Phil Collins
Outline
Life Story
Composition History
Listening Guide
Life Story
Life Story
Born January 30th, 1951 in London England
Neither parent was of the musical profession
One of 3 talented children
Early Life
Started playing drums at age 5 with first proper drum kit at age 12
Talent contests, acting, and modeling
Changed schools for love of acting
Love for Music Grows
At Barbara Speake Stage School he joined his first band
In 2nd band he wrote “Lying Crying Dying”
With his 3rd band “Hickory” he made his first group album, “Ark II”
Beginning of Musical Career At 19 years old he
joins rockband “Genesis”
Together they release 6 albums in a space of 6 years
At age 21 his father passes away
1975, at age 24, lead vocalist leaves and Collins replaces him
Solo Career Hits the Ground
While with Genesis he releases his 1st album “Face Value” in 1981
3 Singles from album reach Top 20 on UK Charts
US TV series “Miami Vice”
Solo Career just Rockets! 1982 releases 2nd solo
album “Hello, I Must Be Going!” with again fantastic popularity
One single from the album received the Grammy Award
1985 releases 3rd solo album “No Jacket Required”
Became multi-platinum selling album
No more Genesis, 100% Collins He surprises Fans
in 1996 by leaving Genesis and forming his own band, the “Phil Collins Big Band”
First performance for South African President
Also performed sold-out jazz concerts
1999
New Band released 1st album “A Hot Night in Paris”
Genesis reunion with all former members
5 tracks for “Tarzan” Awarded a star on
Hollywood Walk of Fame
One more Big event...
Rolling down Released another
album in 2002 “Testify” and announced retirement from touring
Songwriter's Hall of Fame in NYC
Continued work with Disney in “Brother Bear”
To Today – Alive and well
Performed 1 last tour in 2007
But I can still sing... Good citizen Multitalented
Entertainer - Spectacular
Family 1975 at 24 years old he meets
and marries Andrea Bertorelli
They have one son together the following year
Divorced in 1980
On friendly terms today
He decided to give it another shot.
1984, 4 years later he remarries a Jill Tavelman
They have 1 daughter together, Lily Collins who is currently a model
Divorced in 1996
The story continues...
Marriage Again
2 times just wasn't enough for old Phil...
Remarried Orianne Cevey in 1999
Had 2 sons together
Separated in 2006 Collins to this day
remains in Switzerland
Composition History
Both Sides of the Story
Great Message Very personal and
private to Collins All recorded in
home studio First lead single to
not make top 10 of US Billboard 100
Take Me Home
Popular song and album
Back-up vocals such as Sting
Many spurious rumors
Listening Guide
Both Sides of the Story Form -
Introduction
Verse 1
Verse 2
Chorus
Verse 3
Chorus
Verse 4
Coda
Finish
Both Sides of the Story
• 0:00 – Introduction : Starts off with Drums playing a pick-up. Notice the motifs played by the electric guitar and keyboard. Also harp like piece is played which adds greatly to the rhythm. Notice drum sound is actually 2 drums. Intro finishes with the fading of the electric guitar.
• 0:30 – Verse 1 : Singing begins here. Notice background music has the same motifs from the introduction. Very conjunct and in monophony. Word painting is used. Lines 1-3 have decreasing words with line 4 increasing in contour. Sung in minor mode except for line 4 to the end of the verse. All sung in mezzo-forte.
Both Sides of the Story• 1:04 – Electric guitar comes back playing its motif
from the introduction.
• 1:18 – Verse 2 : Minor mode again. Notice change in lines 3 and 4, line 3 being sung partially in forte. More upbeat than verse 1. Also line 2 is in arch contour, adding some variety to the verse. Great word painting again in line 4. Change to major mode after line 4. At 1:57 guitar plays new motif.
• 2:00 – Chorus : Very different from verses, kind of like the light or hope of the song compared to minor mode and dark verses. Lines 1-2 in minor mode. More hope to the chorus in comparison to the verses. Also lines 1-2 in polyphonic texture adding great variety. Last line very powerful and in fortissimo.
Both Sides of the Story• 2:28 – Keyboard enters with new motif, preparing
for verse 3.
• 2:42 – Verse 3: Lines 1-2 similar again. Line 3 sung in forte right from the start, keeping listener in-tune. Ending different from prior verses, keeping listener interested in what will happen next. At 3:15 the guitar plays the same motif as at 1:57 earlier.
