“Supper's Ready” by Genesis

"Supper's Ready" runs nearly 23 minutes, the longest thing Genesis ever recorded, and it closes their 1972 album Foxtrot, filling the side after Steve Hackett's short guitar piece "Horizons". It took shape that summer, when the band sat down to write after touring Nursery Cryme. The acoustic opening sections were first seen as a companion to "The Musical Box", until Peter Gabriel brought in "Willow Farm" and knocked the whole thing sideways; the band kept building until it ended with "Apocalypse in 9/8" and "As Sure as Eggs is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)", music they rated among their best. Gabriel's lyric is a personal pilgrimage through scenes from the Book of Revelation, good wrestling evil, with bits of his own life mixed in.

From 1972 to 1974 it was the centerpiece of their shows, Gabriel acting out its sections in costume. After he left, Phil Collins sang it in 1976, 1977 and 1982.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.