Man On The Corner Lyrics
Phil Collins taking a deeper look at something he portrayed a few years later again with 'another day in paradise'. descriptions in the song let us believe this is mainly about a homeless/crazy man, someone that presence isn't noticed, other that a man as we people from the city cross by many. this is as sad as collins can get, speaking about his concerns, not preaching but socially right, communication or the lack of it was always often at the center of his lyrics. I'm touched by the melody aswell only gets the point even stronger along those perfect words.
I caught this song on the radio one time and was like "how i miss this phil collins song?" went home and downloaded it immediately.
I just remember growing to hate this one as it was played every half-hour on the radio when it came out. Now I think it means we are all lonely men on the corner waiting for something, ala "Nowhere Man"
i think this suggests that we are the lonely man than it does suggest we should be. the wording of the song points to the fact the man on the corner is quite contented with his situation, its only those looking on at him that dont understand his reason for it. the world goes on around him with all the nastiness we take as bein part of it but this does not apply to him and therefore we should i think be envious of his lack of worries.
that was badly written but it mean to say that we 'are not' him or like him. we apparently all long to be but cannot find it within ourselves to be.
I think this is about letting something pass you by, and regretting it, and standing around waiting for it to come back to you
A chopped up version of the synth in the background of this song is used in Kevin Rudolf's song "Welcome to the World", which is a song about the 15 minutes of fame a celebrity gets, then it's time for them to disappear into anonymity again.
These two songs seem to have something in common. The lyrics to Man on the Corner may be interpreted as the man waiting for his shot at fame again. We all need it, but when we find fame (as some do) do we love it enough to leave it and become "just like all the rest" again? Well, that's my rambling done.
The way I interrupted the song was that society lets people disappear and that no one notices or will notice. And that these people feel alone and alienated and we should feel ashamed because all of us have alienated people before and judged when we shouldn't of. Also, I think the song touches on the fact that some people should enjoy the simplicity of some moments and stop and enjoy things. The lonely man on the corner enjoys being alone and thinking, and the rest of the world don't realize why because they can't find a reason because they enjoy materialized objects and worries.
To me, this song conveys that we see people all the time just standing there, lost, unnoticed, and we have no idea why they're there. The monkey on the back has no specific meaning. It's a metaphor indicating that we all go through our troubles and to someone just looking at the person, they have no idea what's on their minds. On a different note the corner could also be a metaphor for being stuck in life, not knowing how to get that monkey off your back.
Don't we all see or have met someone like the lonely man? PC says there's no hiding place for any of us.