Lyrics to
For Absent Friends

This version of For Absent Friends was released by Genesis in 1971.

Our About Genesis page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for For Absent Friends from 1971 as well as all of the other lyrics from Genesis that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Genesis or about the 1970s in general.

Sunday at six when they close both the gates
a widowed pair,
still sitting there,
Wonder if they’re late for church
and it’s cold, so they fasten their coats
and cross the grass, they’re always last.

Passing by the padlocked swings,
the roundabout still turning,
ahead they see a small girl
on her way home with a pram.

Inside the archway,
the priest greets them with a courteous nod.
He’s close to God.
Looking back at days of four instead of two.
Years seem so few (four instead of two).
Heads bent in prayer
for friends not there.

Leaving twopence on the plate,
they hurry down the path and through the gate
and wait to board the bus
that ambles down the street.

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Genesis has released many songs over the years besides For Absent Friends. Genesis released songs from 1969 to 2000 spanning across albums like From Genesis To Revelation, Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, A Trick Of The Tail, Wind And Wuthering, ...And Then There Were Three..., Duke, Abacab, Genesis, Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance, Calling All Stations, Genesis Archive 1967-1975, and Genesis Archives #2 1976-92. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Genesis.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and For Absent Friends by Genesis

The lyrics for For Absent Friends are defined as the words making up the song released by Genesis in 1971. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to For Absent Friends have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Genesis and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to For Absent Friends by Genesis if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to For Absent Friends" means the words set to the music of For Absent Friends, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Genesis. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to For Absent Friends and the lyrics to For Absent Friends are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Genesis who came here looking just for the lyrics to For Absent Friends, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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