“Play me my song…” In this episode, Tabletop Genesis focuses on the 1971 masterpiece, Nursery Cryme, as one member attempts to convince the group of the brilliance of “Seven Stones.” So go ahead and listen to this podcast now, now, now, now, now…
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First off, thank you for another great episode!
I’m fairly sure that the Y in “Cryme” is a play on the word “rhyme” (as in Nursery Rhyme), and they kept the “Y” instead of the proper “I” for effect.
This was never one of my favorite Genesis albums, which is weird because it has some of my favorite tracks on it: Musical Box, Hogweed and Fountain. However, I do think that those three songs fair much better in a live setting. My favorite version of Fountain is the UK Three Sides Live version (from Knebworth ’78 I think?)…and the Genesis Live versions of Musical Box and Hogweed are stellar beyond words.
I’m with you regarding the wordplay on Cryme and Rhyme. I was surprised that the esteemed presenters didn’t get that. Perhaps they don’t have nursey rhymes in the USA though Simon usually brings lots of English culture to the table.
For the record, I love For Absent Friends. Seven Stones also is a great song as it is about not being taken in by quacks.
Nursery (not nursey) sorry for the typo
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Love this podcast! I’m 55 so a bit older than the Tabletoppers, and I’ve been a Genesis fan since around 1978. I had the good fortune to experience them on their Duke, Abacab, and Invisible Touch tours and loved every second of them. I was also an unapologetic Mama Tour video addict and bought every other concert video they released.
Re: The Return of the Giant Hogweed: I’m rather surprised that no one mentioned that this lyric is based on an actual plant that thrives around riverbanks in the UK. Peter Gabriel read a story about it in the paper and used the basic facts, i.e. it was from the Caucasus and brought back to the UK during the Victorian era to be used as ornamental plants, then later found to be invasive and, more ominously, phototoxic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heracleum_mantegazzianum
You referenced the “goofy lyrics,” but a fair amount of what is in the song is factual (okay, well, except for the hogweeds “seeking revenge” against the humans who “captured” them by exhorting each other to “kill them with your hogweed hairs!” Of course, I’m ignoring the glaring (and goofy) fact that someone actually wrote a song about this!
Here’s a thought: No doubt other listeners will from time to time chime in here in the comments section on little tidbits that you didn’t mention… or that perhaps you never knew about to begin with. Perhaps this could be a small segment of future podcasts… you know, just like Tom showing us his poll and all that. Just a thought. Keep these wonderful podcasts coming!
Thanks for the comments! Down the road we might do a “Fan Thoughts” segment (or episode) and include some of the great comments/feeback/”corrections” from our listeners. 🙂
Envious of your longtime fandom! The Duke tour in particular would have been killer to see.
I can’t believe the amount of misinformation still being spread about the Y in “cryme” to this day. I mean, come awnn. Everybody knows it’s a salute to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Duh!
What isn’t so well-known is the fact that the last track on the album was originally going to be called The Fountyn of Salmacys Y’all, but Peter Gabryl thought playing around with the album’s title was quite enough already. Styvv Hackytt and Phyl Collyns agreed while Tony Banks secretly started making plans to kick them out of the band and substitute them with a three-keyboard line-up for the next Genesys album (to be called Two-Step), for which he’d already begun writing BBQ’s Ready.
Things didn’t quite go his way that time, though, and Genesis remained as they were for a few years longer while Tony harboured an increasingly curious feeling.
Nursery Cryme is my favorite and its SO hard to choose a favorite with Genesis,
but I won a radio trivia contest from this one. The question was “which Genesis album was the very 1st to feature Phil on Vocals, the name of the album, the track name, and the Year. Well duuh. The less serious fans were so sure it was More Fool Me (survey said…..”XXX”) So…I won Tickets to the Oakland, CA Invisible Touch show and the new CD from KOME San Jose. WooHoo !
My Genesis discovery story started with Abacab in 1980, next: Trick (WOW!), then 3rd was Nursery, so this album was my introduction to the much fabled “Gabriel era”, and it just blew me away immediately, and I especially fell in love with Steve Hackett’s playing due to this album. I was already a King Crimson fan so I knew Guitarists could achieve some crazy sound effects, but the ‘squeaky mouse’ thing that Hackett was doing was inconceivable to me. HOW DID HE DO THAT ?? Well…SURPRISE ! As it turns out, some of it is actually Tony Banks and the 2 of them are often indistinguishable. I studied and practiced my guitar, but it still took me DECADES to learn how to play like Steve. Finally met him in 2019, and tried to not act like a Fanboy LOL. It went ok until Me & my Wifey posed with Steve & Jo for a pic, and I realized that in my nervousness I was stroking his back like I do when I have my arm around my Spouse :0 (oopsie STOP THAT!) Anyway,,,,, I did give him a DVD of my Tribute video of Musical Box/Quiet Earth/Afterglow. hashtag bravery ! https://youtu.be/eP3h9q21dBo
I just found your podcast and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I’m also new to Peter Gabriel-era Genesis although I’m 64 years old. It just wasn’t something I was interested in at the time. I’m making up for a lot of gaps now. Thank you for your unpretentious joy and humor. I laughed out loud several times. I’m also glad to hear women sharing their love for the band.
Thanks, Susannah! Welcome to the show! Our “No Jacket Required” episode comes out Fri (June 25) and features our former co-host Stacy! We had a blast recording it and we think it comes through! 🙂
Well it looks like someone has already noted that Cryme is a play on Ryme as in Nursery Ryme. Old King Cole is an old Nursey Ryme, and the Cryme being the chopped head of Henry by Cynthia I assume. This album takes the themes of Trespass and adds the grooves of Phil C and the fills of Steve H guitar to move to a whole new level. At times this is my favorite Genesis Album, there is not a bad track. But then I listen to Foxtrot, Selling England and Lamb…..