Song of the Month (Part 1.)

This song is one of my several favorite compositions. Not only its melody, the lyrics often symbolize many things that likely Genesis’ members only know.

Joseph Dixon, an expert in deciphering songs lyrics, had ever tried to clarify The Carpet Crawlers into clear and simple language. The view he took on this song was that it’s a metaphor for birth, and in the grander scheme of things, survival.

As quick references, Dixon always likes starting with the title of pieces to find hints. The Carpet Crawlers could suggest babies, and they grow up and start the birth process all over again.

we’ve got to get in to get out

referred to he believed. It’s a metaphor about having to get into the womb, through intercourse, to have a baby come out. “We” was referring to humankind in a general sense.

Parts of the song also describes the process in which sperm gets to the egg in the beginning of the birth process, he wrote.

The fleas cling to the golden fleece hoping they’ll find peace

This could refer to how each individual sperm tries to cling onto and penetrate into the egg in order to survive and live on.

The crawlers cover the floor, in the red ochre corridor

The red ochre corridor could refer to the vaginal canal.

Where the needle’s eye is winking, closing on the poor

This could be referring to how not every sperm even makes it that far along in the process. The poor not making it.

There’s only one direction in the faces that I see, and it’s upward to the

ceiling, where the chamber’s said to be

Again, this is where every sperm is on its way to the egg to complete fertilization.

And toward the end of the song,

The liquid has congealed, which has seeped out through the crack, and the

tickler takes his stickleback

This is basically after the act of intercourse, he described. A stickleback is a scaleless bony fish, which could refer to a penis. The crack could be referring to the vagina and the liquid seeping out could be semen.

It’s more obvious, right? Well, let’s enjoy the song once more.