Phil Collins: Long Long Way to Go

We have a Music League going at work, and the most recent topic was one I suggested: Song from the First Album You Purchased.

This post isn’t really about my submission, and it’s not from the first album I purchased. But I was reminded of the music that I first listened to, back when I started to actually buy my own music (on, *cough*, cassette tapes).

I distinctly recall Phil Collins’ album No Jacket Required. I started listening to that album again, and got hooked on “Long Long Way to Go.”

A big part of it, I think, was the middle of the song where Sting shows up and harmonizes with Collins. And then I started to listen closer to the lyrics.

I’m remembering the late 80’s, and the advent of cable television. Of seeing more images on the television about the state of the world. And how information, back then, was almost new. Revelatory in a way.

Thinking to the 80’s, it seems like there was the availability of information… and a personal choice of whether or not one would pay attention to what was going on. Contrasting that notion with what we have today: an overabundance of information, extremities of information… and it seems like two very different worlds.

Still though, the lyrics to this song hold up to me – even though they were from another era of information consumption.

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