Phil Collins

Released: November 20, 1989

Songwriter: Phil Collins

Producer: Phil Collins Hugh Padgham

[Verse 1]
Deep inside the border
Children are crying
Fighting for food
Holding their heads
Breaking their bread with a stone

All along the roadside
People are standing
Watching the sun
Shielding their eyes
Brushing the flies from their face

[Chorus 1]
Tell me, what can you say
Tell me, who do you blame
Like a mirror you see yourself
These people each have a name

[Verse 2]
All around the township
Young men are dying
(of) hunger and thirst
The well has run dry
The tears from her eye feeds her son

[Chorus 1]
Tell me, what can you say
Tell me, who do you blame
Like a mirror you see yourself
These people each have a name

[Studio Version: Instrumental]
[Live Version: Drum Duet (Collins & Thompson)]

[Verse 3]
You can say you're pulling back
We see the pictures everywhere
But what we don't see is what's
Going on behind the closed doors
And you don't seem to care

Do you expect me to believe you
How can you really think
You can take your horse down to the water
Hold a gun at his head
And make him drink

[Chorus 2]
No matter what you say, it never gets any better
No matter what you do, we never see any change

[Verse 4]
People living without rights
Without their dignity
How loud does one man have to shout
To earn his right to be free

You can keep your toy soldiers
To segregate the black and white
But when the dust settles
And the blood stops running
How do you sleep at night?

[Chorus 2]
No matter what you say, it never gets any better
No matter what you do, we never see any change
No matter what you say, it never gets any better
No matter what you do, we never see any change

[Verse 5]
What makes you so high and mighty
What makes you so qualified
You can sit there and say
How many have their freedom
But how many more have died

You decide to sit in judgement
Trying to play God yourself
Someday soon the buck is gonna stop
Stop with you and no one else

[Chorus 2]
No matter what you say, it never gets any better
No matter what you do, we never see any change
No matter what you say, it never gets any better
No matter what you do, we never see any change

[Studio Version ends with short Instrumental]
[Live Version ends with another Drum Duet (Collins & Thompson)]

Phil Collins is an English singer, songwriter and musician who has also worked as a record producer and actor. He led a successful solo career after being the drummer and lead singer in the rock band Genesis.

Between 1983 and 1990, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles in his solo career, and compiled more US top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s.

Internationally famous for his 1981 hit single “In the Air Tonight”, the most successful songs of his repertoire include “Sussudio”, “Another Day in Paradise”, “Against All Odds”.

more tracks from the album

...But Seriously

From the album

...But Seriously (1989)

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Phil Collins

...But Seriously