Roomer has it, Phil wrote this song based on a terrible event in his life where he witnessed the death of a drowning man off the shores of California.
The story goes...
One night Phil was out and about enjoying the warm summer night off the peak of a hillside near the ocean when out of the silence of the evening breeze a voice broke through calling out for help in the distance.
Naturally alarmed, Phil scanned the shoreline to see who was calling and why.
As Phil's eyes adjusted to the figure in the water, he noticed a person, assuming a man by the sound of his voice, bobbing up and down in the water screaming for help. In a panic state, Phil immediately scanned the shoreline off in the distance to where the man was drowning to see if there was anyone nearby who could help this man. Sure enough, he saw another person standing on the beach.
The roomer has it, the other person Phil saw that night standing on the beach near the drowning man was just standing there watching. This mysterious stranger in the night seemed to have no motivation or desire to help the man in the water.
In a desperate attempt to save the drowning man, Phil ran and jumped down the hillside from where he was perched towards the screams in the night.
Much time had gone by before Phil reached the point to where he saw the stranger in the night standing from where he was watching this all take place. When he arrived at the spot on the beach nearest to the drowning man, it was too late. The screams for help had silenced and Phil could not see anyone in the water as he did before.
The story goes;
While Phil was running down the hillside he managed to get a good look at the person who was standing on the beach, the person who did nothing for the man drowning. Phil caught a good look at this stranger before the man disappeared into the night.
Months later, Phil, in a state of disappearing for what had occurred that one eerie night off the shorelines of California, hired a private detective to find out who that mystery man was.
Years went by and nothing came to light, until one fine day, Phil reached the call, the detective he hired had found a man who fit the timeline of the tragedy.
The mystery thickens, for reasons unknown to the public, Phil decided he wanted to expose the mystery stranger face to face. In a twist of fate, Phil just so happened to have a concert scheduled in the California area in the very near future.
In a genius plot to expose the man in the night, Phil with the help of his detective, arranged for the stranger to have tickets to the show. As the story goes, the stage was set, and the moment of exposure would happen without a hitch.
The night Phil Collins exposed the man who just stood on the beach and did nothing.
Everything went according to plan, the mystery man accepted the tickets unaware of what was in store for his future nor why Phil gave him tickets accept to say, he was chosen at random as a show of appreciation for the fans.
The stage was set, and the man showed up, seated front row centre of the concert. Phil in a plot to expose the man face to face, but without having to alarm his audiance or to prevent disturbing his concert, completed the entire set without ever looking the man in the face. That was, until the final song…
During the weeks leading up to the night of the concert, Phil and his team of had gathered together enough evidence to present to the Californian law enforcement. The police were given just enough information to motivate an arrest warrant, but Mr. Collins held back on agreeing to play witness, not unit the night of the concert.
Frustrated, law enforcement stood fast and prepared for the arrest, agreeing to go along with the plot, and allowed Phil to take the lead according to plan.
The auditorium went silent, the lights dimmed, and out from behind the darkness of the stage came Phil with the look in his eyes…
“I see you and I know who you are!”
Phil released his voice singing ‘in the air tonight’ steered into the eyes of the stranger and sang the entire song looking him in the face. The man had no idea what was awaiting him, no idea, Phil had the California State police surrounding nearby waiting for Phil’s cue.
‘In the air tonight,’ the song was written and performed to expose the lies…
To say,
“I saw you, I know who you are. I have seen what you did, I have seen 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"
Ricardo J. Raposo
