Genesis - Vancouver Lyrics

Knowing the chance was there....deciding not to take it....

GREAT...LOVELY...HEAVENLY...LIKE NO ONE ELSE...PHIL AND GENESIS IN ALL...UNCOMPARABEL STORYTELLERS ABOUT LIFE....SIMPLE,BUT GENIOUS.

Arnold Zottler you said it. Fantastic.

LOVE THIS SONG.....DOES NOT GET BETTER THAN THIS...

Does it have a relation to Phil's rupture with one of his wife ? Think he writes about in his autobiography. Great and such a nice song....

Yes. The fist wife of Phil went out to her parents`s house in Vancouver taking their children with her.

Bloody awful. Brings back happy memories, however.

What's awful about it?

She packed her bags and dressed
Long before the sunrise
No one knew
She told them many times
About how she would teach them
And now it's time
Standing quietly by the door
Her face is numb with fear
She stops and then goes on
"Leave forever - it's now or never"
Quickly walking down the street
It's cold and grey, dawn's breaking
She don't mind (she don't mind)
Why she feels so grown up now
Her life is just beginning
She don't know (she don't know)
She's standing in the pouring rain
Her make-up's running down
She wonders now she's here
"Where will I go? Who do I know?"
Now, now she's not quite so sure
I may be wrong but home seems so much more friendly now
And they might worry but she doesn't want them to
Cos causing pain, that's not the thing that she set out to do
So she's back in bed before
Anyone can miss her
She feels good (she feels good)
Knowing the chance was there
Deciding not to take it
That's her choice (that's her choice)
She's still awake, her mum comes in
"Me and dad, we've had a chat
And we're sorry for the things we said
Please forgive us - you wouldn't leave us?"

Hermosa canción, genuino Genesis post Gabriel, como genuino es el teclado de Toni Banks.

I always liked Mike but never thought he can make such a beautiful song. I thought it's Tony's privilege.

George Toth Mike wrote so many beautiful songs. He wrote Ripples, Your own special way & Follow you follow me.

Mike wrote Open Door which is a Beautiful song.

Mike and the Mechanics was a great spin off as was Brand X. I was hungry for more of both. Tonys solo work fell flat for me I can't understand how he took that turn and didn't follow up post Gabriel and match up his epic work on tott and w+w, shows how important collaboration is.

Kind of reminds me of She's leaving home by the Beatles

Genesis B sides of the 1978-1981 phase were the best. Really wondering why some of them did not make the cut.

I cannot stop listening to this. Love Phil's voice here....his best period vocally in my opinion. I call it his tender sensitive voice period!

agree. vocally at his best.

Beautiful song!!! The music was written by Mike Rutherford and the lyrics by Phil Collins

Nice, very nice, but I miss a nice instrumental part, one of those you'll often find in the finest Genesis songs. It would have been the cherry on this otherwise delicious pie.

i think it's a incomplete song. the same for Evidence of Autumns (because that strange middle part variation) i think that was a way to have some fun making music, and that's all

I've always thought of this as a companion song to 'she's leaving home...' has the exact same feeling, only instead of going through with it, she comes home only to realize she is appreciated and needed.

Phil at his best singing an emotional balled with his heartfelt voice, and he is a top notch drummer to boot, he never gets the credit he deserves, the guy is brilliant.

In my "Genesis..studio" playlist with its parent album "ATTW3" and the other B-side from the sessions. Thanks for uploading!

Lots of loss, sadness, melancholy and regret in Genesis lyrics post Peter Gabriel, primarily around "And Then There Were Three" and "Duke".

It was called "Vancouver" because Phil had heard about the high rate of teenagers running away from home in the city when he was living there in '77-'78

that's WHY they ran away.....the runaways all came back when he moved. Happy Birthday Phil...Love you!

I was raised there , love Genesis, went to school with is 1st born Joely but this song sucks

Phil's first wife Andrea had family there at the time, and she moved to see them after she broke up with him. He tried vainly to save his marriage by going with her.

Yes such an underatted genesis gem!! like so many that they never played live!

*underrated

There is One band out there in 2018 named "Trick of the Rael - A Genesis Cover Band" who actually play "Vancouver" Live! And they do an excellent job of it. You can see them on Facebook under the above band name.

