{"id":947929,"date":"2026-05-09T08:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T08:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/947929\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T08:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T08:35:15","slug":"the-1978-genesis-song-that-was-written-in-just-10-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/947929\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1978 Genesis song that was written in just 10 minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Genesis<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Genesis<\/p>\n

From the Bayeux Tapestry to \u2018WAP\u2019, 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. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s something that Genesis<\/a>\u2019s Mike Rutherford found as he managed to write the band\u2019s first US hit in a matter of minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are several instances in music when the creative process hasn\u2019t taken as long as we imagine it would. For example, Slash has confessed that he wrote the riff to \u2018Sweet Child O Mine\u2019 to destroy the song because he wasn\u2019t a fan of the chord structure. Jimmy Page said he wrote the solo<\/a> to \u2018Stairway to Heaven\u2019 in a matter of seconds, given the whole thing is improvised. However, Mike Rutherford was still stunned at how quickly the words to \u2018Follow You, Follow Me\u2019 came. <\/p>\n

The piece isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I wrote the lyric, out came this lovely little song,\u201d said Rutherford about putting together \u2018Follow You, Follow Me\u2019. \u201cCatchy without being soppy. It took ten minutes. I thought, \u2018Fuck, it can\u2019t be that easy.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Genesis had already proven themselves<\/a> in the UK by this point as their track, \u2018I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)\u2019, had climbed to number 21 in the charts, but in America, they were still very much considered a cult band. \u2018Follow You, Follow Me\u2019 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The success of the song also marked a major turning point in Genesis\u2019 wider evolution as a band. Having spent much of the early 1970s building a reputation through lengthy progressive compositions and conceptual storytelling, tracks like \u2018Follow You, Follow Me\u2019 showed they were capable of writing concise and emotionally direct pop songs without completely abandoning their musical sophistication. <\/p>\n

Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Part of the song\u2019s 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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cAt the time,\u201d he said, \u201cIt 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

The theme of the piece was clear. It was to be taken as a straightforward love song, and maybe that\u2019s 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\u2019re saying. With lines like, \u201cEvery day is such a perfect day to spend alone with you,\u201d there was no chance the lyrics would be misinterpreted by a wider audience. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ Genesis From the Bayeux Tapestry to \u2018WAP\u2019, as we gaze upon the endless stream…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,2891,264473,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-947929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-genesis","10":"tag-mike-rutherford","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116543706482603093","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}