Second Home By The Sea

if anyone's wondering why this one's so short it's the second half of home by the sea which makes it 11 minutes long for some reason.

Home by the Sea was done just at the time the big long songs were fading out of sight, and it's one of the last done. So people don't get bored of it nowadays, they split in two and the second part is mostly instruments and acoustics.

It is a pretty good song if you manage to listen to it for nearly 12 minutes, and rather than the people on the first half's comments, I'm gonna be blunt.

IT'S ABOUT A HAUNTED HOUSE THAT SOME IDIOT BURGLAR BREAKS INTO AND GETS TRAPPED IN. THE SHADOWS/GHOSTS DECIDE TO BORE HIM TO NOT-QUITE-DEATH BY TELLING HIM STORIES OF LIFE BEFORE THEY GOT TRAPPED.

I mean, you can tell half that just by looking at this verse!

Lyrics for second home by the sea only

Images of sorrow, pictures of delight Things that go to make up a life Endless days of summer longer nights of gloom Just waiting for the morning light Scenes of unimportance like photos in a frame Things that go to make up a life As we relive our lives in what we tell you

What a spectacular song! More instrumental than the initial half, but still captivating :-). As for the two above me, don't say "This is what the song is about" when it is up to the audience to take whatever they want from the piece, and don't squabble on a lyrics site. Its no competition. You won't get a medal for having your view put forth stronger. Leave the fighting for the playground Kindy-Kids.

Songfacts.com confirms what Typhoon says about the ghosts. However, it contradicts him on what he said about the living being a burglar.

But that's about Home By The Sea. This track is Second Home By The Sea. It has no original lyrics, and very few lyrics at all. So I'm guessing it is the details of the stories the ghosts are telling.

About 3 minutes into the song there's this catchy guitar line. Someone once told me that that is supposed to be a whale. I don't know where he got that from, but the association does seem fitting. So everytime I hear it, I imagine a whale, and now everytime you hear it, you'll think of a whale :)

I always thought of a more obvious meaning.

A group of old people in a home (or maybe even asylum?) waiting to die telling the same old stories eadch day..

Rather than let any of you believe the above tripe, I'm also going to be blunt.

The song is NOT about a damn haunted house. What's the point of a burglar breaking into a haunted house with ghosts that want to bore him to death? Sounds to me like you're talking out your ass.

The thing to keep in mind with Genesis songs (that isn't a love song) is that they have deep lyrics about straightforward concepts. This is going to be a song about something simple like a prisoner in Alcatraz but eloquently described. This isn't going to be about a lame haunted house. If they wanted to do that, they'd have written "Ghostbusters"...and Ray Parker Jr. beat them to it.

The point is, you can speculate but until Phil Collins plunks you down in a chair and says to your face what the song means, you can't put in all caps that "this is what it is about."

Is a burglar going to care who/what lives in a house he's about to try and rob? He's more interested in what they own that he can sell!!

For people who've read the comments on Home by the Sea, rather than just jumped at the chance to have a go at somebody, Phil Collins has said that this song is about the supernatural. So I can write what I wrote, smartass.

Also for ghosts trapped somewhere for ages, what else are they going to talk about? The view out the windows? From their point of view their lives prior to getting stuck somewhere would be the most interesting thing they could talk about.

Finally, who the heck knows what people are going to write songs about? People think of all kinds of different things and turn them into songs, some that don't even have words.

overreacted here. for the full story, read the home by the sea lyrics, because I can't be bothered to write it again.