9 Biggest Urban Legends About Classic Rock Songs

3. Phil Collins Wrote A Song About Watching Someone Drown

The Myth: We've all heard the infamous story behind "In The Air Tonight." Hell, Eminem even summarized the tale in his 2000 breakout song, "Stan":

You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air Tonight"About that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drowningBut didn't, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?

But in fact, Em doesn't even include the most interesting part of the myth. In the story, it was Collins' close friend drowning right in front of him, but Phil couldn't swim, and called out to someone on a nearby dock to save him, who just stood there watching. The Reality: None of that. Not even a little bit. The lines that spawned these various myths were from the opening verse:

If you told me you were drowningI would not lend a handI've seen your face before my friendBut I don't know if you know who I amWell, I was there and I saw what you didI saw it with my own two eyes

But Collins insist he made up most of the lyrics on the spot as he was working through some chord progressions. He was going through a messy divorce at the time, and says most of the lyrics are just him venting about the circumstances that led he and his ex-wife to that point.