I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

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"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"
Single by Genesis
from the album Selling England by the Pound
B-side"Twilight Alehouse"
ReleasedFebruary 1974[1]
RecordedAugust 1973
Genre
Length4:06
LabelCharisma, Atlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Genesis singles chronology
"Watcher of the Skies" / "Willow Farm"
(1972) 		"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"
(1974) 		"Counting Out Time"
(1974)
Official audio
"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" on
YouTube
"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"
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"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" was the first charting single by the rock band

UK Singles Chart.[3]

Production

The song's lyrics concern a young man, Jacob, who is employed as a

Betty Swanwick
's painting The Dream, which was used for the Selling England album cover, alludes to the song; Swanwick added the mower to the original painting at the band's request.

The song, inspired by the Beatles,[2] has a psychedelic rock sound, using hand percussion rhythms and a riff from Steve Hackett that originated from a jam between Hackett and Phil Collins.[4] Keyboardist Tony Banks used a note played on the low end of the Mellotron during the intro and ending to imitate the sound of a lawn mower.

Reviewing the song in The Guardian in 2014, Stevie Chick said "Clocking in at a shade over four minutes, "I Know What I Like" rises with a heat-haze shimmer, before locking into a groove akin to Traffic's "Hole in My Shoe", a hippy reverie that fits the song's slacker vibe like a pair of tailored bell-bottoms. The song's anti-hero is a misfit, like all the others in the Gabriel-era songbook, a drop-out happy with his lawnmowing life, despite the disapproving whispers of his suburban neighbours. His rebellion is soundtracked by a nagging, lazy sitar lick, a woozy singalong chorus, and a flute solo that Pan's People doubtless interpreted through the medium of dance when the song appeared on Top Of The Pops after reaching No 21 in the charts."[5]

Release and reception

Released by Charisma in the UK in February 1974, "I Know What I Like" was the band's only pop hit of their early years, at a time when progressive rock bands largely avoided the singles market. The song was played on Top of the Pops. Its success would not be topped until And Then There Were Three album's "Follow You Follow Me", some four years later in 1978.

The

B-side was the non-album track "Twilight Alehouse" (also credited to the whole band), recorded during the sessions for Foxtrot (1972), but left off the album due to lack of room. Its lyrics portray a lonely man who finds solace in the local tavern. The song had been in Genesis' live set since 1970, but was not recorded in the studio until 1972 during the Foxtrot sessions, and its initial release was held until this point. "Twilight Alehouse" was later released as part of Genesis Archive 1967–75,[6]
now accurately credited to Banks-Gabriel-Phillips-Rutherford.

Live performance

The song was performed live during the

Genesis Archive 1967-75
compilation album.

Later live versions of this song (such as the one on

morris dancing and John Cleese's The Ministry of Silly Walks
".

For The Way We Walk and Turn It On Again tours, this song was played as part of a medley of old Genesis songs, and starting with the A Trick of the Tail tour in 1976 was often performed with excerpts of "Stagnation", from the album Trespass (1970). During the Turn It On Again tour shows, images from the band's history cycled by in the background.

Cover versions

In 1993, Marillion's ex-frontman Fish did a cover version on his Songs from the Mirror album. Fish said his decision to cover the song was to prove to his critics that he could interpret a song differently from Gabriel, having been previously dismissed in his career as a Gabriel clone.[7]

Personnel

Cultural references

The presenters of

Top Gear: African Special.[9]

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-283-06132-5
    .
  2. ^
    ASIN B001EO2UJK
    . Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  3. ^ Genesis UK chart history, The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Genesis on Selling England By The Pound Complete Interview 1 of 3". YouTube. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  5. TheGuardian.com
    . 3 September 2014.
  6. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/archive-vol-1-1967-1975-mw0000176960
  7. ^ Anil Prasad. "Fish: Mirroring influences". Innerviews. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  8. YouTube
  9. ^ "Missing Top Gear? Here are five songs to capture the essence of Jeremy Clarkson". The Guardian. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
Sources
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