Cuckoo Cocoon

I heard this song on the radio a few days ago, and was pierced by it. It’s a beautiful tone poem, and Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins sing with such authority and feeling. It’s from the 1974 Genesis double-album progressive rock magnum opus, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

Lamb’s songs tell the story of Rael, a young Puerto Rican New Yorker who experiences an unlooked-for series of visions and experiences that lead him through a spiritual transformation. The Cuckoo Cocoon is one of those.

The music was written by Genesis guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Steve Hackett, and his brother, John, a flautist and multi-instrumentalist. I decided to just arrange the song however it occurred to me in the moment, but started with a fairly faithful rendition of Hackett’s original guitar part, because it’s just so beautifully written.

The lyrics are by Peter Gabriel.

Wrapped up in some powdered wool—I guess I'm losing touch.
Don't tell me this is dying, 'cause I ain't changed that much.
The only sound is water drops, I wonder where the hell I am,
Some kind of jam?

Cuckoo Cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?

There's nothing I can recognize; this is nowhere that I've known.
With no sign of life at all, I guess that I'm alone,
And I feel so secure that I know this can't be real but I feel good.

Cuckoo cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?

I wonder if I'm  prisoner, locked in some Brooklyn jail
Or some sort of Jonah shut up inside the whale.
No—I'm still Rael and I'm stuck in some kind of cave,
What could've saved me?

Cuckoo cocoon have I come to, too soon for you?