This is a very straightforward song about being utterly infatuated with a girl and asking if she will always be by your side. The lyric was written by Mike Rutherford while the band was working it out in a studio jam. "When I wrote the lyric, out came this lovely little song, catchy without being soppy," he told Mojo. "It took ten minutes. I thought, 'F--k, it can't be that easy.'"
This was the first hit for Genesis in the US. In 1974, when Peter Gabriel was still their lead singer, their song "I know what I like (In Your Wardrobe)" made #21 in the UK, but until "Follow You," Genesis was very much a cult band. They would grow increasingly popular over the next ten years and had to deal with a certain resentment from fans of their '70s output. Phil Collins explained during a 1983 press conference that he understood why these original fans would be upset, as he remembered watching Yes rise in popularity, which meant he could no longer just go see them every week along with the few hundred other fans who followed the band.
With lines like, "Every day is such a perfect day to spend alone with you," this song was written specifically to appeal to a female audience, as the band had determined that about 95% of their fanbase was male. It certainly redressed that balance and opened up a new chapter of more accessible songs for the band.
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