Great tune, but it sounds kind of incomplete. Of course this is the version from the 3CD box set. It still sounds incomplete to my ears. I can be wrong.

One of my favourites!

Funny you should say that Tull29, I had this and the Day the Light Went Out on Cassette too back in the 80's. I'll differ with you on your thought that Vancouver seems unfinished. It is very much a complete song. It just has a feel of being "open ended" at the end..........."You wouldn't leave us? asks her mom.

Jeez - must be 30 years+ since I last heard this - thanks for putting it up!

Shhhhhh! Don't tell everybody about 'Vancouver'. It's our little secret!

Furthermore, this song has nothing to do with Vancouver, unless the girl from the story that the song tells is from there...

This song has haunted for 35 years. Genesis do 'She's Leaving Home.' Rutherford/Collins composition. Should've been on the album.

yes,me,i love this song.....have done for years.

Feeding the fire, a real Gem for me. I'm a Genesis' fan and I've just found out this song 2 years ago. A nice, big surprise!

another great song is deep green by phil collins sounds like a genesis song

.maybe.......burning rope........

Does anyone else out there have the same Vancouver "affliction" as me?
Just can't get enough listens to this song!
I never tire hearing this Gem.

our band went to Vancouver BC in 1980 to see genesis but the concert was cancelled due to Phils laryngitis. that was one of a series of events that in short order changed the direction of my life away from music. Sorry Phil you didn't inspire me and in hind sight genesis should have ended after Hackett left, Strummer is unlistenable in genesis. dispite that Genesis is my favorite band.

snowbound is the best song on the cd

another song should have been released as a single genesis is the best band of all time

'The Day The Light Went Out' & 'Vancouver' are both better than 'Say It's Alright Joe'

Great lyrics.

@TheExcelsior1 No way!...Snowbound and Scenes from a night's dream are so much better than Say it's alright joe to my ears...the latter is just too whiny to my ears

@NS9213 yes, you're correct buddy

@SuperGrayeagle It was written BEFORE Phil went to Vancouver. Song was written in the winter of 1977-1978.
Phil went to Vanvouver AFTER the 1978 ATTWT tour to try and save his marriage............... didn't work.

This gem was written when Phil went off to Vancouver to try and patch up his marriage to Andrea. Poignantly beautiful..

Rutherford/Collins finest hour. Only song jointly credited to those two, I think.

Loved it for thirty-odd years. Extraordinarily moving. Their version of She's Leaving Home. Brilliant arrangement. Banks sublime.

Beautiful!

I'll join in: personally I think Say it's alright Joe is a good song, although much better live.
Snowbound and Scenes from a Night's Dream would be my sacrificial lambs, but for this song? Probably not.

@drkam6 NO WAY! "Ballad of Big" is an Excellent song! I would have replaced "Say It's Allright Joe" with "Vancouver".

@jhillst you know you love snowbound (as the disney epic that it is)

i just love this song, its amazing. the lyrics, the music.. everything! <3

@NS9144 Absolutely agreed - they should have dropped Ballad Of Big and insert this gem instead.

yeah, great track this....i"ve had the single since it came out.....classic Genesis from the good old 70"s!

so eine Rarität - so selten und sooo schön.......

Tony's haunting keyboards!!! The best!!!

@jhillst Snowbound is such an incredible ballad ! Don't take it off of And Then There...!

I would have put this one on ATTWT in place of FollowYouFollowMe, and let The Lady Lies close out side B... but of course without FYFM then Genesis might not have cracked the USA top 40 for the first time as they did in summer '78. This song might have fit well on Duke as well, right before Please Don't Ask. Ahh, to have had CD's available back in 1980...

brilliant...

beauty track and record very rare to find...

SHE DECIDED TO LEAVE HER FAMILY , COULD NOT GO THROUGH WITH IT .
--- CLASS GENESIS----

Lovely song, I would have put it on ATTW3 in place of "Snowbound."

Rubbish.snowbound is imence.

I don't Know if any Genesis fans that Phil C. wrote this song witch is about the break up of his first marriage to a lovely blond, they had young children at that time. Phil was devastated over it and all most quit the band before going in to the studio to record "and then there were three".... He flew to Vancouver to reconcile. Obviously it did not work out!! This song is special to him.

philippe leblanc she was shagging the decorator.poor phil