As mentioned in our “And Then There Were Three” podcast, the live version of “Say It’s Alright Joe” was extended to more than twice the length of the album version, mostly due to Phil’s theatrics. And you can hear that “drunk” Phil had quite a lot to deal with from “drunk” audience members!
This song didn’t rate as high with the female members of the Tabletop as it did with the men. What do you think? Does it come across as a testosterone-heavy track?
Great video – love this version – never knew it existed until it was mentioned on the podcast.
Thanks for sharing. It led me to this video of the full concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbNo14hMuU8
You gotta love Phil’s Hawaiian shirt phase! 😉 Tom
I’m not so sure this song is all that testosteroney. My wife likes it way more than I do.
I never thought of this song as testosterone-heavy at all – more like something sung by a man in a rather vulnerable condition, a slightly tragic figure acknowledging weakness and the fact that perhaps he does not have much left to give to the world. Elsewhere I’ve seen it labeled a “torch song”.
Musically, it may not be as great as some of the other songs on the album. Yet this video demonstrates that there is quite a lot to be got from this song when you explore it. the languid extended intro probably puts many people off, but like many other Genesis songs it is quite complex, and after many listenings it’s still possible to hear things not noticed before.
Phil makes it good, it is not really “worth” 10 minutes of show time, for my taste, but he clearly loves it. And based on reports about his life style since retiring, this was prescient ..
Actually, Phil’s life style at this time involved a few marathon “benders” owing to his crumbling domestic situation, which we hear about in parts of Duke and much more fully on Face Value. With that in mind, there’s little doubt that, for a time anyway, he was really living this sort of life. Knowing that makes this particular performance all the more poignant for me. (I also saw them do this on the Duke Tour in 1980).