Songoftheday 11/30/16 - She calls out to the man on the street 'Sir can you help me? It's cold and I've nowhere to sleep, is there somewhere you can tell me?'...
from the album ...But Seriously (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (four weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14
Today's song of the day comes from singer/drummer/curmudgeon Phil Collins, who had been oscillating between his stint in the progressive rock-turned-pop rock group Genesis and his own hugely successful solo career. After his solo album in 1985, No Jacket Required, Phil rejoined his bandmates in 1987 for the Invisible Touch album and tour. He spent the next year acting in the British caper movie Buster, and even scored a pair of #1 pop hits in the U.S. with "Two Hearts" and a cover of the Mindbenders' "A Groovy Kind Of Love". Phil closed out the decade with a more somber and reflective album, ...But Seriously, which included some pop fluff but (for him) a large amount of heavier lyrical material. And instead of going flashy, the first single from the record was the downtempo guilt-trip on poverty, "Another Day In Paradise". Written by Collins who produced it with Hugh Padgham, Collins channels the despair of the homeless into a serene, even calming track (with keys plucked like it's a holiday song, considering its release time), and folk-rock hero David Crosby sang backup...
"Another Day In Paradise" became Phil's seventh and so far latest #1 pop hit in the U.S. in December of 1989, being both the final #1 of the 80's and the first of the 90's spending a month at the top and tying Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much" as the longest stay of the year. The single also climbed to #7 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart, and spent five weeks at the top of their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") list. It would be the biggest pop hit of 1989 in the States. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Canada, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and Switzerland, and hit #2 in Ireland, Finland, Austria, and his native Britain.
At the 1991 Grammy awards, Phil would win a Grammy for Record of the Year for "Another Day...", and was nominated for Song of the Year (losing to "From A Distance"), Male Pop Vocal (which the late Roy Orbison got for a live recording of "Oh, Pretty Woman"), and Music Video (Paula Abdul snagged that one for "Opposites Attract"). The ...But Seriously album was up for album of the year, and Phil and Hugh up for producer of the year, losing both to Quincy Jones for his Back On The Block album. He did take two American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock album and artist that year, however.
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Here's Phil on tour behind the album in Germany in 1990...
Later that year, German Eurodance act Jam Tronik put a club spin on "Another Day In Paradise", and ended up reaching the top-20 in the UK (#19), as well as their homeland (#17). (Yes, this is horrid...)
When Collins appeared on the 1991 Grammy Awards show, he brought along David Crosby to sing backup like on the record...
Here he in on tour in 1997 in Paris...
In 2001, American R&B singer/actress Brandy and brother Ray J (yes, the Kardashian-loving one) put a hip-hop beat to the track, and was very successful in Europe, hitting the top-5 in Germany (#2), Switzerland (#3), Ireland (#4), Sweden (#4), Norway (#4), and the UK (#5)...
Lastly, here's Phil performing live on German TV last month...
Up tomorrow: Former member of a huge group promises No More Lonely Nights.
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