Steve Hackett - Get Em Out By Friday

DISCLAIMER:
No copyright infringement intended. This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only. The rights to the song and video belong to the band & the music company.

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"Get 'Em Out by Friday" is a rock song on the 1972 album Foxtrot by British progressive rock band Genesis, lasting eight and a half minutes. It also appears on their 1973 live album. The lyrics were written by lead singer Peter Gabriel.

The play contains three main characters:

John Pebble: A business man of Styx Enterprises. Near the end of the song, he has been knighted and works for United Blacksprings International.
Mark Hall (also known as "The Winkler"): A man who works for Styx Enterprises and has the task of evicting tenants.
Mrs Barrow: a tenant in a house in Harlow, purchased by Pebble.

The song takes the form of a futuristic play set initially in the present but ending in 2012. Like "Harold the Barrel" and "The Fountain of Salmacis" from their previous album Nursery Cryme, the song's lyrics are split between different characters, with lead singer Peter Gabriel often adapting a different vocal style to each character.

The song uses elements of reality and science fiction as a means of social criticism on the corporate greed and oppression of the UK's private landlords in the 1960s and 1970s, epitomised by Peter Rachman who used "winkling" (a mixture of threats and inducements) to remove tenants on low rents from properties and enable their profitable reletting or redevelopment. Social commentary was an evident theme throughout Genesis's early work, especially in their following album, Selling England by the Pound (1973)

The song starts with a fast-paced refrain of Pebble ordering Hall to "Get 'em out by Friday". In the following verse, the Winkler tells a disbelieving Mrs Barrow that a firm of men has purchased her property and that she has been evicted. She refuses to leave, so Pebble raises the rent on the property. In lieu of this, the Winkler offers £400 for Mrs Barrow to move; she does, albeit grudgingly. Shortly after Mrs Barrow moves in, however, Pebble again raises the rent.

A slow instrumental indicates a passage of time, taking the story to the year 2012. At this time, Genetic Control has announced that they are restricting the height of all humans to four feet. This piece of news is then discussed in a pub by a man named "Joe Everybody," who reveals the reason behind the restriction: so that Genetic Control, who has recently bought some properties, will be able to accommodate twice as many people in the same tower block.

The penultimate verse is that of Pebble, now knighted, repeating the process for another set of properties. The last verse is a "Memo from Satin Peter",:

"With land in your hand, you'll be happy on earth
then invest in the Church for your heaven."

[russellgibbon]

Absolutely marvellous . . . thank you Steve.

[cricket]

Saw Hackett on Oct 29 2023 in Nashville and WOW what a band. Been to over 300 shows in my life and this was the best !!

[Kenneth-ctrx]

OH BOY! I had forgotten about this song( on the Foxtrot album) both foxtrot and Nursry crime albums were( and still are ) such classic albums of Genesis era!

[frizzlefry]

Such beautiful attention to detail by consumate professionals, who also like to smile, a credit to Steve for keeping these wonderful works alive.

[MWRush]

Steve and his band do such a wonderful job of bringing these wonderful songs like Get Em Out back to life. Nad is a fantastic singer.

[torakobarry]

beautiful music♪I love Nad’s singing voice🎤

[petersteinke]

Saw them yesterday. Spot on and always a joy to see them

[philippecoillot]

Vu en avril à la seine musicale de Boulogne Billancourt. Je suis toujours aussi fan ❤

[kenm.]

Wonderful! Nad did a great job on the lead vocal. Steve, as usual is immaculately faithful to the Foxtrot version. Great job by the whole group. KUDOS!

[Takealookatmychannelhere]

Smart, on time, lyrics about using people as assets, money grabs.

[UKArtlover]

Roger King superb as ever immaculately recreating the Banksmeister :) great different drummer too I noticed, more Collins like sound if I’m not mistaken., overdue another visit to Steve’s show I must remedy !

[redrockcrf]

Everyone's talking about how great this is, but what about how relevant it is with what is going on with housing?!

[Takealookatmychannelhere]

Lately I was listening to King Diamond:)

[folknacional]

Me pareció genial la versión. Tremendo desafío para el cantante, que por otra parte, ya no es un pibe…

[kenm.]

Wonderful! Nad did a great job on the lead vocal. Steve, as usual is immaculately faithful to the Foxtrot version. Great job by the whole group. KUDOS!

[kenm.]

Wonderful! Nad did a great job on the lead vocal. Steve, as usual is immaculately faithful to the Foxtrot version. Great job by the whole group. KUDOS!