Genesis - Ballad Of Big Lyrics

TEMASO!!!!

This is one of their BEST albums. I'm still enjoying this in 2020.

Who else is with me?

This album and all their albums together surpass anything they have done separately. They are all very good on their own, together they were more than great, more than genius.

My first Genesis album :)

Another of my heroes wrote a song with a similar Story. The Traveller by Chris de Burgh. Storytelling in Songs is unfortunatley dead today, isnt it?

I blame Keith Emerson for this entire song.

This is the only Genesis album where I loved every song in it. It's a guilty pleasure wrapped in a lush album cover. It's kind of transitional Prog, as it's slightly more poppy, but still with interesting story lines. And the magical harmonies that Genesis produce, just make it a classic. Far, far better than 95% of the stuff that's out there, even today!

Lonesome Dove

The way of the old West

So someone called him yellow and he went totally berserk? I don't really understand the insult. I've heard of "yellow" as a slur, but not typically toward cowboy types.

Seems to me some guy wanted his herd taken over the plain and the only way to get someone to do it was to call em yella. .Jims ego got him and his mates scalped...

One of my favourite albums ever...

One of the songs I find myself thinking of when playing Red Dead Redemption 2.

Does anyone else hear parts of dukes travels/dukes end in the opening?

Thomas Mooney : Yes indeed. It’s definitely there. Tony obviously reused that section with a little bit of variation thrown in.

Did anyone notice that ? The first notes that Phil sings on Ballad of Big are quite the same as the first notes of I Can't Dance.

Except for that, is it a perhaps slow start here?Never mind.

Needs a fix here, because getting at it manually only.

That diminished chord with the bass movement in the chorus. Very nice.

One comment selling England by the pound........

My favourite Genesis album. along with Trick of the Tail., Duke, Wind & Wuthering lol. saw them at Knebworth 1978...

This song reminds me when I was living in Ohio in the countryside, my back yard had Red Indian hunting arrow heads buried in the garden when I was digging about, a huge big sky, a river, plenty of open land...to go with it... It was the best feeling I have ever had in my life listening to this.

This album is absolutely GREAT, I love the cowboy theme, a very special time back then. God Bless USA!

GENESIS UNICI !!👍👍👏👏👏💪

Always loved Genesis when they were telling a story.....what happened?

Football expert for the Gowdall Gazette Music changed for the better or worse mate.

I don't care what anyone says,I wish Genesis could have stayed JUST LIKE THIS

absolutely! even without hackett and gabriel, they produced this masterpiece! very progressive too.......with beautiful songs and awesome playing!

I love listening to the deconstructed versions (when there are any) so can focus on the drums, or the lyrics and voice, or Tony's keyboards.
Or Mike. Most underrated guitarist ever, Hackett gets all the credit.

i miss their story telling....

jason butler thats what made their songs brilliant

If it ain't Phil it ain't worth listening to literally

SECOND PART OF ROBBERY!

I wish people would stop bitching about Steve Hackett being kicked out of the band.

Steve Hackett Quit Genesis. He was not kicked out. You know that, right?

I love this song and most of And Then There Were Three. However there is something about Ballad Of Big that is a bit Sloppy it could be partly the vocals, Plus all of the time changes.

Rocky B

Keep playing it.....you'll feel different about it after the 300th play.

A fun song!

+Johnny C's Music Emporium Thanks so much for the lyrics--I never heard them as clearly as you transcribe them and so never got the full meaning of the songs!

No one before or since can tell a story like Genesis in this time period! This was the peak of progressive rock.

I'd love meet the American that call's it a 'ruhncher' (whose name I forget)

Not just a song but a visual, cool.

In a weird way this song seems to me like a mix of "The Conqueror" (From Genesis to Revelation) and "Eleventh Earl of Mar" (Wind & Wuthering). To me anyway. Definitely my favourite song on the album. Of all the 1970s Genesis albums, this was and still is the hardest for me to get into.

That is going back...:-)

To me the keyboard line sounds like Window from Genesis to Revelation

Love this album do i not!

Lindo........simples assim.

It'z ultimately a *ghost story*! Still Genesis!

It's a change of career story!

What was done to the piano to get this lovely sound?!

