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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