In a similar way to the writing of "Invisible Touch", the band initially allocated roughly one third of the album to each member who were then responsible for the lyrics to their collection of songs. Banks said having one person work on a set of lyrics was a better way of carrying an idea through. In the end "We Can't Dance" saw Collins contribute a greater amount of lyrics than before, his efforts praised by Rutherford who considered his words for its songs among his best in Genesis history. Collins went further and rated his lyrics on "We Can't Dance" as some of the best of his career and said, "Obviously, the music stimulated me". In a week during which Banks and Rutherford left the studio for promotional work, Collins started to write lyrical ideas; according to Rutherford "he just couldn't stop himself after that. He found he had dead time on his hands".