Maybe I’m just being morbid. Maybe it’s because I just finished working in the ICU and watched plenty of people die and signed plenty of death certificates. Maybe it’s because I had dinner with (among others) someone who works for the medical examiner. Nothing like talking about people who died in sudden, unexpected, and often gruesome ways while having Japanese food. Maybe it’s because the track before this one was “Mad World” by Tears for Fears, which has the classic line “the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had,” a song that was resurrected by Gary Jules and the movie “Donnie Darko.”

But this song makes me think of dying.

Take that look of worry I’m an ordinary man They don’t tell me nothing So I find out all I can There’s a fire that’s burning Right outside my door I can’t see but I feel it And it helps to keep me warm So I, I don’t mind No I, I don’t mind Seems so long I’ve been waiting Still don’t know what for There’s no point of escaping I don’t worry anymore I can’t come out to find you I don’t like to go outside They can’t turn off my feelings Like they’re turning off a light But I, I don’t mind No I, I don’t mind Oh I, I don’t mind No I, I don’t mind So take, take me home ‘cause I don’t remember Take, take me home ‘cause I don’t remember Take, take me home ‘cause I don’t remember Take, take me home, Oh Lord ‘cause I’ve been a prisoner all my life And I can say to you Take that look of worry, mine’s an ordinary life Working when its daylight And sleeping when its night I’ve got no far horizons I don’t wish upon a star They don’t think that I listen Oh but I know who they are And I, I don’t mind No I, I don’t mind Oh I, I don’t mind No I, I don’t mind

Seriously, though, this makes me think of someone on death’s door, sedated and paralyzed so that they don’t pull out their breathing tube, but whom the family is not ready to pull the plug on. The line “I can’t see but I feel it” is kind of eerie. The line “They can’t turn off my feelings/like they’re turning off a light” creeps me out.

The preceding lines—

Seems so long I’ve been waiting Still don’t know what for There’s no point of escaping I don’t worry anymore I can’t come out to find you I don’t like to go outside

—totally make me think of being paralyzed and sedated despite knowing that there’s nothing that can be done to make things better. It’s simply prolonging the inevitable. Dragging out the process of dying. And for what, when they can’t get up out of bed or even wake up to talk to you?

I don’t know. Would this be an appropriate funeral song? I’ll put it in my advance directive, maybe.

A while back (in 2005) I discovered this cover album entitled ”Urban Renewal” which is basically a Hip-Hop/R&B tribute album to Phil Collins, and Malik Pendleton does a cover of this song. The artists involved are pretty interesting:

• “Another Day in Paradise” Brandy and Ray J
• “Sussudio” Ol’ Dirty Bastard
• “In the Air Tonite” L’il Kim
• “Easy Lover” Coko
• “Do You Remember?” Debelah Morgan
• “Against All Odds” Montell Jordan
• “One More Night” Changing Faces
• “I Wish it Would Rain Down” Brian McKnight
• “Take Me Home” Malik Pendleton

Of note, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony also used the chorus from this song, in ”Home”

Who knew Hip-Hop and R&B artists were into Phil Collins?

And in more Phil Collins-related news, there is a mashup of Phil Collins and Bloc Party—

Phil Colllins vs Bloc Party “She’s Hearing Voices in the Air Tonight”

—put together by DJ Lobsterdust. There are also a few other Bloc Party mashups on there, like with Luniz and with Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz. Bizarre. But I suppose Bloc Party is another topic entirely.