| "Robbery, Assault and Battery" | ||||
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| Song by Genesis from the album A Trick of the Tail | ||||
| Released | 20 February 1976 | |||
| Recorded | October-November 1975 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock | |||
| Length | 6:16 | |||
| Label | Charisma/Virgin (UK) Atco (US) |
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| Writer | Tony Banks/Phil Collins | |||
| Producer | David Hentschel and Genesis | |||
| A Trick of the Tail track listing | ||||
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"Robbery, Assault and Battery" is a song by the band Genesis, appearing on their 1976 album A Trick of the Tail. It was written by Tony Banks and Phil Collins. Collins, in his first album as lead vocalist, mimicked former vocalist Peter Gabriel's occasional practice of using various accents to portray different characters.
A promotional video was made for the song (directed by Bruce Gowers), depicting Collins as a bank robber who shoots an elderly guard (Mike Rutherford) as told in the first verses, and from then on is chased by policemen (Banks and Steve Hackett), with shots of the band playing the song showing up in the introduction and keyboard solo. According to Phil Collins in a 1994 interview, this was the first video Genesis ever did and was one of his favorite videos he ever made.
The intro is in 7/4, and all 3 verses and 2 choruses are in 4/4 (with one bar of 7/8 ending both choruses, in the little guitar melody).
The keyboard solo is in the uncommon time signature 13/8, achieved by alternating bars of 7/8 and 6/8, ending with another bar of 6/8 in transition to the interlude verse section ("God always fights..."). This section is again in 13/8, but this time alternating 3 bars of 3/8 with one of 4/8, and ending by skipping the last 4/8 bar in transition to the keyboard melody that follows. This melody is in 13/8 again, but back to the alternation of 7/8 and 6/8.
The outro ("Done me wrong...") is 16/8, split in 2 bars of 5/8 and one of 6/8.