Firth of Fifth

"Firth of Fifth"
Song

"Firth of Fifth" is a rock song by progressive rock band Genesis, from their 1973 album Selling England by the Pound. The title is a pun on the estuary of the River Forth in Scotland, commonly known as the Firth of Forth.

The song starts out with a classical-style grand piano introduction by Tony Banks. This section is very rhythmically complex, with certain bars in the extremely rare time signatures of 13/16 and 15/16, alternating with bars of 2/4. This section changes tempo and segues into the first section of lyrics, accompanied by drums and a chord progression between the organ and guitar. The song then features a flute melody, followed by a synth-driven instrumental which restates the opening piano theme. Steve Hackett then plays a solo (an interpretation of the flute melody) using one of his signature violinesque guitar tones. Peter Gabriel then sings a brief section of lyrics before Banks concludes the song on piano.

At over nine minutes long, this song is representative of Genesis' work during their progressive rock period. It is also one of the band's most popular early works, and is featured on their second compilation album, Platinum Collection (2004).

Although "Firth of Fifth" is credited to the entire band, Tony Banks would later claim that much of the music was developed from his own ideas (the flute and guitar solos were interpretations of a melody that Banks wrote on piano). Banks' authorship has been confirmed by Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett, who called it "one of Tony's finest." Banks and Mike Rutherford wrote the lyrics. Banks would later state in Hugh Fielder's The Book of Genesis that it was one of the worst sets of lyrics he had been involved with.

From autumn 1973 onwards, the song's piano intro was omitted during live performances. Tony Banks felt he could not do the intro justice on the RMI electric piano he used on stage instead of a proper piano, as the RMI was not touch-sensitive.

The song appeared in instrumental form (the middle keyboard and guitar solos) as part of the 1992 We Can't Dance tour and 1998 Calling All Stations tour, as well as in 2007's Turn It On Again: The Tour. The instrumental segues directly into "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" in 1992 and 2007 versions.

It also appears on Steve Hackett's solo album of re-worked Genesis songs, Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited (1996), with lead vocal by John Wetton, as well as on Hackett's live album "The Tokyo Tapes".

In 2009 the rapper The Game sampled parts from the guitar solo for the song "Flashback Memories".

Line-up

• Peter Gabriel: vocals, flute, tambourine and bass drum
• Steve Hackett: electric guitar and guitar effects
• Mike Rutherford: bass, bass pedals, twelve-string guitar and backing vocals
• Tony Banks: piano, Hammond organ, Mellotron, ARP Pro Soloist and backing vocals
• Phil Collins: drums and backing vocals.

External links

• Tony Banks interview describing his writing of the "Firth of Fifth"