Phil Collins "In the air tonight" C/D

I'm dating myself, but OTM. Though there are a couple of other No Jacket Required tracks ("Long Long Way To Go," "Take Me Home") that make me want to do lines off a framed Nagel poster in a room lit only by the slippery blue light from the pool and a discreet neon lamp...

Patrick Bateman: Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where, uh, Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don't you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as, uh, anything I've heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your ass. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and, uh, Against All Odds. Sabrina, don't just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.

In the air tonight has fucking LEAD DRUMS. It's fucking AMBIENT. Its influences are "world music" and hanging out with Peter Gabriel; not top 40. It's spooky and obsessive. You don't hum it, or play it on the soccer tape, or put it on a mix tape for your junior high crush. It's might look commercial in restrospect, but it's seriously WTF.

What is the version that most people on ILM know these days? The one with drums mixed in right from the start (i.e. the single mix) or the one where the drums kick in only at the DUH-DUH DUH-DUH DUH-DUH-DUH-DUH DOOF DOOF bit (the LP version)?

I gather the reason they added extra drums for the single is that the record company thought people wouldn't be able to work out where the 1 was, so wouldn't be able to "dance to it in the clubs" (wtf?).

But that ambiguity about the beat at the start is one of the things I love about the record So it's LP version every time for me.

Also, who was the music supervisor on Risky Business that decided to cut away from "In the Air Tonight" to that fucking Tangerine Dream score when Tom Cruise & Rebecca Demornay finally got down to business on the train? ITAT-sex would've been way hotter.

The Good Dr. Bill reminds me...

- Working on Peter Gabriel's third self-titled album, Gabriel/Collins/Lillywhite/Padgham created the unmistakeable sound gate:drum::chocolate:peanut butter sound

- ...which would achieve its apotheosis on Collins' monster WTF hit "In The Air Tonight"

- ...which was featured (if not as prominently as The Good Dr. would have liked) on the soundtrack of the classic film Risky Business, starring (as Lana) Rebecca DeMornay

- ...the image of whose nude form would be seared forever into the hypothalamus of a young and impressionable rogermexico and presumable also made an impression on Peter Gabriel, who hooked up with her following ("following"?) the collapse of his first marriage, although by the time he released Us she would have already moved on to Leonard Cohen

- ...whose "Susanne" Gabriel would cover quite convincingly on "Tower Of Song". Can't remember if he gates the drums on that though.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of Rosanna Arquette? (although, yes, De Mornay did move on to Cohen).

PG's hit both, though. Rebecca DeMornay = Winona Ryder.

The mind reels. Please explain in more detail when you have the time!

It's all coming back to me now. From Toto IV to The Future in four easy steps!

i havent because i havent even heard that one.

The usual nice little piece from Mix:
http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_phil_collins_air/

Chorus:

[Phil Collins]
I can feel it coming in the air tonight
Oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment
For all my life
Oh Lord, Oh Lord

[Lil' Kim]
Keep still in the shit, killin the rhyme
The Queen stay poppin the wine and cockin the nine
For those who think they stoppin my dough
Wanna copy my show, wha
I'm switchin my flow, can't take it no mo'
Oh you think I'm playin around
I'm layin ya down
Album drop, new millenium shuttin it down
Better off givin it up, I'm rippin it up
Spendin money, livin it up, not givin a f**k

Hiding the tote, runnin the coast
Makin niggas catch the Holy Ghost
I'm realer than most, wha
The trendsetter, the Brooklyn repper
You know the routine
Smoke you like a ciggarette-r
We've been, out in a bit
Y'all still talkin shit
Ain't that a bitch?
What part of the game was this?

[Lil' Kim singing]
Millions I'm holdin'
Drop tops rollin'
Diamonds on my neck
And Bentley ballin'
Me and my niggas gettin' high all day
Straight to the top, cuz we on our way

[Lil' Kim rapping]
Comin' for y'all, comin' for y'all
That's right I got something for y'all
Something for y'all, wha
God bless me, look at all I've been through
It's my time, I can feel it, can't you?

Chorus:

[Phil Collins]
I can feel it coming in the air tonight
Oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment
For all my life
Oh Lord

Can you feel it coming in the air tonight?
Oh Lord, Oh Lord

[DJ Clark Kent]
JM, JM
Lil' Kim, Lil' Kim
PC, PC
Clark

[Phil Collins]
Well I remember..

[Lil' Kim]
...back when it used to be the eighties
Said the world was gon' end in 2000 (that's crazy)
I'm the only thing to fear
For the new year
New year, and if BIG was here (woo)
Get the fans, we the ones to talk
We die real on the streets
So watch where you walk
And you can find me, usually
Talkin' dirty to a cat thugged out
Or even kinda nerdy
Lil' Kim, Lil' Cease and JM
Taking over like a plague on a town
All y'all can do is pray and watch it go down
Like when the ball drop
My fam's all I got, we keep it gangsta

Comin' for y'all, comin' for y'all
That's right I got something for y'all
Something for y'all, wha
God bless me, look at all I've been through
It's my time, I can feel it, can't you?

