"Paperlate" by Genesis

Song#:  1054
Date:  06/05/1982
Debut:  90
Peak:  32
Weeks:  14
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  To follow-up their most successful US album to date, "Abacab" (#7), the band decided to push out a double LP titled "Three Sides Live." It was titled as such because the first three sides were all culled from their live concerts while the fourth side consisted of five studio tracks. Three of the studio tracks were unreleased songs from the "Abacab" sessions while the remaining two were b-sides used on singles from their 1980 "Duke" LP. This first single was one of the unreleased songs and like their previous "Abacab" single "No Reply At All" (#29), it utilizes the horn section from Earth, Wind & Fire. It peaked just outside the Top 30, but that was enough to get the double-LP to #10 and reach gold status.

ReduxReview:  This song kind of completes a Phil Collins/EWF trilogy that began with his solo hit "I Missed Again" (#19), continued with "No Reply At All," and finally this song. This is a side of Collins that I love and it is only matched by his dark, brooding tunes like "In the Air Tonight." Both he and Genesis would kind of lose me in their later more commercial-friendly years, but at least I can always go back to this period.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) In the UK, this song plus the other two unreleased tracks were issued on an EP titled "3x3." However, due to the lack of a marked for EPs in the US, it was not issued here. Instead, the label used them for the "Three Sides Live" LP and released that in the US instead. Back in the UK, since most of the side 4 songs had already been release there on "3x3," the label decided to fill side four with leftover live tracks. The LP retained its title even though it really was four-sides live.  2) The song's odd title was actually picked up from another Genesis tune. The 1973 song "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" contained the line "Paper late, cried a voice in the crowd." The phrase "paper late" is an English term used by street corner paperboys who were hawking the evening (or "late") edition of the paper. Apparently, Phil Collins was riffing during the creation of the song and just started singing "paper late." The improvised phrase stuck. It wasn't the first or last time Collins would do this ("Sussudio" anyone?).

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