About The Album
“The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” is a conceptual album by the band Genesis that narrates the journey of Rael, a young Puerto Rican who, after moving to the United States, adopts this new identity and gets involved with street gangs, committing various crimes. His life changes drastically after an accident, leading him on a metaphysical journey in search of his brother John, who represents his true self.
Context and Creation
During the creation of the album, American filmmaker William Friedkin was looking for a screenwriter who had not yet been involved with Hollywood. He became interested in Peter Gabriel’s lyrical work with Genesis and formally invited the lyricist just as the band was starting the recording of the double album. Gabriel announced that he would be away for months helping Friedkin with his production. However, the band was against his departure, which led to a sense that Gabriel’s exit was only a matter of time. Friedkin, not wanting to be responsible for the band’s breakup, gave up the partnership, freeing Gabriel to return to the album’s recordings. Before this incident, Gabriel’s opinion was often heard by the other members, but after the episode, his influence significantly diminished due to the band’s resentment. This was the main factor that led Gabriel to leave Genesis at the end of the album’s promotional tour.
1. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
The setting is Manhattan, New York. Early in the morning, Rael’s gang is still roaming the streets committing offenses. Nearby, a drugstore truck leaves the establishment overloaded. As it passes through a bumpy street, the suspension breaks and the driver loses control. At that moment, Rael climbs the subway stairs to the street. He is hit by the truck, and his body lies on the ground. The accident halts traffic, annoying some people.
2. Fly on a Windshield
Rael feels like a fly landing on the truck’s windshield. Despite the impact, he only feels a dense wind carrying dust into his eyes, forming a crust around his body, preventing him from moving. He feels as if he is coming into contact with death in the middle of Times Square.
3. Broadway Melody of 1974
Rael’s mind projects memories of the real world. Prominent figures from that year on Broadway take shape in a kind of movie running in the protagonist’s mind.
– Lenny Bruce (1925-1966): comedian and cultural icon of the 60s, arrested for obscenities and profanities in public.
– Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980): Canadian philosopher and communication theorist specializing in the relationship between media and society.
– Sirens in the Odyssey: reference to the sirens in Homer’s work, whose singing lured sailors to their destruction.
– Ku Klux Klan: American racist organizations supporting white supremacy. “Soul food” is a typical dish of black families in the southern US.
– Caryl Chessman (1922-1960): astute criminal who defended himself in court, executed in a gas chamber in California.
– Howard Hughes (1905-1976): aviator, engineer, film producer, and one of the richest men in the world.
– “Needles and Pins”: song written by Jack Nietsche and Sonny Bono and recorded by Jackie DeShannon in 1963.
4. Cuckoo Cocoon
Rael wakes up to the sound of water drops falling on the ground. Initially, the environment seems like a large cocoon in which he feels safe. Gradually, he realizes it is a cave in which he is trapped.
5. In the Cage
Stalagmites and stalactites quickly begin to form around Rael. The rock columns enclose him to the point of pressing his body. He can see, beyond several other columns in a chain, that John (the image of his inner self) is coldly observing him. Rael cries for help, but John does not respond and leaves the cave. Suddenly, the cage trapping Rael dissolves, and his body begins to spin for no apparent reason.
6. The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
When Rael stops spinning, he sits on a polished floor and waits for the dizziness to pass. Soon he realizes he is in a factory yard where various merchants are promoting their packaged products. Among the products, Rael recognizes the faces of his gang members and, for a moment, fears for his own safety. He runs across the factory floor and sees the image of John with the number nine* stamped on his forehead.
– In tarot, the number 9 is the Hermit, representing the search for self-knowledge through reflection, isolated from external influences. John’s appearances aim to guide Rael to self-knowledge.
7. Back in N.Y.C.
The image of his gang members makes Rael recall his past. He was in an American institution for juvenile delinquents (Pontiac). Inside, he gained a reputation for being tough and supporting violence. He left the reformatory at 17 and felt a desire to release all his anger. He became the leader of a gang and spread fear across the city. The fire from gasoline drums was Rael’s trademark throughout the night. His greatest hatred was for the hypocritical progressives who promised to help the destitute youth but did nothing. It was just political speech.
