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| "Keep It Dark" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byGenesis | ||||
| from the albumAbacab | ||||
| B-side | "Naminanu" | |||
| Released | 23 October 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:32 | |||
| Label | Charisma/Phonogram | |||
| Songwriters | Tony Banks,Phil Collins,Mike Rutherford | |||
| Producers | Genesis,Hugh Padgham | |||
| Genesis singles chronology | ||||
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"Keep It Dark" is a song by British bandGenesis, released on 23 October 1981 in the UK as the second single fromAbacab.[2] It reached number 33 in theUK Singles Chart.[3]
"Keep It Dark" describes a man who has been to the future and has seen a bright, happy world where everyone is filled with joy, cities are filled with light, with no fear of war, and all exploitation has ceased as all creatures have happier lives. Once he returns, however, he is pressured to lie about the incident. The cover depicts thethree wise monkeys.
In the DVD interview accompanying the 2007 re-release ofAbacab, the album from which the song comes, composerTony Banks said that "the idea was that this character had to pretend that he'd just been robbed by people and that's why he'd disappeared for a few weeks, and in fact what had happened [was] he'd been to the future and gone to this fantastic world where everything was wonderful and beautiful and everything... but he couldn't tell anybody that, because no one would believe him and the powers that be kept him silent."
The song's unusual structure (the rhythm is in a 6/4time signature) kept it from being released as a single in the US.[4]
A music video supported the single release of the song, featuringCollins, Tony Banks, andRutherford in two different settings. In the first and second verses and the fade out, the band walks along bleak city streets (inAmsterdam) wearing trenchcoats and fedoras. When the chorus comes in, it shifts to the band wearing all-white suits and sunglasses, and walking through a field, with the sun shining. In both settings, Banks mimes with a mini Casio keyboard and Rutherford with the neck from a guitar, while Collins keeps the beat of the song with drumsticks, mostly hitting air, or the walls of the Amsterdam houses.
Deep cuts like the moody, surreal "Keep It Dark" and "Dodo/Lurker" nicely bridge New Wave with classic rock...
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