An above comment called this Genesis' most intelligent lyrics, which seems a hard claim to justify...
But that just might be a factor of the inclusion of the "chocolate surprise" line. Still the lyrics are very good.
The opening part of the song talks about two people destined to fall in love, using the familiar example of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet is the typical woman, cleaning around the house, and Romeo is a poor man (living in a basement flat). However, because of his love, he feels like a "weekend millionaire."
The Tiresias part is based on the legend that Tiresias spent time as both a man and a woman to see who got more pleasure out of sex. Out of a total of 10, he said women got 7 and men got 3 (adding up to 10). This outraged the Gods, and some stuff happened (I'm not sure what).
Anyway, Gabriel compares man's tendency to change from calm to rage instantly to the same tendency of the sea, and woman to the earth. He then concluded with "there is in fact more earth than sea." This is true. In terms of surface area, there is twice as much sea. However, in terms of actual volume (a.k.a. substance), the earth is 70% earth and 30% water. Thus, there is, in fact, more earth than sea. And notice the 7 to 3 ratio. Thus, women get more enjoyment from sex than men.
And that's the excellent song, "The Cinema Show."
The album itself is about the decline of the British Empire, on which the sun will finally set.
An above comment called this Genesis' most intelligent lyrics, which seems a hard claim to justify...
But that just might be a factor of the inclusion of the "chocolate surprise" line. Still the lyrics are very good.
The opening part of the song talks about two people destined to fall in love, using the familiar example of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet is the typical woman, cleaning around the house, and Romeo is a poor man (living in a basement flat). However, because of his love, he feels like a "weekend millionaire."
The Tiresias part is based on the legend that Tiresias spent time as both a man and a woman to see who got more pleasure out of sex. Out of a total of 10, he said women got 7 and men got 3 (adding up to 10). This outraged the Gods, and some stuff happened (I'm not sure what).
Anyway, Gabriel compares man's tendency to change from calm to rage instantly to the same tendency of the sea, and woman to the earth. He then concluded with "there is in fact more earth than sea." This is true. In terms of surface area, there is twice as much sea. However, in terms of actual volume (a.k.a. substance), the earth is 70% earth and 30% water. Thus, there is, in fact, more earth than sea. And notice the 7 to 3 ratio. Thus, women get more enjoyment from sex than men.
And that's the excellent song, "The Cinema Show."
The album itself is about the decline of the British Empire, on which the sun will finally set.