How Phil Collins writes songs (and made me a better songwriter)

Welcome to The Songwriter’s Workshop. This is the series where I attempt to write songs based on the process and techniques of famous songwriters. Each video looks at a different songwriter’s writing habits, musical inspirations, and creative process while also including an original song written using those techniques.

In this video, I look at drummer and songwriter Phil Collins and the insights found in his autobiography Not Dead Yet, which takes us through his life in music with Genesis and his solo work. Phil's emotionally open approach to songwriting helps me write my own song, Right To Know.

#songwriting #howtowriteasong #philcollins

[ghoststalkermusic]

I love the CR-78. Great use of it in your song, yo!

[LaynoProd]

NEEDED THIS VIDEO as Phil Collins is my favorite artist, singer, songwriter and musician/producer of all-time especially in his legendary run in the 80s, this is very helpful to my songwriting inspirations and even production influences for my music artist career, so cool to learn the background of Phil using drum machines to produce tracks such as In The Air Tonight, thank you for this video definitely subscribed and cant wait to see more! - with gratitude, LaynoProd

[liambowers]

I'm really enjoying what I've watched of this series so far. This is the kind of raw and honest song writing content I want to see more of! Keep it up!

[Thr-Words]

3:48 for those that already know the basics of Collin's biography

[nietzschesmustache]

I would love to see one on the late David Berman of Silver Jews. He is most probably the strongest lyricist I've ever had the pleasure of listening and your coverage could do a lot of good for the people as he isn't covered that extensively and remains somewhat obscure.

[krismurphy]

I liked Phil's solo stuff....and I knew a lot of it was based on his personal life...divorces....BUT, until I went through My Divorce, which I tried my best to fight not to happen, SUDDENLY I heard Phil's songs significantly more deeply...THE SAME LYRICS HIT CLOSE TO HOME. On one hand listening/signing along with Phil help, but hurt so badly at the same time. He truly captured "our" feelings.

[mitchellwilson]

PLease keep these videos coming. I find your format so powerful and it is inspiring me in such a profound way. You are giving me confidence as a songwriter.

[santibanks]

Nice video :) Some remarks:
The quote around @6:00 should be seen in the context of Genesis from 1982 onwards. Genesis did jam a lot to produce material for all their albums since day 1 so their jam-based workflow is something they did right from the start. However, individual members brought in songs all the time or teamed up in smaller units to produce songs too. These could be fully written already (like Tony's One for the Vine on Wind and Wuthering) or in various stages of development with others contributing The last album where individuals brought in compositions is Abacab (with Phil himself bringing in Man on the corner). It is only for their last 3 records with Phil that they started completely from scratch. However, I think all three concluded that the strongest material Genesis produced has always been the music which was written by the three/four/five together of them,

That brings me to the second point: Phil in Genesis is not Phil on his own. His style of writing is completely different when he works alone as it is not the result of music by fiat and collaboration. Observe that his solo music doesn't really sound like Genesis or the other way around. Many 70ies fans will mention that Phil destroyed Genesis and made them pop (ironically giving Gabriel a free pass even though So directly competed with Invisible Touch in the charts and for various award nominations). But Genesis' pop sounds really different from Phil Collins' pop. The reason is easy: Phil's major influences are soul, R&B, motown, jazz/fusion and those are not commonly shared with Tony and Mike. The result is that Phil's music is oriented towards groove (with often a more swing approach to the meter), memorable hooks, fairly simple chord progressions, and often the inclusion of horns. Genesis is more about composition (ie the arrangement and song structure), more complex harmonies (often taking "odd detours" which definitely is a Tony Banks thing), and often embracing a slightly more quirky side. As a simple example: Abacab had two songs which did include the same horn section Phil used on Face Value (the one from EWF). But even though it is clear that it was Phil's idea to include them there and using exactly the same horns plus arranger, the quality of those songs is really different from how Phil uses those horns. Both are up-tempo tracks, as Phil would do a lot on his solo stuff. But just the harmonic moods set up are typically Genesis and really not Phil's, as are the song structures. No reply at all is therefor a pop song, but sounds really serious and perhaps even invokes melancholia with the mood (it's tonality is certainly not "happy" like Sussudio). Paperlate has all the ingredients to be on par with Phil's pop work, and yet the way the ingredients are cooked up still gives a totally different dish. It's fascinating to me because it shows that Genesis really is at minimum the sum of its (member) parts. To put it simply: Genesis' pop tracks would actually be completely out of order on a Phil Collins record, and vice versa.

