http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1060
Songfacts - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
by Genesis
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway was a song-cycle whose hero Rael shared a name with "Rael (1 and 2)," a track on The Who's 1967 album, The Who Sell Out.
Mojo April 2010 asked Peter Gabriel if it was a conscious tribute to The Who's Pete Townshend.
He replied: "It was a subconscious tribute because I certainly wasn't aware of it at the time. I spent a long time thinking of that name, like Ra the Sun God.
But I was a big Who fan, so it may have got in there.
Obviously Townshend created much of the musical environment and delivered the angst with an intelligence and passion and extraordinary musicality.
But to this day, as a drummer, I think Keith Moon was the unacknowledged genius.
He was like Jimi Hendrix: when he was on - and he wasn't always - it flowed out of him in a free way that was inspiring, driving, magnificent."
There are references to classic songs throughout the album, and this track recalls "On Broadway," which was a hit for The Drifters in 1963.
On their 1974 tour, they played the album from start to finish. Gabriel wore several costumes throughout the show.
I see this album as a kind of cross between the Christian concept of purgetory, the Tibetan Book of the dead, Karma and reincarnation.
Its a pretty dark album and covers some heavy subject matter.
I like the Carpet crawl which seems to be about the drive for the dead to reincarnate, Probably the best but I like the whole album, especialy the first side. some of the second side gets a little monotanious.
Counting out time is Rael recounting his misfortune on his first date in which he relies on a book about how to get women into bed by the numbers but ends up getting shot down and possibly slapped LOL so its got its lighter moments.
- wyatt, anywhere, United States
I heard Peter Gabriel wrote the lyrics on vacation in Greece and the rest of Genesis wrote the music in England. It's amazing it matched up as well as it did.
- Brian, Orange, CA
director william friedkin was interested in adapting the piece to film, and allegedly this was a source of tension among the group members.
- MIKE, Williamsburg, VA
making this a piece of film? are you kidding? thats crazy. who wants to watch a movie about genitals being grabbed by ravens and carried down rivers? thats bizarre. but in album form its pretty cool anyway.
- Jeanette, Irvine, CA
http://www.dailyvault.com/toc.php5?review=316
If you ever want to start a fistfight with a diehard Genesis fan, bring up the subject of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, ask them if they think it's a work of genius or the last act of a deranged frontman - and then defend the opposite stand they have.
You never knew what to expect from this British art-rock band - lead singer Peter Gabriel was known to take the stage dressed up as a flower. Often the liner notes to their albums had rambling non sequitur stories that you probably could understand while on the influence of drugs. Obviously, this was a much different band than the '80s popsters they became.
But in 1974, Gabriel and crew did seem like they went over the top with The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - an album that would have been great if it had been a single release. The first half is indeed a masterpiece,but the story line. would someone explain to me what the fuck this story is supposed to be about?
I swear, I tried extra hard on this one, but I just couldn't plow through the liner notes on this one. I think I'd rather read Charles Dickens - and I hated Great Expectations
when I was in high school - than try to re-read the inside album cover again!
Apparently, the story revolves around a character named Rael who gets sucked into a surreal world of self-discovery. It's a difficult story to follow, even with the lyric sheets -
and the lyric sheets add a bizarre aspect to the lyrics. In the title track, one of the classic performances on the album, Peter Gabriel sings a line that sounds like something in a foreign language - it actually is "Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid". Two words: say what ?!?
(rest of the review at link)
p.s "pa": sound of the flute :-] 
