The song Phil Collins said is one of the most important he wrote

Starting out as a drummer, Phil Collins proved with Genesis and in his solo career that he could also be a great singer and an incredible songwriter. Alongside Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, he is one of the few artists to have sold more than 100 million records worldwide both as a member of a band and as a solo act.

During his successful career, Collins wrote many remarkable songs, but there is one in particular that was not a hit and is considered by him to be one of the most important he ever wrote.

The song Phil Collins said is one of the most important he wrote

One of the songs Phil Collins considers among the most important he wrote during his career is ‘Since I Lost You,’ which was inspired by the tragic death of Eric Clapton’s son, Conor, at the age of four in 1991. “The commercial success (of ‘We Can’t Dance’) is obviously nice, but the most important song on the album to me is not one of the hit singles.”

“I wrote the lyrics for ‘Since I Lost You’ for Eric. It’s about the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, a lovely little boy who I’d last seen when I was visiting Hurtwood Edge with Lily. We were in the early stages of making ‘We Can’t Dance’ when I got the call telling me that Conor had died after falling from the window of his mother’s fifty-third-floor Manhattan apartment.”

“Eric was dry at the time and I told him one of my concerns: that the easiest thing for him to do after this terrible loss would be to start drinking again. He said that, no, ‘that would be the hardest thing’. In the studio the next day, Mike, Tony and I, all of us good friends of Eric’s, are talking about this unimaginable tragedy.”

He continued:

“We’re working on a new piece of music. I start singing a lyric: ‘My heart is broken in pieces’. Lily turned two earlier that same week, and I’m thinking of all the times I’m separated from her. I write from the perspective of a dad who is often a long way away from his kids, and who has to entrust their care to others. It’s a gnawing feeling that’s always preyed on me. I’ve long said to all my kids, ‘Remember when you’re crossing the road: stop, look both ways. I know it sounds dopey.”

“But chances are, I won’t be there.’ I tell Mike and Tony what the lyric is about. They confirm something I’d already thought: I need to run this by Eric. If he has any problem with the song, it won’t go on the album. At the mixing stage, I go round to Hurtwood Edge, sit with Eric on his sofa, explain what we done and play him ‘Since I Lost You’. We both start crying. ‘Thank you, man,’ he says, ‘that’s lovely.’

Collins continued:

“Then he says that he’s written a song, and that his label want to release it as a single. He’s not sure, so he wants my opinion. Eric plays me ‘Tears in Heaven‘. It’s a beautiful song. In his grief, Eric has pulled together something extraordinary. Another reason to love him,” Phil Collins said in his autobiography “Not Dead Yet”.

The track appeared on Genesis’ 14th studio album, ‘We Can’t Dance,’ which also became their final album with Phil Collins. It was a worldwide success, marking the band’s fifth consecutive number one album in the United Kingdom and peaking at number four in the United States. ‘Since I Lost You’ did not receive much exposure, as the record was packed with hit songs. Some of them were “I Can’t Dance”, “No Son of Mine” and “Jesus He Knows Me.”

“Some of the things (in ‘We Can’t Dance’) are very serious, some of them are very funny. I mean, ‘I Can’t Dance’ and ‘Jesus He Knows Me’, those two songs are supposed to be very funny really. I mean, satirical. None of us can dance, we are terrible. Some of the songs are humorous but there are a few very serious subjects and there’s room for that. There’s some things that should be said in this world of ours,” Phil Collins told EPK in the early 90s.

Collins and Eric Clapton are friends and have worked together

Phil Collins and Eric Clapton have been really good friends since the late 1970s. They even had the chance to work together a lot, especially in the 80s. Besides co-producing Eric’s albums “Behind the Sun” (1985) and “August” (1986), Collins played the drums in some tracks and even toured a bit with the guitarist. A few years later, in 1989, he played the drums on Eric’s hit “Bad Love” from the album “Journeyman”.

Eric has been one of my best friends for some time, and one day he just called me up. I was blown away by it. ‘My God, Eric Clapton wants me to produce him.’ Even though we’re best mates, he’s still Eric Clapton. I used to play Cream songs in my school band.”

“Anyway, the fashion of music keeps changing. People like Eric sort of get left behind a hit in people’s minds, if nothing else. I saw producing his records as an opportunity to make people realize that this guy is still a fantastic guitar player and he’s got a great voice,” Phil Collins said in an interview with David Sheff. They first met each other when they worked together on the album “Glorious Fool”, by John Martyn.