You Never Knew What These Misunderstood Songs Were Really About
‘In The Air Tonight’ – Phil Collins
This Phil Collins track is thought by many to be one of the darkest pop hits of all time. According to urban legend, the song tells the story of a man watching another man drown and doing nothing to save him, all supposedly seen by Collins himself. The singer then wrote the song, invited the man to a show, and sang it right to his face.
The story spread far and wide in the early days of the internet, and was even mentioned in Eminem’s hit “Stan,” which contained the lyric, “You know the song by Phil Collins, ‘In the Air of the Night’ (sic) about that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drownin’, but didn’t, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?” According to Collins, the song has no specific story to it at all, and is more a stream of consciousness on the feelings he had after his divorce.
