in the air tonight just played and someone in chat is telling the drowning story again

nope. phil collins didnt watch a guy let someone drown and then call him out at a concert. never happened. he wrote it while his first marriage was falling apart. he's said he improvised most of the lyrics on the spot and doesnt fully know what theyre about lowkey he's been asked about the drowning thing

yeah and then eminem put it in Stan so now a whole generation thinks it's documented history... lowkey the guy has been saying "i dont know what its about" for forty years and somehow the internet decided that means "im covering up a crime". like, you'd also think someone would've noticed a famous drummer pointing a spotlight at a random guy in the crowd before phones were around to film it...

lol the eminem line in stan did more to keep that story alive than anything collins ever said. my uncle swore up and down he knew a guy who was AT the concert, and that same guy was also apparently at woodstock and the moon landing. the real story is just a dude being sad and furious about his divorce, which is way less fun but honestly explains the drum fill better. nobody hits a drum like that over a stranger, you hit it like that bc your ex got the house