Expert: Joseph Dixon - 3/26/2001

Question
do you know the origin/inspiration of the song "In the air tonight". Was it about his failing relationship with his wife or about someone drowning?

Answer
Hello Jean....

I'll give you the answer from Phil Collins himself.  This is transcribed from his appearance on VH-1's Storytellers in 1997:

".....(In The Air Tonight) is a song with many faces.  And the truth is, is that I don't know what it's about.  The way I write lyrics is I open my mouth and I see what comes out.  And I was going through an unpleasant divorce and I guess I was very angry, I was very bitter, I was very upset.  And I think you can probably tell that from the song.  But all these stories, it's like Chinese mysteries. Whenever I come to America, I hear a new bit.  There's this person who reckons that I saw someone drowning, and I witnessed the thing, and then I invited the guy to come to the concert, and sat him down in the front row, and sang the song.  All I did was write the song really!  But anything you hear, let it be said right here, right now, anything you hear about this song is not true."

I hope this helps... Take care....
Joe