Phil Collins believes Taylor Swift deserves to be recognised as the biggest phenomenon in the music world.
The creator of In the Air Tonight will never forget the moment he was utterly blown away when he first saw Swift perform back in 2010, and he is delighted that her career has risen to such extraordinary heights.
Speaking to Vernon Kay on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years, he explained why he chose Taylor’s track White Horse: “I was at a Songwriters Hall of Fame event—this was a long time ago. And Taylor Swift, I met her.”
“And my daughter Lily introduced me, quite amusingly, because she knew her. I had heard the name, but she wasn’t the superstar she is today.”
“This very gracious young woman then walked on stage with a guitar and performed White Horse, and I was completely blown away because not only was the song superb and the sentiment of the track striking, but she delivered it with such simplicity. It was just her and a guitar, and it resonated deeply.”
“Since that moment I’ve always held a soft spot for this song, and I’m so glad that she’s now the hugest thing in the world because she seems fully deserving of it.”
“It’s easy to dismiss someone who has such massive success, but I truly believe she deserves it.”
During the chat, Phil also revealed that his most famous single, In the Air Tonight, was largely created through improvisation.
He said: “I suppose a lot of my lyrics come from somewhere; I rarely sit down and work out in advance what I’m going to write about. I don’t really do that.”
“Usually, when I’m playing, something will emerge on the piano and, if I’m lucky, the idea develops and the words come along soon after. You only need a couple of lines, two or three, and you get a sense of what it’s about or what the feeling is.”
So much of the lyric content is improvised. The classic example of this would be In the Air Tonight, which was roughly eighty percent improvised.
“I had this chord texture on the keyboard—I was using a Prophet-5—and I had a wonderful sound that you hear on the record. That’s the version I first wrote down for the track.”
“I might have revisited it once or twice, but I certainly didn’t labour over it…”
“That’s why I talk about luck rather than deliberate craft. It’s the result of chance and good fortune.”
Listen exclusively to Phil Collins on Tracks Of My Years on BBC Sounds and watch on Radio 2’s YouTube channel and BBC iPlayer now. And listen from 3–7 August on Vernon Kay’s weekday morning show (9.30am – 12 noon).
