Credit: Far Out / Genesis
From the Bayeux Tapestry to ‘WAP’, as we gaze upon the endless stream of art that we have access to in the modern world, all of human emotion available at the click of a finger, the lesson that can truly be taken from its creation is that creativity does not have a timeframe.
That’s something that Genesis’s Mike Rutherford found as he managed to write the band’s first US hit in a matter of minutes.
There are several instances in music when the creative process hasn’t taken as long as we imagine it would. For example, Slash has confessed that he wrote the riff to ‘Sweet Child O Mine’ to destroy the song because he wasn’t a fan of the chord structure. Jimmy Page said he wrote the solo to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ in a matter of seconds, given the whole thing is improvised. However, Mike Rutherford was still stunned at how quickly the words to ‘Follow You, Follow Me’ came.
The piece isn’t emotionally complex, but it has a sweet melody and fun vocal rhythm, good enough to appeal to a broad audience. The track follows a man and his unbending devotion to a woman; he asks her in this rose-tinted love mist if she will always be by his side.
“When I wrote the lyric, out came this lovely little song,” said Rutherford about putting together ‘Follow You, Follow Me’. “Catchy without being soppy. It took ten minutes. I thought, ‘Fuck, it can’t be that easy.’”
Genesis had already proven themselves in the UK by this point as their track, ‘I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’, had climbed to number 21 in the charts, but in America, they were still very much considered a cult band. ‘Follow You, Follow Me’ started something big for them, as it was the first song that had gained proper traction in the States and would begin what eventually became a run of successful singles for the group.
The success of the song also marked a major turning point in Genesis’ wider evolution as a band. Having spent much of the early 1970s building a reputation through lengthy progressive compositions and conceptual storytelling, tracks like ‘Follow You, Follow Me’ showed they were capable of writing concise and emotionally direct pop songs without completely abandoning their musical sophistication.
Further reading: From The Vault
For some longtime fans, the shift was controversial, but it ultimately helped transform Genesis from a respected cult act into one of the biggest bands in the world.
Part of the song’s enduring appeal lies in that simplicity. Rather than relying on elaborate metaphors or cryptic imagery, Rutherford tapped into an emotion almost anyone could understand immediately, which gave the track a warmth absent from much of Genesis’ earlier material. Its straightforward sincerity also hinted at the more accessible songwriting style the band would embrace throughout the 1980s, paving the way for the massive commercial success that followed during the Phil Collins era.
Rutherford even confesses that the track was supposed to be longer, but as soon as he heard the vocal melody, it was clear they were onto a winner. “At the time,” he said, “It was meant to be part of a longer song, but it just sort of worked. I wrote a very simple lyric, I guess about my wife really now. It was the first time I wrote a lyric that direct and that quick.”
The theme of the piece was clear. It was to be taken as a straightforward love song, and maybe that’s why the spontaneity in its production was beneficial. If you think too hard about a pretty universal emotion, you might overcomplicate your description to the point that the listener can no longer engage with what you’re saying. With lines like, “Every day is such a perfect day to spend alone with you,” there was no chance the lyrics would be misinterpreted by a wider audience.
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