Download Instrumental This song was released in 1984 – the absolute lowest point in my life. It helped me get through it all and I will forever be grateful for that.
Ya gotta love Phil Collins. English singer, songwriter and drummer extraordinaire. All that talent wrapped up in one guy. In 1979, he was weaning himself away from the band Genesis but not entirely by choice. His personal life was in shambles after his wife and kids left for parts unknown. He spent that lonely time at the piano writing one song after another. All of this misery went onto his first solo album “Face Value”, released in 1981. We’re not exactly talking about the most happy-go-lucky album ever written, but it was brilliant. He penned one piece titled “How Can You Sit There”, but it didn’t make the album for some reason. On the back burner it went. When he was approached three years later to write a song for the movie “Against All Odds”, Phil reworked “Sit There” to fit the context of the film. Voila! His first solo #1 hit.
The opening piano chords are beautiful, introducing the mournful first verse. The second verse brings in soft guitar and strings behind the vocal, then builds with drums into the chorus. I put a backup vocals track in (the ahhs) so you solo performers out there can do it with all the intensity that should be there. At the end – those same soft piano chords hover around his last words “take a look at me now” then strings swell and take it out. Genius!
Every time I hear this tune, it takes me to another time and another place. Maybe that’s a good thing… I don’t know.
Phil Collins in concert:
Stageworthy Backing Tracks by Dave Zobrist 