Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" Music Video

An urban legend has arisen around "In the Air Tonight". According to the legend, the lyrics are based on a tragic event Collins witnessed, usually a drowning (as in the song's lyrics), in which a man could have helped the victim, but did not do so. A common ending is that Collins invites this man to a show and sings the song to him, often with a spotlight pointed at him. Afterward, the man is arrested or, in some versions, is wracked with guilt and commits suicide. Some popular variations are:

* Collins saw a man drowning but was too far away to do anything, but a man nearby who could have saved him did nothing. (Other versions of this rumor claim that the drowning was not an accident, but murder.)
* While vacationing together, Collins' best friend went for a swim. He began to struggle in the water but Collins, having never learned to swim, could not help. Collins stopped and asked a passing jogger for help; the man refused and Collins' friend died.
* While at camp as a child, Collins awoke to find his counselor missing. Looking outside, he saw the counselor standing by the lake doing nothing to help a drowning boy. (In some versions, the counselor is intentionally letting the boy drown.) [3]
* Collins witnessed the rape of his wife and, years later, saw the man drowning but refused to help him.
* A young Collins and his best friend were at a lake when a man asked them if they wanted to go sailing. Collins had to eat dinner but promised to come back; when he did, his friend was missing and was never seen again.
* Collins, while on a pier with his wife, went down the pier for a brief moment, leaving his wife at the other end. When he returned, he saw that his wife was drowning, but before he could do anything, his wife had died. Collins realized next that there was a man that had stood at the end of the pier and watched the woman drown.
* When Phil was younger, he and friend had been playing by a water basin when his friend fell in. Phil, who hadn't learned to swim, ran to a neighbor's house for help. When the neighbor answered, he dismissed Phil's cries for help, as Phil had "cried wolf" in the past. When Phil returned to the basin, he found his friend had drowned in the meantime.
* When Collins was young, he and a friend were playing on a lake that was frozen over. His friend fell through the ice and Collins tried to help but couldn't, but there was a man on a bench that just sat there and didn't help.

Most stories lead up to Collins finding the guy while singing live and the audience blocked him in and forced him to listen to the song.

Years later, Collins commented on the legends about the song in a BBC World Service interview:
“ I don't know what this song is about. When I was writing this I was going through a divorce. And the only thing I can say about it is that it's obviously in anger. It's the angry side, or the bitter side of a separation. So what makes it even more comical is when 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'. And then every time I go back to America the story gets Chinese whispers, it gets more and more elaborate. It's so frustrating, 'cos this is one song out of all the songs probably that I've ever written that I really don't know what it's about, you know. ”

The urban legend is referenced in the song Stan by Eminem in the following lyrics:

You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night" [sic]
About that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drowning
But didn't, then Phil saw it all, then at a show he found him?

Putting the rumors to rest once and for all, Collins stated on VH1 Classic's "Classic Albums" series that he came up with "99%" of the lyrics on the spot, based on what he felt the vibe was of the dark chords he had improvised over the ominous drum beat. He was "just messing around for fun," completely unaware that what he was creating would ultimately be the staple song from his next album.

Most fans understand the real meaning of the lyrics as: Phil was involved in a separation with his wife Andy. Its almost universally accepted that this was the emotional catalyst for the lyrics in this track and others in later songs and albums including his work within Genesis. Most fans agree that some lyrics are purely metaphorical and not fact as the urban legends espouse. eg "drowning". Most fans see this as saying there was a lack of support within the relationship. Other parts of the song are interpreted as anger, guilt, regret and marital infidelity. The discovery of lies and feelings of foreboding eg. "I can feel it coming in the air tonight". It's believed that Phil simply penned his experiences into a set of lyrics explaining events and actions that took place in a difficult period of his life. No hidden meanings, just an outpouring of emotions; a collection of genuine thoughts and feelings. So yes, a song written while messing around for fun, but generated by strong emotions caused by what most fans believe as real emotional hurt caused by the breakdown of his marriage, leading up to the unfortunate separation and divorce from his first wife Andy.