Song of the day, March 6, 2024
Another day in Paradise by Phil Collins is the featured song for today.
On this day in 1990 …But Seriously was released. It is the fourth studio album by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins was at No.1 on the UK album chart. It was the best selling album of 1990 in the UK, eventually selling 2.75 million copies there and 4 million in the US. The lead single ‘Another Day in Paradise’ won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
The song was Collins’ seventh and final Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, the last No. 1 single of the 1980s and the first No. 1 single of the 1990s. It was also a worldwide success, eventually becoming one of the most successful songs of his solo career. It won Collins and Hugh Padgham the Grammy Award for Record of the Year at the 1991 awards ceremony, while it was also nominated for Song of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Best Music Video, Short Form. “Another Day in Paradise” also won an award for British Single at the 1990 Brit Awards. Despite the awards gained following its release, the song also generated controversy over its subject matter and has received a largely unfavourable reaction from music critics.
Collins sings the song from a third-person perspective, as he observes a man crossing the street to ignore a homeless woman, and he implores listeners not to turn a blind eye to homelessness because, by drawing a religious allusion, “it’s just another day for you and me in paradise”. Collins also appeals directly to God by singing: “Oh Lord, is there nothing more anybody can do? Oh Lord, there must be something you can say.”
