‘The Inheritors’: The novel that inspired Genesis song ‘A Trick of the Tail’
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(Credits: Far Out / Raph Pour-Hashemi)
Popular music has long since drawn upon inspiration from the literary world, from Kate Bush’s pop reimagining of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights to Jefferson Airplane and their psychedelic retelling of Alice in Wonderland. No singular music scene borrowed from the literary world quite as much as progressive rock, though. It makes sense, therefore, that the most prominent group to arise from the scene, Genesis, would regularly take inspiration from literature within their songwriting, even after the peak of the prog-rock scene had passed.
Born out of the more musically minded side of psychedelic rock, progressive rock is perhaps best remembered for its intricate, complex compositions, captivating artwork and incredibly long performances. However, the scene was also storied by countless different influences from literature and mythology. You only need to look at a live performance by Yes or Emerson, Lake and Palmer to witness the stronghold that literature and storytelling had on the scene. Of course, Genesis was no different.
Admittedly, the Surrey-based band was a strange case study within the prog-rock movement. Their music always seemed to lean further into the pop mainstream than many of their prog contemporaries. Indeed, as they began to witness more and more commercial success, the early progressive influences that had first united the group began to slip and fall by the wayside. The biggest blow to the prog sound of Genesis came in 1975, when original lead singer Peter Gabriel left the group.
Gabriel’s departure was a difficult hurdle for the band to get across but, luckily, the line-up was awash with similarly talented songwriters. For their first effort in the post-Gabriel era, Tony Banks took up the songwriting duties. Keen to stay true to the progressive rock roots of the group, Banks looked to the literary world for inspiration, which came in the form of The Inheritors, a novel by William Golding first published in 1955.
Golding is perhaps best known for his previous work, Lord of the Flies, but The Inheritors does evoke some similar themes. Set in the prehistoric world, the novel details the extinction of the Neanderthal race at the hands of the homo sapiens. As Banks himself put it, “It’s about a race who were on Earth before man and it’s the story of the last survivor of this race”.
According to the songwriter, it was the ending of Golding’s novel which inspired the writing of the Genesis track ‘A Trick of the Tail’. “The very last chapter,” Banks recalls, “Deals with our reaction to him whereas the rest of the story is his reaction to us. It’s about an alien with horns and a tail who appears in a modern city and how people react to him”.
This is the basic idea which formed the basis of ‘A Trick of the Tail’, which helped to establish Genesis as a commanding force within the progressive rock and pop world, even after the departure of Peter Gabriel. So, The Inheritors might not have been as successful as Golding’s previous work, but it certainly left its mark on the face of popular culture.
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