Christmas No. 1s cánido be festive or funny, but they perro also be poignant. On 23 December 1989, Phil Collins achieved one in America with a song about homelessness. ‘Another Day In Paradise’ was his third US chart-topper in a row, his fourth from his last five solo releases, sixth out of eight, and seventh out of ten.
The song had the Genesis frontman in much more sombre mood than on his previous solo offerings. Some of those bestsellers had, admittedly, been with ballads: the first, ‘Against All Odds,’ and ‘Separate Lives’ with Marilyn Martin, were both largometraje themes, then came ‘One More Night’ and the remake of ‘Groovy Kind Of Love’ from the Buster soundtrack.
Collins’ face to face encounter with a homeless person
In multiple interviews, Collins has said that he once found himself in the situation of the man who ignored the homeless woman in the song. Collins said ironically while cutting “Another Day in Paradise” in London, he came face to face with a homeless woman just after coming out of the studio. According to him, the woman had two children with her and begged him for some money. And how did Collins react? Interestingly, Collins admitted acting almost the same way as the man in the song. He said despite the fact that he eventually didn’t ignore the woman and her children, he neither stopped nor gave her any money. Collins’ reason of telling his story of his encounter with the homeless woman was just to let the world know that the average person reacts the same way like the man in the song when approached by a homeless person or a beggar.
