Firth of Fifth

Firth of Fifth is the third track on the album Selling England by the Pound by British progressive rock band Genesis.

The title of "Firth of Fifth" is a pun on the estuary of the River Forth in Scotland, commonly known as the Firth of Forth.

The song starts out with a classical-style grand piano introduction. This section is rhythmically complex, with certain bars in the rare time signatures of 13/16 and 15/16, alternating with bars of 2/4.^[1] This section changes tempo and segues into the first section of lyrics, accompanied by drums and a chord progression between the organ and guitar. The song then features a flute melody, followed by a synth-driven instrumental section which restates the opening piano theme. Hackett then plays the flute melody using violinesque guitar tones. Peter Gabriel then sings a brief section of lyrics before Banks concludes the song on piano.

"Firth of Fifth" is featured on their second compilation album, Platinum Collection (2004). Although it is credited to the entire band, Banks would later claim that much of the music was developed from his own ideas. Banks' authorship has been confirmed by Mike Rutherford^[2] and Steve Hackett, who called it "one of Tony's finest."^[3] Banks and Rutherford wrote the lyrics. Banks would later state in Hugh Fielder's The Book of Genesis that it was one of the worst sets of lyrics with which he had been involved.

From autumn 1973 onwards, the song's piano intro was omitted during live performances. Banks felt he could not do the intro justice on the RMI electric piano he used on stage instead of a proper piano, as the RMI was not touch-sensitive.

The song appeared in instrumental form (the middle keyboard and guitar solos) as part of the 1992 We Can't Dance tour and 1998 Calling All Stations tour, as well as in 2007's Turn It On Again: The Tour. The instrumental segues directly into "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" in 1992 and 2007 versions. It also appears on Steve Hackett's solo album of re-worked Genesis songs, Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited (1996), with lead vocal by John Wetton, as well as on Hackett's live album "The Tokyo Tapes".

In 2009 the DJ Absolut sampled parts from the guitar solo for the song "Flashback Memories" for the mixtape "Blood On Chef's Apron" with MC's The Game and Raekwon.

References