"Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" | ||||
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Single by Phil Collins | ||||
from the album ...But Seriously | ||||
B-side | "I Wish It Would Rain Down" | |||
Released | 16 April 1990 (UK) 19 July 1990 (US) |
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Format | 7", 12" single, CD maxi, Cassette | |||
Genre | Pop rock | |||
Length | 4:50 | |||
Label | Atlantic, Virgin, WEA | |||
Writer(s) | Phil Collins, Daryl Stuermer | |||
Producer(s) | Phil Collins, Hugh Padgham | |||
Phil Collins singles chronology | ||||
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"Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" | |
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Single by Deborah Cox | |
Released | 2003 |
Genre | House |
Writer(s) | Phil Collins, Daryl Stuermer |
"Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" is a song performed by Phil Collins and released in 1990, from the album ...But Seriously. The song reached the #4 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that same year. A live performance of the song also appears on the Serious Hits... Live! album. The song was written by Phil Collins and Daryl Stuermer and was produced by Phil Collins and Hugh Padgham. It was also included on ...Hits on which it is the track number eight. The cover art shown here is a still from the 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death by Powell and Pressburger. The single's UK release featured a different cover, depicting comedian Tony Hancock. The song was originally written for the movie War of the Roses.
The only time the title of the song is used is the second line of the third verse. The song is often identified by the recurring hook of "How many times can I say 'I'm sorry'?".
A dog is napping in a meadow, dreaming of being in a silent movie in which it saves a woman tied to a set of railroad tracks from being run over by a train. The opening of the song is heard faintly in the distance, coming from the open back door of a concert hall, and the dog wakes up and ventures inside. Here, Collins and his band do a sound check and then perform the song as the dog explores the facility, eating from the band's buffet table, climbing among the catwalks, and sitting briefly at an unused keyboard and drum kit. These sequences are intercut with shots from the dog's black-and-white perspective, including a brief dream in which it sits at a formal table loaded with food.
At two different times, the dog relieves itself onstage, first by defecating near one of the backing singers - only discovered when he steps in the resulting mess - then later by urinating on the bassist's leg. The latter occurs near the end of the song, and the video ends after Collins smiles and wipes the bassist's shoe with a towel.
In 2003, Canadian singer Deborah Cox recorded a R&B cover of the track, which was included on the Phil Collins tribute compilation Urban Renewal. A club/house remix was issued as a single, which reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart in November 2003 and stayed at the top spot until February 2004. The track spent 11 weeks at number one, ten of them consecutively, making it the first single on the chart to accomplish this feat, which she would hold until 2009, when Lady Gaga broke that record with her single "Poker Face", which spent 15 weeks at the top.