35 All-Time Best Genesis Songs

25. "The Carpet Crawlers"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yUN6CsuVPw This song will always affectionately be held close to the fans' hearts, not least of which because it was rerecorded with both Gabriel and Collins on vocals in 1999 but also since it was played at the band's last series of concerts in 2007. Describing a motley group of persons struggling to reach an outer chamber while chanting, "We've gotta get in to get out," it not only adds to the concept album's unique narrative, it personifies the everyman struggle of living day to day and trying to achieve any goal, however insignificant.

24. "Ripples"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJa9gEUa0To This song was also played at their last tour in 2007, somewhat surprisingly since it wasn't a major hit. It describes a woman who gradually ages and, as she looks into the ripples of a pool and sees her beauty melt away, realises she'll never again regain her youth ("Sail away, away/Ripples never come back"). Despite the unusual selection at the show, I don't believe it was mere coincidence the band played the song seeing as how their youthful prime is long behind them.

23. "A Trick Of The Tail"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWxaidVIjXk This song was instrumental to the band's history as it was the first single released with Collins on lead vocals and also the first one to feature in a music video. While the cheesy video hasn't aged very well (a miniature Collins hops around the keys of a piano like Jerry from a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon), the song's clever story, based on William Golding's novel "The Inheritors," is about an enlightened beast who leaves his kingdom and is captured by the world of humans, only to be displayed in a freak show. The beast promises his captors gold in exchange for his freedom, and as he leads them to his enchanted world, he disappears just as they briefly glimpse a golden spire.

22. "Your Own Special Way"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykaEysI4KYA Written by Rutherford, this is probably the band's most effeminate song. That may be why some people believe Collins wrote it. Its bouncy, seasick rhythm and Collins' playful vocal delivery add to the enchanted atmosphere of the song, and the romantic lyrics melt this cynic's heart: "You have your own special way/of turning the world so it's facing the way that I'm going."

21. "Blood On The Rooftops"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeZRdd_1b4g Even if this song was just the exquisitely played guitar intro by Steve Hackett, I would include it on this list, but as if that classical guitar piece wasn't enough, Collins pours his heart out in a bittersweet reflection of wistful memories combined with the tragic news of the day, his sweet, nostalgic lyrics ("We always watched the Queen on Christmas day/Won't you stay?") juxtaposed with the ugliness found on the nightly news. (Just read the title of the song.) It's one of Genesis' most beautiful songs.