‘The Fountain of Salmacis’: the song that set Genesis apart from everybody else
There are few genres of music more ripe for making fun of than prog. Pretty much every level is patently ridiculous, from the capes to the 20-minute solos to songs about Martians—it’s all absurd. Most ridiculous was its steadfast, bullish belief that all of it should be taken deadly seriously. Perhaps that was what set Genesis over their peers. They were one of the few bands that understood the difference between taking themselves versus taking the music seriously.
It took them a little while, but one can see the development even in the titles of their first and third albums. Genesis’ debut album is called From Genesis to Revelation. Their third is called Nursery Cryme— yes, with a Y. Yet, despite the name, the sheer vision that went into making the music was typical of a band of their reputation. Plus, it was their first album to feature a few new members—Steve Hackett on guitar and some guy named Phil on drums. I wonder what happened to him.
Their previous album saw the band develop from the fairly straight-head psychedelic pop of their debut to a much more expansive, ‘progressive’ even, sonic palette. Nursery Cryme went a step further, with several songs building into full-on mini-operas. Opener ‘The Musical Box’ was a perfect example of this, being a macabre fairytale set in Victorian Britain.
The album ended up being built around this opening track, so much so that the cover is based on it; however, another track on the album might just be even more important for the band’s progression. ‘The Fountain of Salmacis’ is a seven-minute, prog rock retelling of the Greek myth of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus built from a keyboard line that Tony Banks had written back in university.
Right off the bat, the band could tell they were onto something. They had recently bought a Mellotron keyboard after being inspired by what King Crimson could do with it. Soon, they were layering the chord sequence for ‘The Fountain…’ over cacophonous Mellotron chords for one hell of a finale that would go down particularly well on stage. There was just one thing missing, and the newly-joined guitarist had just the thing in mind.
Hackett spoke about the moment the song came together in a documentary for the album’s box set reissue in 2008. He said, “We were rehearsing…and we were doing what became the end of that song, and I think we were all relaxed after a few drinks, and right at the end, it just seemed like the perfect moment to do a guitar solo over it. So, I steamed in with that, and I felt that there were no bands really around that were doing anything quite like that, you know. Fairly classical chord sequence, and a rock guitar solo over the front that’s maybe got a little more to do with the violin in spirit than the guitar.”
Once they’d finished, the band knew there was no way the album could top the climax they’d just written for ‘The Fountain…’, so the decision was made to make the song the album’s closer. To this day, it remains one of Genesis’ most beloved tracks and a highlight of their early concerts.
