Harold The Barrel

A song about our almost ghoulish, voyeuristic obsession with the man or woman who may be about to commit suicide by jumping from a high building - and how the media takes full advantage of that. Harold The Barrel story is Monty Pythonesque in nature - full of absurdities and black humour. His mum is more concerned that his shirt is dirty, given that he'll be on TV and less concerned that he is about to jump to his death. Genesis' ( Gabriel's in particular ) sense of humour set them apart from other prog rock groups.

I'm impressed by how the music leaves us in no doubt at all that Harold does jump in the end. At 2:38+ it is just excellent in how the sound can create an equivalent movie scene in your mind. It's like the camera panning and focusing on Harold and then showing him jump in slooooooooow motion. Great how the music conveys that tragic last moment of the sad story.

Good point by carrotkins about mom's cynical attitude, worrying only about her son's appearance while disregarding him as a person! Makes me think of: "Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life."

theres nothing you can say about this other than what it tells you itself by bein a story/play. not the humour in the lines 'he cant last long, he hasnt got a leg to stand on'... -well no, hes cut off his toes! anyway yeah, it is what it is and its likely that its based on something that someone read in the newspaper. incidentally, 'bognor' is an english seaside town...

Wait. scratch that. It's about a man who threatens to jump out of a building and kill himself.

haha, you looked up on a meaning right? i personally think that yes, it's about a sad guy that would like to kill himself and, i've read somewhere that it's also to reflect the manners of the community of people in those years.. they're sort of ignorant, like they seem to bother about harry, but not about the things he'd like to "have been cared", example: his mom won't ignore her son trying to jump out a building, but she goes "you're shirt is dirty and there's a man from bbc" like "you're a shame, what will they neighbours think about us" and stuff like that.

great song i was on the way to a dr's appt this morning and this song was on the radio satellite of course and i was shocked i thought i was the only one who loved this song

It sounds like it's about some guy who goes insane, pisses off the town, and an angry mob forms to get him.

Pretty much what it says in the song.

A guy may or may have not cut off his toes and served them with tea.

Then he went to a ledge, and threatened to jump.

Crowds show and try to talk him down.

His mother is more worried about his appearance than his state of mind.

He jumps - end of song.

This was the first 'funny' song done by Genesis (they did more on later albums). The lyrics were written by Peter Gabriel with a few added by Phil Collins. On the album cover they are presented as a script of a news report or play of the tragic events, as if it was on Play For Today. There is also a small picture of a street scene in a provincial English town, complete with ladder and figure on a window ledge. As other comments indicate, it is the sad story of a business man who has a mental breakdown, apparently involving self mutilation before committing suicide. As I said, 'funny' stuff! The humour comes from the uncaring attitudes of all around him - the British public, the Lord Mayor, and even poor Harold's own mother, who is more bothered about respectability than her son's mental health. A sign of the times (1971) perhaps. Only the police officer seems to care, but even he is characterised as 'Mr Plod', the officer from the Noddy books. The end is as tragic as it is inevitable. Interestingly, the words are sung by Gabriel and Collins together, but Collins' higher pitch dominates. As they were both recorded on the same track, Gabriel's vocals could not be made any louder.