Each Year’s Best Song from the Past 40 Years
The Best Song of 1981: “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins
“If you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand”
As I celebrated my 40th birthday this year, I wanted to write about the best song from each of the past 40 years. These songs are chosen based on a combination of popular music and my personal tastes.
It’s all about the drums.
Right? Phil Collins’ song “In The Air Tonight” is all about the drum solo. It’s about the four seconds of sound that breaks from the darkness into something you can move to. Even if just slightly.
Well, no.
No, it’s not just about the drums. It’s the anticipation. It’s the time you spend sitting through Phil Collins telling you about a time he saw someone else seeing someone else drowning and didn’t do a single thing to help them.
That…well…that’s dark. That’s bleak. That’s something from a horror movie or at least a thriller where someone is getting revenge on someone else without even doing anything. And what tastier way to get revenge on someone than to literally watch their life fade away as you stand there watching, doing absolutely nothing?
