We can't dance

We can't dance
Genesis studio album
Publication (s)	November 11, 1991
admission	March – September 1991
Label (s)	Virgin Records
Format (s)	CD, DVD, Hybrid-SACD, LP, MC
Genre (s)	Rock , progressive rock
Title (number)	12
running time	71:23
occupation	Tony Banks - keyboard , vocals Phil Collins - vocals, drums , percussion Mike Rutherford - guitar , bass
production	Genesis, Nick Davis
Studio (s)	The Farm, Surrey ( England )
chronology Invisible Touch (1986) We can't dance The Way We Walk (1992/1993)
Single releases October 21, 1991 No Son of Mine December 30, 1991 I can't dance April 6, 1992 Hold on my heart July 13, 1992 Jesus He Knows Me 5th November 1992 Tell Me Why February 8, 1993 Never a time

We Can't Dance ( English for "We can't dance") is the 14th studio album by the British rock band Genesis . The work, released in November 1991, is the group's last studio album, which was recorded with singer Phil Collins, who left the band five years later and was replaced by Ray Wilson for the album … Calling All Stations… (1997). Collins returned to Genesis in 2006 but did not record any new material.

background

The album was released in November 1991 by Anthony Banks Ltd. / Philip Collins Ltd. / Michael Rutherford Ltd. / Hit and Run Music (Publishing) Ltd. released. The top spots on the charts were No. 1 in the UK and Germany and No. 4 in the United States . The album was produced by Genesis and Nick Davis. It was mixed by Nick Davis with assistance from Mark Robinson.

In the course of 1991 to 1993 six singles were released, all but the last one in the top 25 of the charts in Great Britain and the United States. The album was number 1 on the album charts in Germany for 25 weeks. Even before its predecessor Invisible Touch, the album is the group's most successful album with over 18 million copies sold worldwide. With I Can't Dance and Hold on My Heart it also contained the last hit singles in the band's history.

Track list

All tracks were officially written and composed by Phil Collins , Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks , but the lyrics are verifiably written by individual members. These main authors of the songs are indicated in brackets on the right.

1. No Son of Mine (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 6:40 (Text: Phil Collins)
2. Jesus He Knows Me (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 4:16 (Text: Phil Collins)
3. Driving the Last Spike (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 10:09 (Text: Phil Collins)
4. I Can't Dance (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 4:01 (Text: Phil Collins)
5. Never a Time (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 3:50 (Text: Mike Rutherford)
6. Dreaming While You Sleep (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 7:17 (Text: Mike Rutherford)
7. Tell Me Why (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 4:59 (Text: Phil Collins)
8. Living Forever (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 5:41 (Text: Tony Banks)
9. Hold on My Heart (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 4:38 (Text: Phil Collins)
10. Way of the World (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 5:39 (Text: Mike Rutherford)
11. Since I Lost You (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 4:10 (Text: Phil Collins)
12. Fading Lights (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) - 10:17 (Text: Tony Banks)

DVD Extras (2007 Release)

1. Band interview 2006
2. Promotional Videos No Son of Mine , Jesus He Knows Me , I Can't Dance , Tell Me Why & Hold on My Heart
3. Documentation No Admittance 1992
4. UK Tour Program 1992 (Gallery)

Description of individual songs

Genesis plays No Son of Mine in Washington, USA (2007)

• No Son of Mine : The piece that tells of a disturbed father-son relationship, the first single to be released before the album, is not, as is often assumed, of an autobiographical nature. On the basis of the exclamation “No Son of Mine”, Collins built a text from the topic in which he merely put himself in the shoes of the narrator in the song. Similar to Mama , this song became a worldwide hit despite its excess length - not only with the fans.
• Driving the Last Spike : The text of the song describes the construction of the railway in the early days of the railway in England from the point of view of the workers who, at the risk of their lives and health, carried out their hard work separated from their families. The song describes, among other things, an accident during the construction of a railroad tunnel , the rest of the text is about the conditions under which the workers worked and their personal experiences.
• Dreaming While You Sleep : The song is about hit and miss after an accident and the guilty man's remorse. The piece, with its varied instrumentation, contains a drum computer, but also keyboards and guitars. Later in the “refrain” the drum computer is replaced by real drums.
• Since I Lost You : Collins wrote this song for the late son of his friend Eric Clapton , whose son Conor died on March 20, 1991 at the age of four.
• Jesus He Knows Me is a snappy reckoning with Christian TV evangelists who are accused of mendacity and greed.
• I Can't Dance , constructed around a guitar riff in an unusual way for Genesis, mockingly deals in the text with the world of advertising and models, in which people earned money simply by looking good.

