Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
Encyclopedia
"Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" is the first track on the Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

 album Selling England by the Pound
Selling England by the Pound
- Sound and live performance :The piano introduction to "Firth of Fifth" has not been included in a performance since 1974, in a Drury Lane Theatre concert, when Banks misplayed and Collins covered by starting the song from after the intro...

, released in 1973.

The a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 voice of Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...

 opens the track. Then, the song progressively gets louder and more upbeat, becoming a powerful rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 number
Number (music)
A number in music is a self-contained piece that is combined with other such pieces in a performance. In a concert of popular music, for example, the individual songs or pieces performed are often referred to as "numbers." The term is applied also to sections of large vocal works when the...

. This song is notable in that it is one of several tracks where Tony Banks
Tony Banks (musician)
This article is about the musician. For other people named Tony Banks, see Tony BanksAnthony George "Tony" Banks is a British composer, and multi-instrumentalist, who performs as a keyboardist and a guitarist...

 used his newly-acquired Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

 M400; toward the middle of the song the 8 Voice choir is featured prominently, and in the closing section the strings are used. It is also of special mention particularly that guitarist Steve Hackett
Steve Hackett
Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...

 used the tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...

 and sweep-picking
Sweep-picking
Sweep picking is a guitar playing technique in which a 'sweeping' motion of the pick is combined with a matching fret hand technique in order to produce a specific series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. Despite being commonly known as sweep picking, both hands essentially perform an...

 techniques on this song.
The lyrics are an ironic commentary on contemporary England that employs references to English staples like Wimpy hamburgers and Green Shield Stamps
Green Shield Stamps
Green Shield Stamps were a sales promotion or incentive loyalty scheme using trading stamps, designed and deployed in the United Kingdom and Ireland to encourage or reward shopping, by being able to buy gifts...

. The reference "chewing through your Wimpey dreams" is, at least, a double allusion - by sound to Wimpy hamburgers and by spelling to Wimpey Homes
George Wimpey
George Wimpey was formed in 1880 and, based in Hammersmith, operated largely as a road surfacing contractor. The business was acquired by Godfrey Mitchell in 1919 and he developed it into the UK’s pre-eminent construction and housebuilding firm. In 2007, Wimpey merged with Taylor Woodrow to create...

 and the notion of a dream house. The latter reference has some echoes with the theme of "Get 'Em Out by Friday
Get 'Em Out by Friday
"Get 'Em Out by Friday" is a rock epic on the 1972 album Foxtrot by British progressive rock band Genesis, lasting eight and a half minutes. It also appears on their 1973 live album.-Overview:...

" from Foxtrot
Foxtrot (album)
Foxtrot is the fourth studio album by English progressive rock band Genesis and the second from the band line-up which included Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Steve Hackett.-History:...

. The album was named after a lyric in this song.

The song's melody is repeated in a different form at the closing of "The Cinema Show
The Cinema Show
"The Cinema Show" is an epic rock song by British progressive rock band Genesis from their 1973 album, Selling England by the Pound.Musically, the song is divided into two main sections: The first section is a gentle 12-string guitar-based piece, featuring vocal harmonies between Peter Gabriel and...

". The beats of the melody are shifted backwards once.

The album's closing song, "Aisle of Plenty
Aisle of Plenty
"Aisle of Plenty" is the final song on the 1973 Genesis album "Selling England by the Pound". It is not so much its own song as a reprise of the eight-minute opening number "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" with whose lyrics it also shares some thematic connections...

", is a reprise of "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight". This gives the album a book-end effect, a technique that was used to great effect on later albums like A Trick of the Tail
A Trick of the Tail
-B Side:*This is the first song in the Genesis catalogue to feature an ellipsis in its name, used to convey the mysteriousness of the track. All future issues of this track omit the elipsis, however....

and Duke
Duke (album)
Duke is the tenth studio album by British band Genesis, released in March 1980.-Overview:The release of Duke followed solo albums by Genesis members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford ....

.

The line "Paperlate, cried a voice in the crowd" was alluded to in the title of the band's 1982 song Paperlate
Paperlate
"Paperlate" was the lead song from the second of two EPs by the British rock group Genesis. The EP, titled 3 X 3 , peaked at #10 on the album charts in mid-1982. The success of the EP led to an appearance on Top of the Pops...

.

Personnel

  • Peter Gabriel
    Peter Gabriel
    Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...

    : vocals
    Lead vocalist
    The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...

    , flute
    Flute
    The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

    , oboe
    Oboe
    The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

    , bass drum
    Bass drum
    Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

    , tambourine
    Tambourine
    The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

  • Steve Hackett
    Steve Hackett
    Stephen Richard Hackett is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. He gained prominence as a member of the British progressive rock group Genesis, which he joined in 1970 and left in 1977 to pursue a solo career...

    : electric
    Electric guitar
    An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

     and acoustic guitar
    Acoustic guitar
    An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

    s
  • Mike Rutherford
    Mike Rutherford
    Michael John Cleote Crawford Rutherford is an English musician. He is a founding member of Genesis, initially as a bassist and backup vocalist. In later incarnations of Genesis, he assumed the role of lead guitarist. He is one of only two constant members in Genesis . He also fronts Mike + The...

    : bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

     and acoustic guitar, bass pedals
    Bass pedals
    Bass pedals are an electronic musical instrument with foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a pedalboard and analog synthesizer tone generation circuitry packaged together as a unit...

  • Tony Banks
    Tony Banks (musician)
    This article is about the musician. For other people named Tony Banks, see Tony BanksAnthony George "Tony" Banks is a British composer, and multi-instrumentalist, who performs as a keyboardist and a guitarist...

    : ARP Pro Soloist
    ARP Pro Soloist
    The ARP Pro Soloist was one of the first commercially successful preset electronic music synthesizers. Introduced by ARP Instruments, Inc. in 1972, it replaced the similar ARP Soloist in the company's lineup of portable performance instruments.-History:...

    , Mellotron
    Mellotron
    The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

    , Hammond organ
    Hammond organ
    The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

    , piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

  • Phil Collins
    Phil Collins
    Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

    : Drum
    Drum
    The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

    s, percussion

External links

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