In The Air Tonight??

Question

What is the song "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins about?? My friend told me that Phil Collns witnessed his father being murdered when he was 4 and when he got famous he tracked down the guy who did it and invited him to one of his concerts, sat him front row centre and sang this to him. Apparently the guy then committed suicide. Is this true??

Answer 1

There's alot about the song in my source... urban legends, etc. regarding what you're talking about

Answer 2

This may take a while to read,lol

An urban legend has arisen around "In the Air Tonight". According to the legend, the lyrics are based on a tragic event Collins witnessed, usually a drowning (as in the song's lyrics), in which a man who could have helped the victim, but did not do so. A common ending is that Collins invites this man to a show and sings the song to him, often with a spotlight pointed at him. Afterward, the man is arrested or, in some versions, is wracked with guilt and commits suicide. Some popular variations are:

Collins saw a man drowning but was too far away to do anything, but a man nearby who could have saved him did nothing. (Other versions of this rumor claim that the drowning was not an accident, but murder.)

While vacationing together, Collins' best friend went for a swim. He began to struggle in the water but Collins, having never learned to swim, could not help. Collins stopped and asked a passing jogger for help; the man refused and Collins' friend died.

While at camp as a child, Collins awoke to find his counselor missing. Looking outside, he saw the counselor standing by the lake doing nothing to help a drowning boy. (In some versions, the counselor is intentionally letting the boy drown.) [

Collins witnessed the rape of his wife and, years later, saw the man drowning but refused to help him.

A young Collins and his best friend were at a lake when a man asked them if they wanted to go sailing. Collins had to eat dinner but promised to come back; when he did, his friend was missing and was never seen again.

Collins, while on a pier with his wife, went down the pier for a brief moment, leaving his wife at the other end. When he returned, he saw that his wife was drowning, but before he could do anything, his wife had died. Collins realized next that there was a man that had stood at the end of the pier and watched the woman drown.

When Phil was younger, he and friend had been playing by a water basin when his friend fell in. Phil, who hadn't learned to swim, ran to a neighbor's house for help. When the neighbor answered, he dismissed Phil's cries for help, as Phil had "cried wolf" in the past. When Phil returned to the basin, he found his friend had drowned in the meantime.

Years later, Collins commented on the legends about the song in a BBC World Service interview:

“ I don't know what this song is about. When I was writing this I was going through a divorce. And the only thing I can say about it is that it's obviously in anger. It's the angry side, or the bitter side of a separation. So what makes it even more comical is when I hear these stories which started many years ago, particularly in America, of someone come up to me and say, 'Did you really see someone drowning?' I said, 'No, wrong'. And then every time I go back to America the story gets Chinese whispers, it gets more and more elaborate. It's so frustrating, 'cos this is one song out of all the songs probably that I've ever written that I really don't know what it's about, you know.

Answer 3

This is an old urban legend, fully debunked at Snopes.Com

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/intheair.asp

"As Phil Collins has explained numerous times over the years, "In The Air Tonight" deals with his bitterness and regret over the end of his marriage to his first wife..."

Answer 4

When I read your question, I kind of suspected the story was just a myth simply because I have heard several odd stories about the song, as well, but never the one you wrote about. I had heard that it was written about one of his parents, who abused him as a child, and later came to one of his shows and asked to be let backstage. I had also heard that it was about a woman he was in love with who rejected him. I had even heard it was a song written about his first drum kit, and that it was about the fact that he had a hard time learning to play drums.

Since I had heard a lot of wacky stuff, I decided to check Wikipedia. I figured the article would be written by a die-hard fan, and they would most likely be correct.

According to Wiki, it simply has to do with some animosity towards his first wife. It sounds like they didn't have a friendly divorce. I have a link to what I found:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Collins#Personal_life

I must say, however, that having learned the truth, I find it pretty boring. I suspect, though, that most songs are just written about everyday things, rather than really juicy stuff like unavenged murder.

Answer 5

Makes for a good story,but I believe Collins came home to find his then wife and their interior decorator discussing more than wallpaper patterns.A good song of its' time..I thought it was something else entirely..goes to show..Anyway what's good for the goose is also good for the gander..so yeah.

Answer 6

In his TV appearances, such as Top of The Pops, he used to stand an opened paint tin with a brush on the top of his piano while singing this song.
The man who stole his wife away was a painter and decorator!!
Therefore, as he says himself, the song is anger towards this man and the breakdown of his first marriage

Answer 7

I heard it was about his friend that was drowning and no one helped him, and he was from afar seeing this happen

Answer 8

i don't know about the rumors or anything, but i thought it was about infidelity.