comes out again and I don't know, do we I don't think we hear that exact texture of guitar or bass guitar, whatever it is.

[00:40:35]At least not that far forward in our attention for the rest of the song. It just really stood out to me there.

[00:40:41]It was very well placed. And it's just sort of a common gesture that is created in musical history, so very cool. So, there were so many neat little things in this. I don't have time for all of them, you know, the picnic, I loved that, and all the plucky stuff, that was really cool.

[00:40:59]I think though I do want to look at one thing. It was towards the beginning and it was um what I was talking about the manipulation with the lyrics and how they would bring in a chorus of singers for just one word or a repetition of a word or phrase.

[00:41:18]It was just very creative.

[00:41:21]and boundary Boundary, did you hear it on boundary?

[00:41:25]could disagree all the gang land boundary There's Little John and his boys one hell of a noise That's Little John's boys with woolly fashion to bangs That's Little John's thugs, the barking slugs super slugs that For today is the day So, it comes and goes and you just hear one person singing and then one phrase, but that that the one about the slugs, that that one little spot right there, someone joined in just for that and it was kind of messy.

[00:41:59]Kind of like slugs are messy, but um so in general, the use of all these gestures is just very inviting to sort of get sucked in to the story here.

[00:42:12]Okay, that was the Battle of Epping Forest, track number five, opening of side two for Selling England by the pound. It was a great storytelling, and it seems like it's like a fairy tale or, you know, something from generations past, but then it's actually describing something that was happening in their current time. So again, the mixing of the old with the new, and then sneaking in some actual classical ideas, um, like the recitative, you know, from the operas, and the representation of the devil, and I know the storytelling, I mean, that's what happens a lot in opera anyway is the telling of two sides to a story, you know, love that doesn't quite make it, or severe conflict between two parties. Well, I'm just catching on now that this album is just going to touch on all sorts of different topics, you know, career choices, descriptive of nature, and I think especially learning lessons in life.

[00:43:18]But it's not more about teaching people, it's more about, let's bring these stories forward, and you can learn something if you want to, or you can just say, you know, what a shame.

[00:43:30]It's up to you. So, this one would be a fun one for a deep dive someday. There was so much going on. But again, I would expect nothing less from Genesis.

[00:43:41]So, thanks for coming along with me on this epic Epping Forest story.

[00:43:48]It was great. And I can't wait to see where we go next. So, until then, just remember that you don't have to be perfect, just be okay.

[00:43:55]And keep listening.