Every so often I hit a rut of utter confusion where I need to stop listen to the Genesis tune ABACAB about 100 times in a row. I currently have it blaring through my headphones and so far I'm on the 16 or 17th listen. There's something about the lyrics that make my brain feel all happy and fuzzy.. (When you wake in the morning/Wake and find you're covered in cellophane/Well there's a hole in the somewhere/Yeah there's a hole in the somewhere) I'm not a big Genesis guy, but have always liked the huge sound Phil Collins gets out of his drums. Perhaps it’s because he’s so tiny that his drums seem big and he plays them that way. Whenever I feel like throwing a cake at a wall, this song's keen bizarro lyrics tend to mentally do it for me and make everything fine. They don't really make sense, but it's cleverly worded enough to the point where you can get whatever it is he was thinking while writing them yet still have no idea what he's referring to. Some would say it’s about a girl, but that’s taking the easy way out.
And what's with that song title? What is an "ABACAB"? Is it representative of the song structure? Or is it a made up word (Genesis fans, please advise). Maybe Phil was having some tea one day and it suddenly dawned on him: "I'm gonna call that one song ABACAB and use that as the main word in the chorus as well." From the same dude that wrote the lyric "Su-su-Sudio" a few years later and made a nice hit out of it, I guess that wouldn't be a surprise.
How could Phil Collins make cool stuff like "ABACAB" and then turn into the bitch we know him as today who writes music for Disney movies that all sounds pretty much the same? I'm sure a big part of that answer can be summed up in one all too important compound word: paycheck.
He and people like Elton John have fallen victim to what I call the "Randy Newman Curse". I think I've caught wind of quite a few recent Sting tunes that meet this criteria as well - I'm guessing he's next on the list of people that used to do cool stuff but now write lame-ass cookie cutter music to maintain their frivolous lifestyles that they earned via actual good music back in the day. If you've ever watched VH1 Behind The Music, you know that most money made "back in the day" by these guys was mismanaged and stolen by shoddy management - hence the need to write music today that makes big money faster than you can say "sucky music". Say it ain't so! Don't do it, Sting! I think it's already too late.
Hm.. maybe that's what ABACAB and its lyrics mean: "It is inevitable that some day I will be writing crap, so please enjoy my music before I get sucked into the black hole of chronic suck-icity." Read the lyrics for yourself and you'll see that interpretation actually seems to fit quite well. In the mean time, I need to put my headphones on and give it another go.
ABACAB – Genesis
Look up on the wall, there on the floor,
Under the pillow, behind the door.
There's a crack in the mirror.
Somewhere there's a hole in a window pane.
Do you think I'm to blame?
Tell me, do you think I'm to blame?
(When we do it) you're never there.
(When you show it) just stop and stare.
(Abacab) he's in anywhere.
(Abacab)
If you're wrappin' up the world
'Cause you've taken someone else's girl,
When they turn on the pillow,
Even when they answer the telephone,
don't you think that by now...
Tell me, don't you think that by now.
(When we do it) you're never there.
(When you show it) just stop and stare.
(Abacab) he's in anywhere.
(Abacab) doesn't really care.
Do you want it? You got it. Now you know.
Do you want it? You got it. Now you know.
It's an illusion. It's a game,
or reflection of somewone else's name.
When you wake in the morning,
Wake and find you're covered in cellophane,
Well, there's a hole in there somewhere.
Yeah, there's a hole in there somewhere.
Baby, there's a hole in there somewhere.
Now there's a hole in there somewhere.
(When we do it) you're never there.
(When you show it) you stop and stare.
(Abacab) he's in anywhere.
(Abacab)
