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Started By
Message
So, what's the full story/myth behind "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins?
Posted on 5/2/12 at 7:40 am
Posted on 5/2/12 at 7:40 am
I keep hearing different stories.
7
Posted on 5/2/12 at 7:54 am to The Finch
Not looking it up, I always thought it was that he invited the guy who didn't help the drowning guy to a concert -- sang the song with the dude in the front row, and he killed himself afterward.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 8:02 am to The Finch
Collins wrote this song about the anger he felt after divorcing his first wife Andrea in 1979. He was so devastated that he left Genesis for a short time. All the original songs on the Face Value album, including the followup hit "I Missed Again," were at one time intended to be "messages" to his first wife in an attempt to lure her back to him.
The lingering tension caused by the divorce led Collins to the title, as these negative feelings were "In The Air," and effecting not just the couple getting divorced, but the entire family.
The meaning of this song became a pervasive Urban Myth. The story, which is not true, is that Collins watched as a man who raped his wife drowned. Another version has Collins writing this about about a man who watched another drown, and singing it to him at a concert. Yet another variation claims that when Collins was a young boy, he witnessed a man drowning someone but was too far away to help. Later, he hired a private detective to find the man, sent him a free ticket to his concert, and premiered the song that night with the spotlight on the man the whole time. We repeat, these stories are not true.
The lingering tension caused by the divorce led Collins to the title, as these negative feelings were "In The Air," and effecting not just the couple getting divorced, but the entire family.
The meaning of this song became a pervasive Urban Myth. The story, which is not true, is that Collins watched as a man who raped his wife drowned. Another version has Collins writing this about about a man who watched another drown, and singing it to him at a concert. Yet another variation claims that when Collins was a young boy, he witnessed a man drowning someone but was too far away to help. Later, he hired a private detective to find the man, sent him a free ticket to his concert, and premiered the song that night with the spotlight on the man the whole time. We repeat, these stories are not true.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 8:03 am to Bunk Moreland
See, i was told he witnessed a murder, rigged a contest for the guy to win front row tix and sang to him as the cops were in route to the event to arrest him.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 8:34 am to The Finch
I saw an interview with him where he said the song meant nothing. he wrote it in five minutes, literally, according to his own words.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 8:38 am to The Finch
quote:
See, i was told he witnessed a murder, rigged a contest for the guy to win front row tix and sang to him as the cops were in route to the event to arrest him.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 9:49 am to TheDoc
No No NO. Eminem rapped bout it in STAN and Phil went out a drowended his dead wife in a shallow lake while some contest winners from a from row concert got to watch. At least that how I heard it 
Posted on 5/2/12 at 10:01 am to McKinneyttu97
It's about divorce
Posted on 5/2/12 at 10:07 am to McKinneyttu97
quote:
No No NO. Eminem rapped bout it in STAN and Phil went out a drowended his dead wife in a shallow lake while some contest winners from a from row concert got to watch. At least that how I heard it
i like itPosted on 5/2/12 at 10:58 am to LSUTygerFan
Where did you link that from?
Posted on 5/2/12 at 11:29 am to LSUTygerFan
quote:
repeat, these stories are not true.
How sure are you? Cuz that's what I've always heard
Posted on 5/2/12 at 11:29 am to LSUSOBEAST1
Posted on 5/2/12 at 3:39 pm to The Finch
quote:
"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
One of my all-time favorite pregame songs
Posted on 5/2/12 at 4:01 pm to LSU Red24
quote:
How sure are you? Cuz that's what I've always heard
Posted on 5/2/12 at 4:26 pm to TheDoc
i just heard it recently. what's bad is he actually gave the real meaning behind the song and not let the legend live on.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 4:33 pm to The Finch
One thing is for sure. If you are ever drowning, do not ask for help from Phil Collins. He's heard that one before and you better wipe off that grin 'cause he knows where you been. It don't matter because it's all been a pack of lies. I was there. I saw what you did with my own two eyes and you are full of shite.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 8:02 pm to The Finch
I always wondered why, with all of the lyrics to the song, that the one line about drowning was singled out to be the root of the whole thing.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 8:37 pm to The Finch
Odd fact: black people LOVE this song.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 9:19 pm to Patrick O Rly
quote:
Odd fact: black people LOVE this song.
Well, some of us do.
I have a black heart.
Posted on 5/2/12 at 10:23 pm to The Finch
Someone slept with his wife, and he saw the guy drowning and didn't help him.
Its all myths.
Makes a good story, or a line from a hit "Eminem" song.
Its all myths.
Makes a good story, or a line from a hit "Eminem" song.
quote:
You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night"
about that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drowning but didn't,
then Phil saw it all, then at a a show he found him? That's kinda how this is,
you coulda rescued me from drowning Now it's too late
- I'm on a 1000 downers now, I'm drowsy
This post was edited on 5/2/12 at 10:25 pm
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