Only One Thing To Do
Wednesday is about books. And writing. Today, a recent short story from me about a distant memory. Do you remember when we didn't have the internet to fact-check rumours?
Phil Collins wrote his hit song In The Air Tonight about a school bully who drowned his friend. But Phil was there. He saw what he did; knew it was all a pack of lies. So there was only one thing to do, right?
Get famous, playing drums for years, step out and replace the singer, then start a solo career by writing a song about that drowning. Being famous, it was easy for Phil to get his people to track down the person that did that emotional (and physical) damage.
And they could hook him up with some free tickets. Next thing, Phil is encoring with his brand-new song, and he’s got a single spotlight on him, and one on the front-row bully.
Front-row bully hears every word of the song as it’s being beamed directly at him. Three days later he kills himself. All he he heard was the dark truth coming in his ears that night.
We believed this was true, in the days of the old school yard. No phones for fact-checks. The story passed down, and it made the mood of the song grow darker, deeper.
Some days I miss those days so much. A rumour did up its laces and ran round the world. Only one thing to do: Turn off your phone, leave it at home. And see how far you can get. You won’t (ever) regret it.
Until it’s time to order your food, or a ride, or listen to the sad song about the divorce, from the chocolate ad where a gorilla played the drums.
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I wrote this recently, on the back of an Instagram post which asked people to share their favourite story of a rumour they believed in the days before the internet could fact-check most things.
This “Phil Collins story” was huge in my life. I’m pretty sure Hamish Stevenson told me the tale. There were obviously many different variations and embellishments. I no doubt added my own before passing it on. Hamish definitely told me that he had seen it on a videotape. Phil telling the story directly. And we believed it. That was all the proof I needed - didn’t need to actually see the proof; just hearing that it existed was obviously enough…