Working title of the individual songs

During the production, each of the published songs had a completely different title, which is documented in this table:

#	Original title	Working title
1.	No Son of Mine	Elephantus
2.	Jesus He Knows Me	Do the New One
3.	Driving the Last Spike	Irish
4th	I can't dance	Blue jeans, heavy a flat
5.	Never a time	BB Hit, Still Throwing It All Away
6th	Dreaming While You Sleep	Rolling toms
7th	Tell Me Why	Rickenbacker
8th.	Living Forever	Hip Hop Brushes
9.	Hold on my heart	Burt Bacharach
10.	Way of the World	Spaghetti West
11.	Since I Lost You	Song for Connor
12.	Fading lights	Nile

tour

See also the article on the tour's live album: The Way We Walk

The We Can't Dance tour took the group through major arenas and stadiums in North America and Europe. The setlist of the concerts mainly focused on the album We Can't Dance as well as on the two equally popular predecessors Genesis and Invisible Touch . During the tour, material from the 1970s was summarized in a so-called Old Medley .

Chart placements

album

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	1 (71 weeks)	71
Austria (Ö3)	1 (47 weeks)	47
Switzerland (IFPI)	1 (52 weeks)	52
United Kingdom (OCC)	1 (61 weeks)	61
United States (Billboard)	4th (72 weeks)	72

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1991	No Son of Mine We Can't Dance	DE3 (25 weeks) DE	AT7 (12 weeks) AT	CH8 (13 weeks) CH	UK6 (7 weeks) UK	US12 (20 weeks) US	First published: October 31, 1991
1992	I Can't Dance We Can't Dance	DE4 (25 weeks) DE	AT2 (17 weeks) AT	CH8 (17 weeks) CH	UK7 (9 weeks) UK	US7 (20 weeks) US	First published: December 30, 1991
	Hold on My Heart We Can't Dance	DE45 (14 weeks) DE	-	-	UK16 (5 weeks) UK	US12 (20 weeks) US	First published: April 6, 1992
	Jesus He Knows Me We Can't Dance	DE13 (19 weeks) DE	AT26 (2 weeks) AT	-	UK20 (7 weeks) UK	US23 (20 weeks) US	First published: July 13, 1992
	Never a Time We Can't Dance	DE56 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US21 (20 weeks) US	First published: November 5, 1992
	Tell Me Why We Can't Dance	DE51 (18 weeks) DE	-	-	UK40 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1992

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	platinum	70,000
Germany (BVMI)	5 × platinum	(2,500,000)
Europe (IFPI)	6 × platinum	6,000,000
France (SNEP)	2 × platinum	(779.100)
Japan (RIAJ)	gold	100,000
Canada (MC)	4 × platinum	400,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	platinum	15,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	platinum	(100,000)
Austria (IFPI)	platinum	(50,000)
Sweden (IFPI)	platinum	(100,000)
Switzerland (IFPI)	4 × platinum	(200,000)
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	(100,000)
United States (RIAA)	4 × platinum	4,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	5 × platinum	(1,500,000)
All in all	1 × gold 36 × platinum	10,585,000

Main article: Genesis (band) / Music Sales Awards

Artist awards

• Grammy Award nomination: Best Performance by a Duo or Group - Pop ("I Can't Dance") (1993)
• American Music Award : Favorite Group (Pop / Rock) (We Can't Dance) (1993)
• American Music Award nominations: Favorite album (contemporary) (We Can't Dance) , Favorite group (contemporary) (We Can't Dance) (1993)

See also

• List of the best-selling music albums certified by BVMI in Germany

Web links

• Reviews of We Can't Dance on the Babyblauen Seiten
• Max RP Grossmann: Text with review of the 20th anniversary of the album in English and German language

Individual evidence

1. ↑ jugi3.ch
2. ↑ genesis-fanclub.de
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
4. ↑ European Top 100 Albums. In: Music & Media Magazine. American Radio History, March 6, 1993, accessed December 26, 2019 (page 18). 
5. ↑ Sales figures for We Can't Dance in France ( Memento from December 26, 2019 in the Internet Archive )