But Phil Collins, I'd still like his percussion on this song (remembering when it was novel) if it weren't A) overplayed on every format of the radio today, and B) if his vocals didn't sound like the second-most-tortured after only Michael Bolton. And of all the songs about a which a controversy of interpretation swirls, this is by far the least deserving in my book.
I don't think we covered that in our discussion of that Inessa set last week -- what is the "controversy"?
There's an urban legend about whom Colins is addressing when he sings "I was there & I saw what you did..." The version I heard (aside to Gaz, I got this orginally from our Schwabbie friend Scott Emerson when we were camping several years ago) is that one of Collins' childhood friends drowned right in front of Collins & a group of kids, and nearby was another kid, who was the only one close enough to have done something, but who just stood there and let Collins' friend drown. This has since been debunked, but it was a pervasive urban legend from what I have been told.
The tale's been told in many variants -- snopes.com is a good source for the full history, as they are for pretty much any urban legend. Eminem makes an allusion to it in one of his recent songs, though I forget which one (most of his tracks start to sound alike through my history lens).
PS: I should also add that hip-hoppers fell in love with the drum sound on this and several have cited his production of them in interviews in recent years (I forget exactly who, though -- maybe Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang?).
