10 Rock Music Songs That Aren't About What You Think
1. In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins
The lead single from his debut album Face Value, In the Air Tonight catapulted Phil Collins to solo superstardom and would go on to become one of his signature songs.
All this, despite the fact that this song is dark as hell.
"Well, if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand" are the opening lines of the first verse and the song continues to tiptoe around the theme of death throughout.
A theory emerged the Collins had witnessed a man who died this way whilst another person watched on but did not help them. That fits with the lines "Well, I was there and I saw what you did, I saw it with my own two eyes".
As epic as that meaning would be, it's all a load of bunkum.
In an interview with the BBC, Collins said "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."
So what's the song really about? Well, in that same interview, Collins rather helpfully said "I don't know".
Great.