Song Writing: Outcome 1
I remember when i was small watching tv in my living room and seeing a cadburys advert of a gorilla playing the drums. this advert got stuck in my head so much that i downloaded it and leant all of the lyrics. My dads has always been a big fan of Phil Collins and i use to always hear him blaring it in his car whilst coming out of the driveway.
Phil Collins, the British drummer/singer/songwriter from the group Genesis, has changed the way we listen to music and has changed the world through his tear dropping lyrics and his original music. Phil Collins Born in 1951 in the City London, has been married three times and has five children. Phil Collins started as an actor when he was a child staring in “Oliver” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. Collins joined Genesis in 1970 and started making music with them.
At the age of seven years, Phil Collins was in his first ever film. At the time no one new that he was going to be a huge hit singer , nor did people know that he was going to be the original drummer in the band Genesis.
In Phil Collins Personal life he is very much a car guy. Ever since i was little i have always been a huge car guy and loved listening the music it makes too my ears. Phil Collins is such a big part in my life as well as others as i am also a drummer which make writing this a pleasure.
By 1978, he had been part of Genesis for nearly eight years, and had reluctantly accepted the role of frontman following Peter Gabriel's departure.
What a good entrance to a single! After Phil Collins left Genesis, he created his first ever single called “In the air tonight”. What he didn’t know was that it was going to be his most sold single ever. Phil Collins had been planning to make a solo album for quite some time. “In the air tonight” was Phil Collins way of spreading his emotions about divorcing his wife Andrea Bertorelli in 1980. The song consists of a series of ominous chords, played by a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. This was then played on top of Drum Machine with added vocals and electric guitar. When listening to the song, we can hear this climax build into the well known drum beat.
When Phil Collins was writing the lyrics to “In the air tonight” he said that he was just “fooling around”. He got some chords that he liked, jumped in the studio and started singing. Phil Collins even admitted that the majority of the lyrics in his song was just spontaneously and that he is proud to say that. He wasn’t really thinking of lyrics just speaking his mind into a mic. In Fact the whole chorus to the song “In the air tonight” was completely spontaneous. However, since the single had been released there has been a lot of different conspiracy theories behind the meaning of the song.
In the first verse of the song “In the air tonight” The story goes that Phil watched as a man who once attacked his wife drowned. Another version was that Phil wrote the song about a man who watched another man drown, and sang it to him at a concert.”Yet another version claims that when Phil was a young boy, he witnessed a man drowning someone but was too far away to help”. When the song was realised it grabbed a lot of attention, even Eminem got involved referencing this story in his single “Stan”. Although, in an interview with Phil Collins he said that he was not going for any particular story. He was just struggling from a recent divorce, which some people find hard to believe because they think it sounds too real to be made up.
In the second verse Phil Collins seems to be talking about his wife and knowing that something is up. From research, he is talking about how his wife doesn't want to hurt him which is described by writing “ But i know the reason why you keep your silence up”. In my opinion i think that the second verse was purposely stronger and more powerful leading up to the climax in the song (the drum solo). He talks about how he isn't fooled by hiding the truth which is the likelihood of his divorce. Just before the drum solo there is a very meaningful line that Phill put in. “Well, the hurt doesn't show; but the pain still grows”. Phil Collins is writing about his silent suffering and remembers not to worry and dwell on his relationship that is hurting inside. Phil Collins in a lot of his songs focus on speaking his feelings and making a statement to people.Overall the hit single “In the air tonight” by Phil Collins was his most successful single he has ever released.
Another popular song written by Phil Collins “Another Day In Paradise” expresies Collins feelings on telling a story about a homeless women. In the first line of the song the woman is asking a passing man for directions or somewhere to find shelter. This same image is shown through out the song especially in the bridge. The first verse ends with a dark thought. Phil Collins was writing about how the man that was walking past is trying to ignore her as he whistle and walks away.
In the chorus of the song “another day in paradise”, Phil Collins makes the audience think about their affect and actions on others.Phil Collins said “we are responsible as humans to care for each other by ‘thinking twice”.
In verse 2 “She calls out to the man on the street, He can see she’s been crying, She’s got blisters on the soles of her feet, She can’t walk but she is trying”. Very few will come to the aid of the poor, the ill and the sick. And yet people do help them, but it’s not always the case and should be more consistent.
The song “Another day in paradise” too Phil Collins doesn't have a meaning. When Collins writes most of his music it is just whatever pops into his head or has had memories of things like what he writes. His hit single “In the air tonight” is actually quite similar in a way to “Another day in paradise”, not lyrically but has the same concept of an unknown story of Collins.
In a lot of Phil Collins song he uses very similar instrumental parts in them, such as in “Another day in paradise” he uses the same keyboard sounds in “In the air tonight”. Using the same sounds in his songs gives him a very unique characterisation and stands out from other artists. Although Phil Collins is a drummer a few of his songs just have a simple backing track with a hi hat in “Another day in paradise”. Over the years of Collins career, he has stood out to his audience to be more of a singer than a drummer. I believe that it was a good decision for Collins too move on and start singing because it was his most successful years in his lifetime.
What a good entrance to a single!. Phil Collins, the British drummer/singer/songwriter from the group Genesis, has changed the way we listen to music and has changed the world through his tear dropping lyrics and his original music. Phil Collins managed to attract more people to his music with fans from Genesis and drummers from all over the world. Overall, Phil Collins certainly was a milestone for the music industry and a change to humanity.