Phil Collins’ four favourite songs to perform live
The iconic drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins was destined for eminence from a young age. Before his segue into music, the young creative took the stage as a West End actor, most prominently portraying the Artful Dodger in the Charles Dickens adaptation, Oliver.
As adolescence kicked in, Collins’ voice wasn’t quite right for the Artful Dodger anymore. Lured by a fascination with The Beatles and the rise of rock music in the UK, Collins turned his focus to music, playing with a handful of bands before joining Genesis in 1970. His forte was drumming, but as a multi-talented aspirant, he took the lead in 1974 following founding frontman Peter Gabriel’s departure.
Although Collins has sadly retired amid long-standing health complications, he can enjoy an unrivalled legacy of singing, songwriting and multi-instrumentalism both with Genesis and as a solo artist.
During an interview with Modern Drummer in 1997, just a year after he departed from the band, Collins picked out his two favourite Genesis songs to perform live. His first choice was ‘Apocalypse In 9/8’, part F of the 23-minute track ‘Supper’s Ready’ from the 1972 album Foxtrot. ‘Supper’s Ready’ is distinct as Genesis’ longest-ever recorded song.
“This is one of my all-time favourite Genesis pieces,” Collins said. “I used to love playing this one on the road because I could go way out with it. I have some tapes of us performing it in concert from around this time that make this version sound simplistic. A great piece of music and great fun to play.”
“When I would play something like this piece, I would be singing the riff in my head while I was playing it,” he continued. “That allowed me to stretch out over the top of the meter. To get more of a rotating, circular motion going within the pattern. That’s probably why it felt good.”
Next, Collins jumped forward to 1976 to pick out the Wind & Wuthering cut ‘Wot Gorilla?’ as another favourite to perform live. “Oh yeah. ‘Wot Gorilla’ one of my favourites,” he beamed. “I liked it so much that I had an arrangement done of it for my big band project. You should hear this tune with horns!”
On a separate occasion, Collins sat for an interview with The Project TV and discussed the songs he liked to sing most of all. First, he selected ‘Can’t Turn Back the Years’ from his 1993 solo album Both Sides; second, he chose ‘Take Me Home’ from his 1985 album No Jacket Required.
“There are two. One is ‘Can’t Turn Back the Years’, which is of ‘Both Sides’, which I think of as my best album,” Collins pondered. “That song is one of my favourite songs on that album. The other one is ‘Take Me Home’, which I’ve sung ever since ‘No Jacket Required’ came out and it’s always been the last song of a set, and it has a life of its own. There are some songs I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t sing again, frankly, ‘Groovy Kind of Love’.”
Phil Collins’ favourite songs to perform live:
- ‘Can’t Turn Back the Years’ – Both Sides
- ‘Take Me Home’ – No Jacket Required
- ‘Apocalypse In 9/8’ (‘Supper’s Ready’) – Foxtrot
- ‘Wot Gorilla’ – Wind & Wuthering
