Monday, August 5, 2019

Phil Collins, drowning witness

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Phil Collins’ 1981 hit “In the Air Tonight” is undeniably his greatest song (and even made our Top 200 Songs of the ’80s list), but it’s also the one that courted the weirdest legend, if one that takes its lyrics a little too literally. During the verse, Collins sings, “Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand.” 


And from there, a combination of the telephone game and vivid imaginations interpreted the song to be a true story about a supposed drowning incident that Collins witnessed, in which someone refused to come to the aid of the victim. The myth gets even juicier when coupled with a follow-up myth, that Collins came face-to-face with the culprit at a concert while performing the song. It’s good enough to be a movie script, but it might as well be, because it’s complete fiction. Collins has said he was going through a divorce at the time and his own frustration and bewilderment led him to wrote those words, but that the drowning incident in question never happened. Or did it? (No, it didn’t).

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