• 3:20 – Chorus 2: Exact same as chorus 1 except ending is not in ff, but rather in descending contour from mf~mp.
• 3:45 – All instrumentation now fades away except the keyboard and one drum. Notice how drum sound is different now in timbre from before. What was once 2 is now 1 drum only. All in preparation for verse 4.
Both Sides of the Story
4:00 – Verse 4: Sung in minor mode again. Similar in contour to verse 2 except line 2 is considerably different again keeping the listener keen on what is happening.
4:39 – Coda: Ending theme begins. 2nd drum comes back in as in the beginning of the piece. 14 renditions of “Both sides of the story” are sung. First 3 are in decreasing contour. The next 2 are in increasing contour and in polyphony.
4:54 – The Guitar comes back playing a new low chord. Switches back to high chord at 5:11.
5:20 – Continued variety in dynamics, melody, and texture continue in the repetitions. Last rendition contains “Must hear” at the beginning of the line, capitalizing the theme of the song for both composer and listener and leaving the listener imprinted with the message.
5:57 – Guitar plays high resounding chord. 6:18 – Coda: Only keyboard and electric guitar left at
this point. Keyboard ends playing the main theme with the guitar playing one chord 3 times and then fading.
6:37 - Finish
Both Sides of the Story
Take Me HomeForm
Introduction
Verse 1
Verse 2
Chorus
Verse 3
Chorus
Transition
Coda
Finish
Take Me Home 0:00 – Introduction:
Played in Common Time in the minor mode. The tempo is at a little faster than a walking
pace, however the fast rendition of strikes on the drum and marimba give off a false sense that the beat is faster than it really is.
0:24 – Verse 1: The melody is very conjunct and the song is sung in dynamic mf~mp.
Notice lines 1 and 2 start on same note with lines 3 and 4 also starting on the same note but 1 note above that of lines 1 and 2. Look for this pattern in verses coming up.
Amazing Syncopation. Only once in the verse he sings on the onbeat.
0:55 – Bridge: After every verse there is a bridge. These bridges help build up for the chorus' to come.
1:12 – Verse 2: Same form as verse 1 with same notes being played on lines 1 and 2, 3 and 4.
Notice the bass guitar chord that holds out for the entire verse.
Amazing Syncopation again. Uses to give impression that there are only 4 lines when really there are 8.
1:44 – Bridge: Again another bridge setting up this time for the chorus coming up.
Dissonant guitar chord gives false impression of minor mode when singing is in major mode.
Take Me Home
Take Me Home 2:16 – Chorus: Main line "Take, Take me home" is
sung homophonically. This is to take the listener (and singer) to somewhere safe and secure to not have to worry about the harsh real world.
"Cuz I've been a prisoner all my life, and I can say to you" is sung in monophony to emphasize how alone this person is.
Amazing use of texture, dynamics and syncopation to emphasize the theme of the song!
2:50 – Verse 3: Same as verse 2. One thing to note is the use of dynamics
emphasizes how the singer wants peace or to "go home" from this harsh “unpeaceful” world.
Take Me HomeTake Me Home 3:21 – Bridge: Same as earlier bridges. Minor→
Major mode change. 3:53 – Chorus: Same as before 4:24 – One line “Oh lord. Well I've been a prisoner all
my life, and I can say to you” sung in descending contour, adding variety but also to emphasize how distraught the singer is to show how much they long for peace and security.
5:15 – Coda: The chorus continuing to repeat itself now begins to decrescendo from forte til the finish. The listener is left with a longing to go to that home of which the singer is singing.
5:52 – Finish.
BibliographyBiography
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. "Phil Collins Biography." bio.true story. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 21 Feb 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/phil-collins-17178742>.
Composition History
. "Phil Collins Both Sides of the Story." Songfacts. Songfacts, n.d. Web. 21 Feb 2012. <http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=19047>.
. "Phil Collins Biography." Lyricsfreaks. LyricsFreak, n.d. Web. 21 Feb 2012. <http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/phil collins/biography.html – >.
. "Phil Collins Take Me Home." Songfacts. Songfacts, n.d. Web. 21 Feb 2012. <http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=7495>.
"Phil Collins Biography." 100 XR. 100 XR, n.d. Web. 21 Feb 2012. <http://www.100xr.com/100_XR/Artists/P/Phil_Collins.htm>.
. "Phil Collins Biography." Phil Collins Fan Site. Websites Template, n.d. Web. 21 Feb 2012. <http://www.philcollinsfansite.com/phil-bio.html>.
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The End