Get 'Em Out by Friday
"Get ’Em Out by Friday" | |
---|---|
Song by Genesis | |
from the album Foxtrot | |
Released | 6 October 1972 |
Recorded | August 1972 |
Genre |
|
Length | 8:37 |
Songwriter(s) | Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford |
"Get 'Em Out by Friday" is a rock song on the 1972 album Foxtrot by British progressive rock band Genesis, lasting eight and a half minutes. It also appears on their 1973 live album. The lyrics were written by lead singer Peter Gabriel.
Overview
The song takes the form of a futuristic play set initially in the present but ending in 2012.[1] Like "Harold the Barrel" and "The Fountain of Salmacis" from their previous album Nursery Cryme, the song's lyrics are split between different characters, with lead singer Peter Gabriel often adapting a different vocal style to each character.
The song uses elements of reality and science fiction as a means of social criticism on the corporate greed and oppression of the UK's private landlords in the 1960s and 1970s, epitomised by Peter Rachman who used "winkling" (a mixture of threats and inducements) to remove tenants on low rents from properties and enable their profitable reletting or redevelopment. Social commentary was an evident theme throughout Genesis's early work, especially in their following album, Selling England by the Pound (1973).[2]
Plot
The play contains three main characters:
- John Pebble: A business man of Styx Enterprises. Near the end of the song, he has been knighted and works for United Blacksprings International.
- Mark Hall (also known as "The Winkler"): A man who works for Styx Enterprises and has the task of evicting tenants.
- Mrs Barrow: a tenant in a house in Harlow,[3] purchased by Pebble.
The song starts with a fast-paced refrain of Pebble ordering Hall to "Get 'em out by Friday". In the following verse, the Winkler tells a disbelieving Mrs Barrow that a firm of men has purchased her property and that she has been evicted. She refuses to leave, so Pebble raises the rent on the property. In lieu of this, the Winkler offers £400 for Mrs Barrow to move; she does, albeit grudgingly. Shortly after Mrs Barrow moves in, however, Pebble again raises the rent.
A slow instrumental indicates a passage of time, taking the story to the year 2012. At this time, Genetic Control has announced that they are restricting the height of all humans to four feet. This piece of news is then discussed in a pub by a man named "Joe Everybody," who reveals the reason behind the restriction: so that Genetic Control, who has recently bought some properties, will be able to accommodate twice as many people in the same tower block.
The penultimate verse is that of Pebble, now knighted, repeating the process for another set of properties. The last verse is a "Memo from Satin Peter",:[4]
- With land in your hand, you'll be happy on earth
- then invest in the Church for your heaven.
Reception
Both the song and its accompanying album were generally well-received; Rutherford commented that the lyrics were the best that Gabriel had written[5] while AllMusic cited the song as "the truest sign Genesis has grown muscle without abandoning the whimsy".[6]
In the late seventies, "Get 'Em Out by Friday" was adapted into a comic by French cartoonist Jean Solé. The lyrics were translated by newswriter Alain Dister, and the art includes some additional drawings by famous cartoonist Gotlib. This adaptation was published in the comic magazine Fluide Glacial.
Personnel
- Peter Gabriel – lead vocals, flute, oboe, bass drum, tambourine
- Tony Banks – Hammond organ, distorted Hohner Pianet, Mellotron, 12-string acoustic guitar
- Steve Hackett – electric and 12-string acoustic guitars
- Mike Rutherford – bass, Dewtron "Mister Bassman" bass pedal synthesizer
- Phil Collins – drums, backing vocals, percussion
References
- ^ Foxtrot liner booklet (1994 remaster ed.). Virgin/Charisma. 1994-09-03 [1972-10-06].
(18/9/2012 T.V. Flash on all Dial-A-Program Services)
- ^ "Composizione e sperimentazione nel rock britannico 1967-1976". Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ Mr Hall: [to Mrs Barrow] Here we are in Harlow New Town, did you recognise your block across the square, over there?
- ^ The album's lyric sheet has "Satin" either as a misprint or as a Peter Gabriel wordplay
- ^ "Genesis doing the Foxtrot". Sounds. 1972-09-09.
- ^ "Foxtrot: Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- v
- t
- e
- Tony Banks
- Mike Rutherford
- Phil Collins
- Peter Gabriel
- Anthony Phillips
- Chris Stewart
- John Silver
- John Mayhew
- Mick Barnard
- Steve Hackett
- Ray Wilson
- Genesis Live
- Seconds Out
- Three Sides Live
- The Way We Walk, Volume One: The Shorts
- The Way We Walk, Volume Two: The Longs
- Live over Europe 2007
- Turn It On Again: The Hits
- Platinum Collection
- The Last Domino? – The Hits
- Genesis Archive 1967–75
- Genesis Archive #2 1976–92
- Genesis 1976–1982
- Genesis 1983–1998
- Genesis 1970–1975
- Genesis Live 1973–2007
- R-Kive
- BBC Broadcasts
- "The Silent Sun"
- "The Knife"
- "Watcher of the Skies"
- "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"
- "The Carpet Crawlers"
- "A Trick of the Tail"
- "Follow You Follow Me"
- "Many Too Many"
- "Go West Young Man"
- "Turn It On Again"
- "Duchess"
- "Misunderstanding"
- "Abacab"
- "No Reply at All"
- "Keep It Dark"
- "Man on the Corner"
- "Paperlate"
- "Mama"
- "That's All"
- "Home by the Sea"
- "Illegal Alien"
- "Taking It All Too Hard"
- "Invisible Touch"
- "Throwing It All Away"
- "In Too Deep"
- "Land of Confusion"
- "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight"
- "No Son of Mine"
- "I Can't Dance"
- "Hold on My Heart"
- "Jesus He Knows Me"
- "Never a Time"
- "Tell Me Why"
- "Congo"
- "Shipwrecked"
- "Not About Us"
- "The Carpet Crawlers 1999"
- "The Silent Sun 2006"
- "The Musical Box"
- "Get 'Em Out by Friday"
- "Can-Utility and the Coastliners"
- "Supper's Ready"
- "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight"
- "Firth of Fifth"
- "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"
- "The Lady Lies"
- "Behind the Lines"
- "Domino"
- "Anything She Does"
- "Driving the Last Spike"
- "Fading Lights"
- In Concert
- Three Sides Live
- The Mama Tour
- Live at Wembley Stadium
- The Way We Walk
- The Video Show
- Live in London
- When in Rome 2007
- Genesis Movie Box 1981–2007
- List of Genesis medleys
- Brand X
- Flaming Youth
- Mike and the Mechanics
- GTR
- Stiltskin
- Simon Collins
- Sound of Contact
- Jonathan King
- Tony Smith
- The Musical Box
- Six of the Best
- Genesis: Together and Apart
- The Farm