What is interesting is that all members of Genesis have solo careers (literally all of them). Listening to what these members do on their own gives a very clear indication to their own musical personalities and how that shapes/had shaped the music of Genesis. Listen for example to Tony Banks' Bankstatement and Still records and you'll immediately recognise his way of writing typical pop songs and that signature in the pop-oriented stuff from Genesis, plus how it differs from Phil (or Peter for that matter). And as a small tangent: also observe how Tony employs pop horn sections in a completely different way than Phil does because Tony's horns are basically just Tony playing keyboard using a horn sound. Therefor they are not written as an actual horn section or being specifically composed for a particular horn section (ie lacking the idiom and things which are unique to a horn section playing). Phil understands that idiom much better given that he is well acquainted in R&B, Motown, Big band and conveys his ideas to an actual horn arranger.

And I guess that is kind of the thing with Phil's solo stuff, it is often vastly underrated for the quality which is in there, and also underrepresented because most videos on Youtube mostly distill Phil Collins to In the air tonight (which your video kind of does too, the song itself is like a pastiche of/tribute to In the air tonight—Phil only revisited that particular style 2 times with Thru these walls and We fly so close). In my opinion, you are therefor not really fully touching upon what makes Phil's songwriting typically his as I think some important influences and trademarks are left out: the horn arrangements, humour, the way his acoustic drums work in tandem with drummachine/sequenced parts, his strong sense of melody, the subjects of his lyrics (which are often down to earth or easily relatable to, not just his own emotional experiences), the choices he makes regarding the musicians and technical staff working on his records, and the way he likes to arrange his songs. I think there is plenty of material/food for thought/avenues to explore in Phil's songwriting (perhaps for a follow up?).

[richardbelleau]

I can garantee you you're going to get better as a songwriter by doing this....and it really helps other songwriters ....so thank's so much...and remember melody is king, as rick beato says"wokshop those melodies"

[abacadaniel]

Well done, I like that song and I’ve noticed that my songwriting is quite similar to Phil’s which is great. Oh and the CR-78 is great, especially on tracks such as “Duchess” and “Me and Sarah Jane” by Genesis. 😄👍

[yoworob]

Well done! it's funny, I liked the finished song less on this video than on some of your others but really enjoyed your documentation of the process. I liked the beginning of the demo a lot - it had a vibe like Peter Gabriel's first solo album (which Collins played on). Kudos to you for doing the work. Finding your voice as a songwriter is one of the hardest things to do, especially when you're being emotionally honest and not writing in character. You might enjoy "Accidently Like a Martyr" about Warren Zevon's songwriting. Looking forward to more songs and the stories behind them.

[EricBichan]

Your videos are great and have been really interesting! I think it could be cool to explore a person who writes mainly instrumental music and see how that changes the process.

[davebella]

There's something I love about this song. Good work man

[catsven]

Wow how cool was that .. I loved the way you made that video about one of my all times favourite artist.. and I love the beautiful music you added in the background.. wanna ask what vst/ keyboard you used for getting that warmth-glassy pad ? I love the way it sounds in my monitors .. rich mellow and deep.

[positiveandhealthy]

Know what you want and stay focused… don't allow others to tell you who you have to be 💪

[texasdebs]

Yes, in agreement with the other comments, keep these videos coming! I appreciate how you apply the knowledge you get from your mentors and share it with us so honestly step-by-step. It is good to use a protocol sometimes, even as an artist. You make it look easy! I have applied some of the methods you taught in your David Byrnes video, and so far it sounds really good with a hypnotic groove. I can hear the rhythm of the lyrics, and I know what the song is about and how it flows, but I just can't seem to convert the gibberish into words. I can hear the words in my head is what's so weird, but I can't seem to interpret them! I keep thinking they will come to me but it's been 3 weeks! Any advice??
Well thanks again for these resources! I really enjoy them!

[jeremysmusicworld]

dont forget to say ho lord on every song ... ;)

[riley]

this series is awesome id love to see a video on elliott smith

[wallywack]

Love this! Would you ever consider doing one of these on Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band? Beefheart and the band really had a strange creative process going on. And Beefhearts lyrics are always more intentional than they seem (and hard to imitate)

[tomdavis]

Very interesting video! Thanks!
Question...what do you call the instrumental music Phil Collins, and others, sometimes plays before the actual song? The music is not the same as the music in the song, but like a lead up to a song. Could be just drums, or organ/piano, strings, and drums. Sometimes it lasts seconds, other times minutes and then they break into the start of the song and the crowd goes wild!. I just love this in music but I don't know what it is called or even how to go back and find the songs that do this sort of thing. I am not a musician, just a plumber who loves music! Thanks for your help!