Firth of Fifth Lyrics
[Verse 1]
The path is clear
Though no eyes can see
The course laid down, long before
And so with gods and men
The sheep remain inside their pen
Though many times, they've seen the way to leave
[Verse 2]
He rides majestic
Past homes of men
Who care not or gaze with joy
To see reflected there
The trees, the sky, the lily fair
The scene of death, is lying just below
[Bridge]
The mountain cuts off
The town from view
Like a cancer growth
Is removed by skill
Let it be revealed
A waterfall, his madrigal
An inland sea, his symphony
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na
Undinal songs
Urge the sailors on
Till lured by the sirens' cry
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 4]
Now as the river
Dissolves in sea
So Neptune, has claimed another soul
And so with gods and men
The sheep remain inside their pen
Until the shepherd, leads his flock away
[Outro]
The sands of time
Were eroded by
The river, of constant change
About
“Firth of Fifth” is the third song in Genesis’s album Selling England by the Pound. The title is a pun on the estuary of the River Forth in Scotland, commonly known as the Firth of Forth.
The song has had a strong critical response as one of the best examples of progressive rock.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
In an interview with Songfacts, Banks declared:
It was just following the idea of a river and then I got a bit caught up in the cosmos and I don’t quite know where I ended up, actually. But, it just about stands up, I think, for the song. For me, musically, it’s got two or three really strong moments in it and fortunately they really carried us along. It’s become one of the Genesis classics and I’m very happy for that.
Regarding the making of the song, he said:
I had this sort of arpeggio idea that I was working with. I’d written another piece which used a similar feel, which we never ended up using, and I just had this section of it, which I then developed and made this piece of. I thought it worked really well as a piano piece on its own, and then it worked well with an arrangement, as well. So, it’s just one of those things. With Genesis, we just did what appealed to us, really. We didn’t worry too much how other people were going to respond to it.
- 9.In Too Deep
- 10.Mama
- 11.That’s All
- 12.Home by the Sea
- 14.Illegal Alien
- 15.Paperlate
- 17.Abacab
- 18.Keep It Dark
- 19.Turn It On Again
- 20.Behind the Lines
- 21.Duchess
- 22.Misunderstanding
- 23.Many Too Many
- 25.Undertow
- 27.Afterglow
- 30.Ripples
- 31.Los Endos
- 35.Firth of Fifth
- 36.The Cinema Show
- 38.Supper’s Ready
- 39.The Musical Box
- 40.The Knife
