The Carpet Crawlers


Written by Banks/Collins/Gabriel/Hackett/Rutherford
From Genesis album: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, 1974

Key: D major, Time: 4/4, Tempo: 76


Intro: {Only with electric piano & guitar arpeggios}
~~~~~
|Emaj7         A6             |'/,
      There is lambswool under my naked feet.
   |F#m6
The wool is soft and warm,
       |C#
- gives off some kind of heat.
 |C#m  Dmaj7  C#m     Dmaj7    |          '/,          |
A sala-mander scurries     into flame to be de- stroyed.
|Dmaj7  Bm7  Dmaj7    Bm7   |Amaj7                     ||
 Imagi- nary creatures   are trapped in birth on cellu-

 |Emaj7   A6   |'/, 
 -loid.
   |F#m6                            |
The fleas cling to the golden fleece,
|C#
 Hoping they'll find peace.
    |C#m  Dmaj7  C#m    Dmaj7   |'/,
Each thought and gesture     are caught in cellu-loid.
       |Dmaj7  Bm7          Dmaj7  Bm7
There's no     hiding in my memory.

       |Dmaj7sus4       ||D    
There's no room   to a -  void.


Verse 1: (0:54-)
~~~~~~~
    D                 |Em                    |D 
The crawlers cover the floor in the red ochre corridor.
                      |Em                                    |D
For my second sight of people, they've more lifeblood than be-fore.
                 |Em                    |D
They're moving in time to a heavy wooden door,
                         |Em                          
Where the needle's eye is winking, closing in on the poor.


Chorus: (1:20-) {Enters eletcric guitar obbligato}
~~~~~~~
   ||F#m7           |                   |
The  carpet crawlers heed their callers:
|A                           |G      |
  "We've got to get in to get out____
|A                           |G      |
__ We've got to get in to get out____
|D/F#       D            |C        Em/B ||D 
_____ We've got to get in   to get out._____"


[Verse 2] (1:47-) {Enter drums}

 There's only one direction in the faces that I see;
 It's upward to the ceiling, where the chamber's said to be.
 Like the forest fight for sunlight, that takes root in every tree.
 They are pulled up by the magnet, believing they're free.


(Chorus) (2:12-)


[Verse 3] (2:49-)

 Mild mannered supermen are held in kryptonite,
 And the wise and foolish virgins giggle with their bodies glowing bright.
 Through a door a harvest feast is lit by candlelight;
 It's the bottom of a staircase that spirals out of sight.


(Chorus) (3:05-)


[Verse 4] (3:33-)

 The porcelain mannikin with shattered skin fears attack.
 The eager pack lift up their pitchers - they carry all they lack.
 The liquid has congealed, which has seeped out through the crack,
 And the tickler takes his stickleback.


(Chorus) (3:59-)


[Verse 5] (4:26-)

 Got to get in (got to get out) (X 4)


(Chorus) (4:53-) {repeat to fade} 

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