'This song was written by keyboard player Tony Banks. His lyrics were based on William Golding's 1955 novel, The Inheritors. He recalled: "It's about a race who were on earth before man and it's the story of the last survivor of this race. The very last chapter 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."
However, we as listeners will perceive our own allegoric translations within the song. One of the many reasons that I love this type of music, especially where Genesis is concerned.
I have cut and paste this from 'songfacts.com':
'This song was written by keyboard player Tony Banks. His lyrics were based on William Golding's 1955 novel, The Inheritors. He recalled: "It's about a race who were on earth before man and it's the story of the last survivor of this race. The very last chapter 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."
However, we as listeners will perceive our own allegoric translations within the song. One of the many reasons that I love this type of music, especially where Genesis is concerned.