TotW 12/12/2022 - 12/18/2022: PHIL COLLINS - Another Day In Paradise

    • Official Post

    Your rating for "Another Day In Paradise" by PHIL COLLINS 22

    1. 15 points - outstanding (2) 9%
    2. 14 points - very good (3) 14%
    3. 13 points - very good - (5) 23%
    4. 12 points - good + (3) 14%
    5. 11 points - good (6) 27%
    6. 10 points - good - (3) 14%
    7. 09 points - satisfactory + (0) 0%
    8. 08 points - satisfactory (0) 0%
    9. 07 points - satisfactory - (0) 0%
    10. 06 points - sufficient + (0) 0%
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    13. 03 points - poor + (0) 0%
    14. 02 points - poor (0) 0%
    15. 01 point - poor - (0) 0%
    16. 00 points - abysmal (0) 0%

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    PHIL COLLINS - Another Day In Paradise
    Year: 1989
    Album: ...But Seriously
    Working title: Homeless
    Credits: Collins
    Lyrics: Yes
    Length: 5:22
    Musicians: Phil Collins, David Crosby, Dominic Miller, Leland Sklar
    Played Live: 1990, 1993, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2017, 2018, 2019
    Cover versions: plenty

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    Notes: Multi-millionaire Collins tells us to think twice when we see homeless people lying and suffering on the street. And that for our kind another day in paradise is coming. He serves up these reproaches with a tragic pop background in a sythia ballad arrangement. Including the "uuuh" chorus. The song was a number one worldwide and was also often covered. Beautiful but ultimately harmless sadness numbers are always a hit. Or not... ?

    cheers

    Christian


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  • What is a millionaire musician with a social conscience and a massive audience supposed to sing about?

    The virtues of riding around in a Rolls Royce, living in mansions, and rolling in money?


    His intentions were good but by this point, the tide had started to turn against Phil and I think a lot of people had grown weary of his widespread multimedia presence and were finding any excuse to take him down a few notches.


    I’m not a huge, huge fan of Phil’s solo work but I do like his first four albums and thought this was actually one of the better songs on But Seriously.

  • 👆 second this. It's a catchy, well-crafted tune but the earnestness of the message was always going to result in a big backlash of cynicism. Add in the level of exposure - such as getting played in congress for American lawmakers - and you have a recipe for a whole lot of largely undeserved negativity.

  • It's a really good pop song. I genuinely don't think he expected the back lash he got from it. Bear in mind this is a man who wrote the lyrics for No son of mine because it fit the music rather than he felt strongly about the subject matter. Although I do think this was an attempt to sound very different to No jacket required.

  • I just did a quick read of the Wikipedia page about this song, particularly the part about all the criticism it's gotten. And, frankly, all those criticisms sound to me like a bunch of nonsense.

    Little known fact: Before the crowbar was invented...


    ...crows simply drank at home.

  • Musically, it's OK. I too was never a huge fan of PC solo but liked some of it. This one's got a hook and shows those pop sensibilities that earned him his popularity and stardom as a solo artist.


    Lyrically, it's a perfectly decent subject to write/sing about. I don't much like his lyrics generally and this one has a certain lack of sophistication characteristic of a lot of his songs, but it gets the message across.


    Human nature being what it is, there always have been and always will be those who criticise, snipe at and shoot down those who express concerns about issues. This is magnified when those voicing the concerns are high-profile and, heaven forbid, successful. It's an oversimplistic but common well-established trope to think that being famous/successful somehow means a person must be excluded from commenting on social issues. Much of the negative reaction to this track was simply that.

    Abandon all reason

  • Musically, it's OK. I too was never a huge fan of PC solo but liked some of it. This one's got a hook and shows those pop sensibilities that earned him his popularity and stardom as a solo artist.


    Lyrically, it's a perfectly decent subject to write/sing about. I don't much like his lyrics generally and this one has a certain lack of sophistication characteristic of a lot of his songs, but it gets the message across.


    Human nature being what it is, there always have been and always will be those who criticise, snipe at and shoot down those who express concerns about issues. This is magnified when those voicing the concerns are high-profile and, heaven forbid, successful. It's an oversimplistic but common well-established trope to think that being famous/successful somehow means a person must be excluded from commenting on social issues. Much of the negative reaction to this track was simply that.

    Unless you are Bruce Springsteen, in which case every single lyric you have written is treated as holy scripture.


    Another Day In Paradise is one of those songs where if I am in the mood for it I think it's a masterpiece. If not I think of many songs I prefer, but I love David Crosby's backing vocals on this song.

  • What is a millionaire musician with a social conscience and a massive audience supposed to sing about?

    You understand more the message if you read the autobiography. This origins of this song came when he was on tour with ''Genesis'' in the ''Invisible Touch'' Tour, in a concert of Washington. Before the concert, when he arrived at the theater in taxi, he view the box outside the theater. He asked the question about the boxes outside and the taxi driver say, ''It's from homeless''. This image rest at this i and he was shocked by the differences of his life between the homeless. This image rest at his head and when he return at his home, he write this song inspired to that. After the released of this song, at all his concerts, he adding the buckets at the entry to his concerts, who he invited the public to donates for homeless charitys worldwide and he double the money collected with his own money. All the money give in all the homeless charities.


    My favorite all time Phil song, a haunting and beautiful song about hard reality of homeless and a relevant message more then thirty years after his released.

  • It's a great track, but I am a bit tired of it (has been played on the radio a lot back then and it's also not the best song for a live set)

    Still one of his best.

    13/15

    some are wise ... and some otherwise