8. Hairless Heart
This is an instrumental track. The title is a reference to the metaphor used in the previous track. The hypocritical progressives, in addition to not helping the destitute youth, still mock them for being responsible for their own misery, as if tearing their hearts out and plucking them.
9. Counting out Time
The image of the heart made Rael remember his first encounter with a woman. First of all, he bought the guide “Erogenous Zones and Difficulties in Overcoming Finding Them”. This guide taught “infallible” (read: indecent) methods for seducing a girl. The next step was to choose the target (victim) and set up a date. Rael read every line of every page of the book. With the book memorized, he counted the seconds to the big moment. His heart was pounding. He did everything as the book instructed, but the woman’s reaction was not the best. Disappointed, Rael went to the bookstore to ask for his money back.
10. The Carpet Crawlers
The memories fade, and Rael finds himself in a corridor with a soft, warm wool carpet. He notices that the beings who were previously packaged and inanimate in the grand parade (track 6) are now crawling across the carpet toward a large wooden door. Rael asks a stuttering monk what is happening, but one of the crawlers, in the form of a sphinx, says the monk is drunk and explains that they are trying to climb the stairs to the top to escape. Rael rushes through the wooden door and sees, just after a bountiful table of food, a spiral staircase leading to the chamber of 32 doors.
11. The Chamber of 32 Doors
At the top of the staircase, Rael enters a chamber with 32 doors arranged in a circle. There, a crowd of people of all kinds is talking at the same time. Only one of the 32 doors leads to the exit. If you enter the wrong door, you are led back to the chamber. The chatter is getting louder when Rael shouts desperately: “Shut up!”. A momentary silence falls over the room, and Rael becomes the center of attention. He tries to escape the crowd by moving to a quieter place.
12. Lilywhite Lilith
Rael stops in front of a pale blind woman. She says she knows the way out based on the sound of the airflow. However, she needs Rael’s help to guide her through the people amidst the chatter. Rael agrees to guide her, and soon they enter one of the doors. Gradually, the light from the chamber fades as they advance into a dark tunnel. After a long walk, they arrive at a large cave. The woman asks Rael to sit on a cold stone throne and says that “they” will arrive soon. Without further instructions, she leaves. Rael begins to tremble with fear as he hears a buzzing approaching. He sees two golden globes floating in the distance. The globes emit a light so bright that it completely blurs his vision.
13. The Waiting Room
Instrumental track. Rael hears strange sounds and fears what is to come.
14. Anyway
The emitted light weakens, and Rael can see two golden gloves. They continue to float until they disappear. At that moment, the ceiling above Rael cracks, and stones fall all around him. He believes he is undergoing trials, fulfilling the malevolent desires of some entity.
15. Here Comes the Supernatural Anaesthetist
Rael encounters death, who is wearing a shiny disguise, whom he calls the supernatural anesthetist. When death wishes to kill, it only needs to blow. And then death approaches Rael with its special vial and releases its breath.
16. The Lamia
Rael touches his own face to confirm he is still alive. The figure of death is no longer there. He begins to smell an odor coming from a crack in a pile of stones. The fragrance is both strange and familiar to Rael. Regardless, he feels drawn to it and starts removing the stones, creating a passage to a new environment.
He finds a pool adorned with gold. The water is pink. The surrounding walls are covered in brown velvet with some plants growing. In the pool, he observes, beyond the mists formed by the dense perfume, several ripples in the water. At this moment, three lamia (creatures with the body of a beautiful woman on the upper half and a snake on the lower half) emerge, swimming towards Rael. At their
invitation, Rael enters the pool to taste the sweet water. As Rael drinks the pool water, an opaque blue liquid leaves his body and is drunk by the lamia.
Rael feels the need to drink much more to quench the creatures’ thirst. They then begin to mash his flesh and squeeze his bones. However, upon coming into contact with the first drops of human blood, the lamia meet death. Their eyes darken, and their bodies tremble. In despair at the disintegration of his beloved creatures, Rael decides to bring what is left of them with him, ingesting some parts of their bodies.
17. Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats
Instrumental track. Rael, desolate, returns to the entrance and notices some submerged boats in a lake.
18. The Colony of Slippermen
The Arrival
On the other side of the lake, he sees a bizarre type of ghetto. As he crosses to get there, he sees a filthy street full of distorted creatures who, upon noticing his presence, begin to laugh intensely. One of them approaches Rael. Its appearance is grotesque: an ugly mix of stumps and lumps. The lips slide to chin height while smiling, offering a slimy handshake.
The creature tells Rael that each of them was a victim of the lamia, who have the ability to regenerate at any time. Rael’s fate is as grim as that of these creatures: to share the same horrid appearance. At this moment, Rael notices John’s presence among the creatures. They embrace. The creature advises Rael to move on with John.
A Visit to the Doktor
John explains to Rael that these creatures live to satisfy their endless desires, inherited from the lamia. There is only one way to escape this fate: visit the famous doctor Dyper to remove the source of the problem, that is, the genital organ. After a long conversation, Rael decides to meet the doctor.
The Raven
Dr. Dyper performs the surgery. After being castrated, the removed content is placed in sterilized yellow plastic tubes attached to gold chains. While John and Rael are talking, a black bird (The Raven) flies through the cave and, in a swoop, takes the yellow tube from Rael’s hands, carrying it away. Rael calls John to join him in chasing the raven, but John refuses. It was necessary to obey the bad omen indicated by the raven’s presence. And so, once again, John disappears.
Rael desperately follows the bird through a narrow tunnel. Gradually, he approaches the bird’s tail. However, when he is about to grab it, the tunnel ends, revealing a vast chasm. Rael stops at the edge of the steep cliff while watching the tube being dropped by the raven into a stream. From above, he stares at the tube, feeling helpless for not being able to retrieve it.
19. Ravine
Instrumental track. Rael sees the object floating downstream and decides to follow its course from above. However, as he reaches a corner along the way, he is caught by a bright light from above.
20. The Light Dies Down on Broadway
The light transforms into the image of Broadway where Rael was used to living. Rael can hear the subway noise and smell the acidic paint of his spray cans. The joy of returning home makes Rael run with open arms towards the light. At that moment, however, he hears a cry for help from the bottom of the chasm. It was John, drowning in the stream. Rael thinks about the times John left him in the lurch when he needed help. While he thinks, the image of Broadway begins to fade. Nonetheless, Rael decides to climb down the cliff to rescue John. It takes him a while to reach the edge of the stream and he notices John is losing strength.
21. Riding the Scree
The force of the water throws Rael against the rocks on the slope. However, he needs to overcome his fear. He throws himself fearlessly into the cold water and dives towards John.
22. In the Rapids
Rael is carried by the current but manages to hold on to a rock. There he waits for the current to bring John close to him. When the body passes, he doesn’t hesitate, grabs John by the arm, and they are both carried by the river to a point where the current is no longer so strong. Rael swims to a safe place. There, he lays John’s inert body. He stumbles backward with wide eyes: Rael sees his own face on John’s face!
23. It
Rael’s conscious mind quickly migrates to John’s body. Then it returns to Rael’s body. Until both bodies stop being solid and turn into a yellow liquid, while the surrounding scenery dissolves, forming a purple mist. The liquid from the bodies then becomes part of the mist that completely fills the environment. The album ends here.
At the time of the accident, Rael lies on Broadway between life and death. His unconscious mind, characterized by John’s image, projects a series of illusions that Rael must overcome. The greatest trial is, however, to choose between returning to being the Rael before the accident or finding and assimilating his unconscious for a new beginning. He opts for the latter. But what happens next? Does he wake up from the accident with a new outlook on his own life, or does he actually die and evolve spiritually? This is not clear in the album. Both interpretations are valid.
What is clear is that from now on, nothing will be the same. The purple mist at the end of this album is a reference to Jimi Hendrix’s song “Purple Haze”. The lyrics of this song support the idea of change: “Purple haze are in my brain, Lately things don’t seem the same”.