The Tabletop discusses Phil Collins’ second solo album; all the anger, heartache, and even a bit of creepiness, that is 1982’s “Hello, I Must Be Going!”
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Tabletop Genesis Episode 54 – “Hello, I Must Be Going!”
Amazing Episode! A few thoughts:
1) I think all the tracks on this album are Phil wearing his heart on his sleeve. I think the music and lyrics are exactly matched in every single track, not just “I Don’t Care Anymore”; “I Cannot Believe it’s True” is all about getting on with day to day life (these people I’m talking to don’t understand) while still being stuck in your thoughts and feelings about the breakup. So the rhythm has this gentle chugging along while the lyrics are all about still not being able to believe that THIS is his life and relationship now. “Do You Know, Do You Care?” goes back to his internal exasperation with the divorce. Then in “It Don’t Matter to Me?” he’s authentically getting to a better place, emotionally and mentally. He definitely DOES still care, but much less so than in the previous songs, and he’s glowing in this change of his feelings.
2) “You Can’t Hurry Love” definitely fits with the rest of the album, specifically with “I Cannot Believe It’s True” and “It Don’t Matter to Me”, which both have motown sensibilities to it, with similar vibes, rhythms, and horn sections.
3) Like China is deifnitely a British “Grease” style song (total Danny Zucco character!) And Phil grew up in west London and Middlesex where the Cockney accent he affects was a thing, so I suspect this was him reminiscing about his youth, where he likely thought most girls (expecialy those of higher social classes) were out of his league, so when his current marriage collapsed it makes sense that a song that took him back to his roots would be theraputic in its own way. This likely also ties in with “The West Side”, as he was born in west London.
It’s fascinating that Phil himself no longer thinks that this album meant/means much to him. It really, REALLY strikes me as being exactly the exploration of theme, subject matter, and music that he needed at that time. Even more so than Face Value!
First off, this may be my favorite of Phil’s solo albums. It will always hold a special place in my heart as I was deep in love with my now current wife who I had met one year earlier. I spent many nights after work driving to the next town to see her and would listen as I drove or as I waited for her to come home from work. Waiting in my car on her street and jamming out to a solo album from my favorite band. The memories are still fresh as it was such a joyous time in my life spending time with the love of my life which consumed all my thoughts.
With a different sequencing, “Hello, I Must Ge Going!” would’ve been a fascinating downward spiral of a concept album about love and heartbreak – perhaps, beginning with the naivete of “Like China” ending with the tragic desperation of “Thru These Walls”
Actually, I’d pick those two “character” songs as my faves. The awkwardness and “creepiness” are the feature. There are already dozens of songs about Phil’s divorce. God forbid he take on alternate viewpoint every now and then.
But I will agree that “Hello…” is his best solo. I’d even put it above any non-Genesis album by any other Genesis artist. Yes, I ask, wouldn’t you too rather put it on than, say, Curious Feeling or Voyage of Acolyte or So or (even) Acting Very Strange?
Anyway, since you gave me a space to below plug my podcast link – it’s an episode where my wife and I discuss our recent Genesis experience.