"No Son of Mine"
Single by Genesis
from the album We Can't Dance
B-side"Living Forever"
Released21 October 1991 (1991-10-21)[1]
StudioThe Farm (Surrey, England)
Length
  • 4:41 (radio edit)
  • 6:41 (album version)
  • 5:44 (new edit – 1999)
Label
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Phil Collins
Producer(s)
Genesis singles chronology
"Throwing It All Away"
(1987)		 "No Son of Mine"
(1991)		 "I Can't Dance"
(1991)

"No Son of Mine" is a song by British rock group Genesis, released as the lead single from their 14th album, We Can't Dance (1991). The song reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 (the band's first not to enter the top 10 since 1984's "Taking It All Too Hard"). It was also a top-10 hit in several European countries and peaked atop Canada's RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart for five weeks.

Lyrics and music

The song's lyrics tell the story of a boy who runs away from his abusive home, and—after some reconsideration—attempts to return, only to be rejected by his father. In interviews, Phil Collins has said that the lyrics are deliberately vague as to whether the narrator or his mother is the victim of the abuse.

The song has a distinctive sound heard during the intro and before the second verse. Referred to by the band as "elephantus", the sound was created by Tony Banks recording Mike Rutherford's guitar with a sampler and then playing three notes on the bottom register of the keyboard, greatly lowering the pitch. The working title of "No Son of Mine" was "Elephantus".[2] The sound is also featured in the opening of the "I Can't Dance" single B-side "On the Shoreline". A similar sound is heard in former Genesis member Peter Gabriel's song "I Grieve", which was released a few years later, on the soundtrack to City of Angels.

The single included the eighth track from We Can't Dance, "Living Forever", as the B-side. The radio edit fades out the song's extended outro a minute in advance and deletes part of the second chorus. The music video makes use of the complete album version.

Music video

The video for this song is melancholic, illustrating the scene in sepia tone. The video depicts what is discussed in the song, which is a conversation between a son and his father. During the last chorus, snowflakes begin appearing flying around the house; eventually, at the end, the scene pulls out to reveal that the scenes of confrontation have taken place in a snow globe that the son is holding. It was done by FYI (director Jim Yukich and producer Paul Flattery).

Live performances

A live version appears on the albums The Way We Walk, Volume One: The Shorts, and Live Over Europe 2007, as well as on their DVDs The Way We Walk - Live in Concert and When in Rome 2007.

Track listings

7-inch and cassette single[3][4]

  1. "No Son of Mine"
  2. "Living Forever"

12-inch and CD single[5][6]

  1. "No Son of Mine"
  2. "Living Forever"
  3. "Invisible Touch" (live)

Personnel

Charts

References

  1. ↑ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 19 October 1991. p. 19. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  2. ↑ Collins, Phil; Banks, Tony; Rutherford, Mike; Gabriel, Peter; Hackett, Steve (2007). Genesis: Chapter & Verse. Macmillan. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-312-37956-8.
  3. ↑ No Son of Mine (UK 7-inch single sleeve). Genesis. Virgin Records. 1991. GENS 6, 114 719.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  4. ↑ No Son of Mine (UK cassette single sleeve). Genesis. Virgin Records. 1991. GENSC 6, 412 183.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ↑ No Son of Mine (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Genesis. Virgin Records. 1991. GENS 612.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ↑ No Son of Mine (UK CD single liner notes). Genesis. Virgin Records. 1991. GENDG 6, 664 719.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  8. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  9. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  10. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 1696." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  11. ↑ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 2045." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 49. 7 December 1991. p. 31. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 47. 23 November 1991. p. 29. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  14. ↑ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  15. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  16. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  17. ↑ "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 7. 15 February 1992. p. 26. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  18. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – No Son of Mine". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  19. ↑ "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 46. 16 November 1991. p. 29. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  20. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 47, 1991" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  21. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  22. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  23. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine". VG-lista. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  24. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  25. ↑ "Genesis – No Son of Mine". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  26. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  27. ↑ "Genesis Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  28. ↑ "Genesis Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  29. ↑ "Genesis Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  30. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2014). Cash Box Pop Hits 1952-1996. Sheridan Books, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89820-209-0.
  31. ↑
    • Zimbabwe. Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: singles chart book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 2000
  32. ↑ "RPM 100 Hit Tracks of 1991". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  33. ↑ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 1991". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  34. ↑ "The RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1992" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 56, no. 25. 19 December 1992. p. 8. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  35. ↑ "The RPM Top 100 Adult Contemporary tracks of 1992". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  36. ↑ "Top 100 Singles–Jahrescharts 1992" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  37. ↑ "Billboard Top 100 – 1992". Archived from the original on 8 July 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  38. ↑ "1992 The Year in Music" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 104, no. 52. 26 December 1992. p. YE-38. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
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