Songoftheday 10/6/14 - There's a fire that's been burning right outside my door, I can't see but I feel it and it helps to keep me warm...

Phil Collins - "Take Me Home"
from the albums No Jacket Required (1985) and Miami Vice II (Soundtrack) (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's Song of the Day is from the prog-rock drummer turned pop superstar Phil Collins, whose third solo album No Jacket Required had catapulted him to A-list status on radio and MTV, with two #1 singles with "One More Night" and "Sussudio" and a top-5 hit with "Don't Lose My Number". After scoring another #1 pop hit in the States with "Separate Lives" from the movie White Nights, Collins went back to his own album to release a fan favorite that was already getting radio airplay, as well as being featured in an episode of Miami Vice. With the song built around the repeating chorus, supposedly about a mental patient. Sting and old Genesis bandmate Peter Gabriel helped out on the vocals...

"Take Me Home" became the fourth top-ten pop hit in America from the No Jacket Required album in May of 1986. The single also crossed over to both the Mainstream Rock (#12) and Adult Contemporary (#2) radio charts in Billboard magazine. Internationally, where the single was released the year before, Phil had more moderate success, reaching the top-20 in his native England as well as Ireland, and he got a minor hit in Australia at #64.

Since then the song has aged quite well, especially becoming a tour staple without overthinking the theme.

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Phil has added "Take Me Home" in every one of his tours (natch)...first up is his tour behind the No Jacket Required album in 1985...

Next is his Seriously Live tour in 1990...

Phil talked about the song on his Storytellers performance in 1997...

In 2003, midwestern rap collective Bone Thugs N Harmony teamed up with Phil to interpolate the song on their single "Home", which was a minor hit on the American R&B chart at #93 but made it all the way to #19 on the British pop singles list...

 Finally, we fast forward to 2004 for a Paris show that features a bit of Phil on the drums..

Up tomorrow: Some Cubans like their miscreants.