It is a Yamaha electric grand piano!

Alright...but it must have some kinda *effect* on it cuz the Yamaha electric grand doesn't sound like this 'normally'! It has a 'normal' piano sound, whereas this is a lot more...liquid, almost slightly de-tuned, psychedelic.

John Meowzer it's a harmonizer pedal! Usually used on guitars, people almost never use them on pianos anymore. A real shame, I love that sound.

Well I got onboard with Trick of the Tail and I was a rabid Hackett fan and I loved the Autumnal sound they got then but I gotta confess I love this LP - I call it Candy-Prog, ha.

A passable effort. Genesis without Steve Hackett were like a fan with the power suddenly shut off ie carried on spinning but gettijg slower and slower until it stuttered to a halt Duke was another passable effort then they SOLD OUT.

+peterkin1010 Compared to Yes & ELP I think Genesis were moving in the right direction with this LP but after this one I lost interest

I think Duke was their last gasp. On that album there were "signs" that Abacab was coming. I only saw Genesis once at that was their Duke tour.

Agree... the rest was poor after that... which disappointed me..

So I guess I must have dreamed both the Home by the Sea and the Domino Suite - righto...

@Jens Leuner the fact you have to cherry pick those couple of (admittedly excellent) songs proves the point the original poster was making

good tune!!

0:38 It sounds like he says "Bitch it ain't Kool Aid!"

This is one of the best ever, catchiest, Genesis songs, lyrics true to their early years while the sound was the foundation to the remainder of their songs.  Missed Steve though.

+antono t this is it !

Cos he died like all good cowboys with his boots on next to his men.
Should be:
Cos he died like all good cowboys with his boots on next to his nag.

Or even his poor old horse. .

Fantastic introduction! Piano sounds as if it's being played in a Wild West saloon bar. 

stupid story .. would have liked a different going 4 "big jim"

A different 'GOING' For big Jim ?? Where would you like him to go to ?

@subspace 69 just as saying so .. or what R U thinking about the going?

+vuoto più scuro Ha rock-critic Rick Johnson in Creem magazine said the storyline's "as corny as clowns on gumballs" but that the chorus makes that superfluous cuz it'z so amazing

@John Meowzer
thanx lot

@John Meowzer Fook rock critic Rick so and so, it's the fans words that count, and this is an awesome track from an awesome album.

that one always made me laugh

THANK YOU :)

joseph

An "Engish" P.O.V. ; still, a great story, and a great number! - Impressive!!

great album, if you read the lyrics for this LP- you gotta say, Brits are hyper- intelligent in alotta ways, for real, the same with some Page-Plant collaberations.. but this %$^@-bird Dawkins...oh well..please visit Polaris Project...Banks has gotta be one of the best of the best...God Bless...

That's very true bassmanjoe. Too many of us it's probably one of their BEST LP's.
Yet to Phil, Tony and Mike they never really laud this record as being one of their favorites. If ONLY they had added "Vancouver" to ATTWT.........

Ok song?? I called this a Masterpiece

Yes! I thought this myself, it has a bit of an Alan Parson Project sound (Another group I love) but Genesis is still my favorite of all time.

This seems as Alan´s Parson Project stuff.

Why Tony Banks never really got his talent out front in later years just makes me a little sad, he's such a great keyboards man - one of the best!

Very low key....never wanted to be in the spotlight. The Robert Fripp of keyboardists.

"Big Jim, he still won't lie down, for him the bet is still on." Hahahahahahaha!!! this line always cracks me up,,,

ok song.

"all-star Indian tribe"....ha, I love that line.

the sound is magnifecent...la sintesis de las ideas está muy bien,,,

great story,diggin it since it came out

The English have a fancy, all of Europe doesn't know the Wild West, they only see it throught Hollywood, so many songs devoted to the American West, Genesis got it right.

Yeah, I think a lot of that came from Phil. He has always been fascinated with the American West. "Me and Virgil" (while Phil despises it now) was mostly his work.

Thanks for including the lyrics

genisis i will miss you. you had music that was different but better than most groups and you gave me great memories of the 70s and 80s

One of my Favorite tracks from ATTWT!!!
This song is just so full of drama.