[Phil Collins]

Well, if you told me, you were drowning
I would not a lend a hand
I've seen your face before my friend
But I don't know if you know who I am
Well I was there and I saw what you did
Saw it with my own two eyes
So you can wipe off that grin
I know where you've been
It's all been a pack of lies

[Phil Collins]
I can feel it coming in the air tonight
Oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment
For all my life
Oh Lord, Oh Lord

I can feel it coming in the air tonight
Oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment
All my life
Oh Lord, Oh Lord

[Clark Kent]
Lil' Kim, Lil' Kim
JM, JM

*fades*

Who needs Phil Collins when you've got Peter Gabriel?

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.

"Oh lord" makes up half the lyrics to every song he's written since 1980!

Almost all of his lyrics got "Oh Lord" on it!

knocked me sideways last night when shown during the Big Brother (yeah yeah ..) Final ..

I'm intrigued by the "If you told me you were drowning" line.

Surely it's something that you'd scream. Not quietly beckon someone over and suggest to them that, like, they might not mind lending a hand.....

Playing the 45 on 33 is like drugs X1000

one of the best air-drumming moments ever
-- cankles, Tuesday, May 15, 2007 1:25 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark Link

you have to turn this song way the fuck up

this is NOT to be jammed lightly

yeah i'm wary of anyone who doesn't have a distinct memory of air drumming this shit like they were playing madison square garden

yeah i'm wary of anyone who doesn't have a distinct memory daily fucking plan of air drumming this shit like they were playing madison square garden

shit ive entered the zone where i can no longer figure out if im being ironic or not.

it perplexes me, it does, why individuals profess such adulation for this tune, being that it is sung by such an unattractive man, so fat and bald, aye.

we're all heart-throbs in the dark, baby.

yeah, because we all judge music by the attractiveness of its performers

oh that's why i thought you liked chromeo rev :/

it perplexes me, it does, why individuals profess such adulation for this tune, being that it is sung by such an unattractive man, so fat and bald, aye.

-- res, Sunday, February 24, 2008 8:55 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

fuck you, beauty queen lookist

this song blows

oh that's why i thought you liked chromeo rev :/

-- J0rdan S., Sunday, February 24, 2008 1:07 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Yeah, that P. Thug, he's such a hottie.

sockpuppet Tombot

The thing about that ad is that it mirrors the sensate pleasure of eating chocolate. And the gorilla? He's the part of the brain that likes chocolate. He's a lover, too. And he has a quite dignity, but he's also skillful and full of passion.

*quiet

this shit is one of my favorite songs of all fucking time. i love it so much. what perfection.

thank you pipecock i take back everything bad i said about you

In the air tonight has fucking LEAD DRUMS. It's fucking AMBIENT.

-- rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, November 3, 2005 11:44 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

This song is like brobeque sauce, except better.

this song is no "take me home"

Current Uncut has a whole article about it. Been meaning to hear the whole album for oh, 27 years.

i have loved this song since i was a kid

Also, who was the music supervisor on Risky Business that decided to cut away from "In the Air Tonight" to that fucking Tangerine Dream score...

yeah, but that Tangerine Dream song is also a classic.

My youngest brother (age 16) just called & asked me to sing him this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo

Holy shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo

― caek, Saturday, September 1, 2007 12:00 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

Damn, didn't see that. Anyway . . . the gorilla - he drums!

That gorilla fucking means it.

I wonder how many people he's drowned.

I was really sad to learn that the murderer story was a hoax--about a day after I first heard it (the story, not the song).

The great thing about Phil Collins is that these songs have aged really well precisely because he's a drummer and he had a great ear for good tones.

"It's about a dude he saw drowning."

"This Must Be Love" sounds good coming after on the record.

I recently sat and watched the Miami Vice pilot episode on Hulu mostly to get to see the scene when "In the Air Tonight" comes on.

super classic song and scene obviously, even if it indirectly led to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBiDiCDetwA

"in the air tonight" is what it sounds like to get murdered

-- max (maxreax), Friday, January 19, 2007 10:31 PM (3 months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOwAvW1CIJs

What a song. I spent some time air drumming to this. The best part about it is the inspiration behind it, my understanding being it is somewhat Phil collins’s own musical version of Death Wish. As the story goes a man was out boating on a bay when the boat capsized and sank and he did not know how to swim and unfortunately did not have a life preserver with him. Phil was at the same place that day but was up on a bluff, and too late noticed this man in distress shouting for help. He noticed a single individual on the beach just watching and Phil ran down but by the time he arrived this man had vanished beneath the waves and drowned. The other man could have helped but chose not to. Phil made an attempt to press charges but there were no other witnesses. Years later Phil decided to track the man down and invited him to a concert, with a front row center seat. He sang this song to the man while staring at him and the lights in the stadium lowered except for a single spotlight on the man, who eventually according to those who were there realized who Phil was, the same man from the beach all those years before. The man committed suicide shortly after the show was over out of shame and humiliation. Kind of a cool story about justice. Phil never speaks about it or the song I guess only two people really knew the truth at the time and one of them is dead it took a lot of detective work for people to get to the real inspiration behind this song.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/458589121596894873/C3A2F378C63B5504CC5242E33B4F48825A629410/

In The Air Tonight drum solo: Quarantine edition pic.twitter.com/iwfHikau0d

— Classic Dad Moves (@classicdad) March 31, 2020