“Dancing With The Moonlit Knight” by Genesis (1973)
Dad’s Song of the Day #106, Dec. 13, 2025
I’ve gone a long way with this before landing on an unadulterated Progressive Rock song, which is notable in that Prog comprises the largest section of my record collection.
The structure of a lot of the best of Prog—as well as almost all of Classical—creates a headache for idle playlist streaming. It’s largely due to dynamic range, the volume difference between the quietest sections and the loudest sections.
(I also acknowledge that a lot of this genre is lengthy bleating, squonking and splurting by narcissistic soloists and “sound sculpturists,” which does not fly as dinner party background music).
“Dancing With The Moonlit Knight,” which leads off Genesis’s sumptuous Selling England By the Pound album, is an archetypal example of the canyon-esque dynamic range that early ‘70s Prog Rock artists often strived for.
As in, prepare yourself for the following: “Siri, turn volume up.” Followed by “Siri, turn volume down!...DOWN!!…VOLUME DOWN FOR CHRISSAKES!!”
The volume gain from Peter Gabriel’s almost whispered vocals to the arrival of the full band at about 2:00 minutes is both alarming and exhilarating. And then…whoa!!…about 30 seconds later, it’s like what the hell is this?…”Siri, volume DOWN!”
…No, wait…this is AWESOME…”Siri, volume UP TO MAX!!!”
Seriously, how frickin’ gorgeous is this song?!?! How can you NOT be a total sucker for Peter Gabriel’s “soft” voice, which is bolstered by all the cool, surprising sounds, and time signatures and textures of early Genesis?
It’s all a banquet of soft and warm, broken up by explosive and cold. A whole world built in the matter of minutes.
UPDATE: Further to DSOTD #75, “Chest Fever” by the Band, an unimpeachable source—your Mom’s Aunt Pat—has 100% confirmed that your Great Grandmother Anna was indeed Garth Hudson’s math tutor. Cool family lore.
Spotify:
YouTube:
This series is for my two 19-year-olds, who moved off to school with the misguided belief they’d escaped their dad’s relentless nostalgia and monopolization of the car stereo. I’m very happy for anyone else to come along for the ride.
The Spotify playlist for Dad’s Song of the Day is located here:
I should've mentioned that our buddy Murray was "Peter Gabriel" in an early-80s Genesis cover band... and he was incredible. He totally bought into the bit, which meant playing in full makeup and flower headgear. I can't remember if he shaved his head in the classic Gabriel "reverse Mohawk" but it wouldn't have surprised me!
NOT to be confused with Dancing in the Moonlight (1972) by King Harvest