Follow You, Follow Me

"Follow You Follow Me" is a 1978 single by Genesis. The music was written by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, and Mike Rutherford, with lyrics by Rutherford.[1] Originally released as the last track from their 1978 album …And Then There Were Three…, the single was Genesis's first to reach the American Top 40 (peaking at number 23) and UK Top 10 (number 7).[2]  It paved the way for the more radio-friendly direction Genesis would take over the next decade.



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[hide]  *1 Background  ==Background[ edit] == The slower, sentimental "Follow You Follow Me" was a departure from most of their previous work as a progressive rock band, as well as much of the rest of the album, featuring a simple melody, romantic lyrics and a verse-chorus structure. Although previous albums contained love ballads, such as Selling England by the Pound's "More Fool Me" and "Your Own Special Way" from Wind & Wuthering, "Follow You Follow Me" was the first worldwide pop success by the group and gained the band play on adult contemporary and pop music stations.[citation needed]  The band all agreed that their music was attracting mainly male audiences. This song was written specifically to redress the balance.[3] ==Composition[ edit] == The song started from a chord sequence by guitarist Mike Rutherford, who also claimed he wrote the lyrics in about five minutes. At the time, the band usually wrote songs individually. Keyboardist Tony Banks was quoted: "It was our only truly group-written number. Mike played the riff, then I started playing a chord sequence and melody line on it, which Phil then centralized around. It worked so well as a very simple thing; it was enough as it stood. I'd just written a simple love lyric for Many Too Many, and I think Mike was keen to try the same thing. Maybe Follow You Follow Me was almost too banal, but I got used to it. I think we find it much easier to write long stories than simple love songs." Collins has described it as "a great rhythm track" but claimed it "was not intended to be a hit single."[1] ==Music video<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The music video for the song was a mimed live performance of the band. It later appeared on their DVD The Video Show. ==Live performances<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The song was played live during the …And Then There Were Three…,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4]  Duke,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5]  Three Sides Live Encore tour,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  Genesis,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  Invisible Touch (1986 set only),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  The Way We Walk,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]  Calling All Stations (with Ray Wilson on vocals),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  and Turn It On Again tours.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]
 * 2 Composition
 * 3 Music video
 * 4 Live performances
 * 5 Personnel
 * 6 Cover versions and other appearances
 * 7 References
 * 8 External links

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">For The Way We Walk, this song was played as part of a medley of old Genesis songs called the Old Medley. Because of this the song was not always played in its entirety during the The Way We Walktour.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:20.363636016845703px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">During the Turn It On Again Tour, Phil Collins performed on the drums as well as the vocals (making it one of very few songs in which he performs both simultaneously), while animated line art of a selection of the band's album art played in the background video screens. The first and last scenes in the animated sequence show the "father" character from the We Can't Dance album cover, raising his hand. A bright white spotlight (on Collins) lights up at the beginning of the song, and turns itself off at the end.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12] ==Personnel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Cover versions and other appearances<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Phil Collins – vocals, drums
 * Tony Banks – keyboards
 * Mike Rutherford – guitar, bass guitar
 * Former Genesis singer Ray Wilson performs the song acoustically on his solo album Ray Wilson Live.
 * It was also covered by American band Red House Painters for the first edition of Badman's Shanti Project Collection.
 * Italo disco duo Marx & Spencer also covered the song in 1984.
 * This song has been featured in the television series, Cold Case (season 1 episode 12, "Glued"), and can be heard briefly in the 2007 film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
 * This song is played during the 1979 UK short film of the same name, and again during the end credits.