What is 'In the Air Tonight' by Phil Collins about?

There have been popular myths surrounding the background to the 1980's classic. Anyone who says that it's to do with Phil Collins' friend/brother drowning/getting shot/ commiting suicide, and no-one tries to save them.....is ignorant. It is acknowledged that Phil was going through a tough divorce at the time.In his own words: I don't know what this song is about.

When I was writing this I was going through a divorce. And the only thing I can say about it is that it's obviously in anger.It's the angry side, or the bitter side of a separation. So what makes it even more comical is when I hear these stories which started many years ago, particularly in America, of someone come up to me and say, 'Did you really see someone drowning?

' I said, 'No, wrong'. And then every time I go back to America the story gets Chinese whispers, it gets more and more elaborate. It's so frustrating, 'cos this is one song out of all the songs probably that I've ever written that I really don't know what it's about, you know Phil Collins from YouTube - In the Air Tonight music video.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.