We all go through hard times.
And we all deal with the hard times in different ways.
Some deal with them in negative ways. Perhaps they turn to alcohol, or violence, or something equally destructive.
Others turn challenges into something positive. Perhaps they learn from the difficulty or they take the opportunity to improve something about themselves.
Or they get creative. That’s what Phil Collins did.
A particularly challenging time in his life led to arguably his biggest hit song: In The Air Tonight.
Keep reading to learn all about the In The Air Tonight lyrics and meaning. I wish I could deal with hardships in such a creative manner!
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In The Air Tonight Lyrics And Meaning
There have been many occasions in which artists suffered a tragedy in their personal lives and used it as an inspiration in their musical career. They derive creations from the greatest of sorrows or the greatest of joys.
Phil Collins is a great example. The British star composed one of the most iconic and recognized songs of his career after suffering a personal hardship.
That song is In The Air Tonight, which is now generally considered Collins’ signature song. It is famous for the drum break toward the end, which is the only thing many people these days know about the song, thanks to Tik Tok videos or the movie The Hangover.
But when the song was released back in 1981, it was a huge hit. It reached number 2 on the UK Singles chart, and made it to number one in in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. It got up to number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
And it is a song that has stood the test of time. VH1 listed it as 35th of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s. Let’s take a quick look at the lyrics to In The Air Tonight, before we dive into the impetus for the song and the meaning behind the lyrics.
In The Air Tonight Lyrics
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
Well, if you told me you were drowning
I would not 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
I 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
And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord, oh lord
Well I remember, I remember don’t worry
How could I ever forget
It’s the first time, the last time we ever met
But I know the reason why you keep this silence up
No you don’t fool me
The hurt doesn’t show, but the pain still grows
It’s no stranger to you and me
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord
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
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord, oh lord
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord
Well I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord, oh lord
In The Air Tonight Meaning
It all started when he was on tour and Andrea, his wife, was disloyal to him. She instantly regretted it and ended up telling Phil.
Her was not able to get over her cheating (despite his having had numerous affairs already) and the marriage ended up falling apart. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Andrea opened up about everything surrounding the couple’s divorce.
“We had a brief affair and I told Phil as soon as he came home. We did our best to put it behind us, but the same issues were there. Things got worse as Phil was always arguing and lashing out rather than trying to resolve anything.” Andrea openly confessed.
She continues, “I think I just wasn’t coping very well and made a bad decision, which I regret. But my relationship with Phil didn’t end because of it. For me it was already over before the affair happened. It was a symptom of a bad marriage – not the reason the marriage ended.”
And as often happens when an artist suffers a personal setback, Phil channeled his pain into a new song. He was angry and lashed out. And his wife has suffered ever since.
She has stated that she was seriously affected by it. The song portrayed her as the guilty one, as the bad guy in the movie. The lyrics in the song talk about a person witnessing a murder happening in front of their eyes. It is his ex-wife who is the “killer” in this context.
Phil Collins discussed this song with Jimmy Fallon in 2016, more than three decades after its release date. He confessed that the song wasn’t really about murder at all and joked about it.
He revealed that everything had been born as a result of his divorce. He threw all of his hatred into the song. It is a an expression of just how bad he was feeling at the time.
“I was pissed off. I was angry. You go through a divorce and it’s like, “Baby! I love you. I love you. Don’t hang up, don’t hang up.” And then it’s like, “Well, fuck off.”
And of course, that’s where the song comes from, In the Air Tonight. There’s obvious anger there,” the artist bluntly expressed on that occasion.
The lyrics say it all:
Well, if you told me you were drowning, I would not 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, I 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
Urban Legend
People have come up with all sorts of theories about the song. There even several urban legends surrounding the song. Eminem even referenced on of them in his hit song Stan.
According to one legend, the part “If you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand” refers to the fact that he saw a man who had raped his wife drowning.
Perhaps the most common variation of the story is that, as a child, Phil saw a man drowning, but that he was too far away to help him. However, he saw another man who was close enough to help, but who did nothing.
Collins then supposedly hired a private detective to find the person and invited him to one of his concerts, where he sang the song directly to him. This is the version Eminem references in Stan, though he gets the title of the song wrong:
You know the song by Phil Collins, In the Air of the Night
About that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drownin’
But didn’t, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?
All these stories are lies and that line, according to Collins himself, is nothing more than a metaphor.
No Meaning, Just Anger
Collins has explained that there was no real meaning behind the lyrics. There was just anger at his ex-wife.
The chorus itself is also a pure moment of inspiration and has no concrete meaning in particular:
And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
Well, I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord
Well, I’ve been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
Many speculated that he was saying he had been expecting his marriage to fall apart, but Phil has said that the chorus was written spontaneously, with nothing specific related to his life.
The personal story behind the song and the divorce is very dramatic.
When Collins left Andrea to go on tour with Genesis in 1976, his second child, Simon, had just been born. In the end, she was left with the baby, his four-year-old daughter, and two dogs.
Apparently, Andrea had an affair because she felt that Collins had abandoned the marriage by going on tour. She had warned him she would not be able to deal with being left alone with all of the responsibility.
He did not react well and in 1979, Andrea moved to Vancouver to get away from him. However, Collins continued to react in a toxic manner, constantly calling her names, insulting her, or even showing up in Vancouver unannounced (and obviously uninvited).
And the different stories of the event are not limited to Phil and Andrea. There are also conflicting stories between Phil and Genesis, the band for which he was the singer and drummer.
Collins has always claimed that he offered the song to Genesis, but the band turned it down for being too simple. However, Tony Banks says the opposite. He claims that Collins never even showed the song to the band.
In The Air Tonight Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts
This classic of the ’80s became Phil Collins‘ signature song, above all of the amazing work he did with Genesis as the drummer, and later also the singer. It even managed to take on a life of its own, with numerous urban legends surrounding the meaning behind the lyrics.
Hopefully the truth behind the lyrics is not too huge of a disappointment. According to Phil himself, there is no real meaning behind them. They are simply lyrics he came up with spontaneously at a moment in his life when he was feeling a lot of pain and anger.
For another, even bigger, breakup song, check out our All Too Well lyrics meaning breakdown. We take a look at the newly released 10-minute version of Taylor Swift’s masterpiece.
If you like the theory that states this song is about someone witnessing someone else fail to act to save someone, the How To Save A Life lyrics meaning is right up your alley. That’s exactly what The Fray’s big hit talks about.
And finally, we have another great song about destructive behavior, although not necessarily due to a breakup as was the case with Mr. Collins. The House Of The Rising Sun lyrics meaning deals with a notorious house of ill repute that destroys young men’s lives.
John says
I wish to correct one of the examples; House of the Rising Sun is not about a house of I’ll repute, but instead prison. The House is Orleans Parish Prison. The Rising Sun is when work begins for the Road Gangs; prisoners sentenced to hard labor in that parish. A parish is a county in any other state.