Phil Collins - Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now) - Lyrics Meaning

Written by Phil Collins for the 1984 film of the same name, the lyrics for this song really came from the heart. In an interview, Collins explained that song writing helped him to get through a difficult time in his life. "That song was written during my first divorce. My first wife and the kids had gone and I was left there. The song was written out of experience rather than a `what if' song. If that personal stuff had not happened to me at the time, I probably would never have made an album...without that stuff I wouldn't have felt the stuff I felt sitting at a piano night after night, day after day writing stuff."

Even without the back history, this song really pulls at the heart strings. Deep sadness can be felt in every line and anyone who has ever gone through a break-up will identify with the lyrics. In the first verse he questions how she can just walk away and then in the second he questions how he can just let her. The repeated line, "You're the only one who really knew me at all," really let's us in on his feelings of loss and a desperate wish to be able to turn back the clock.

Already a sad song, it really hits hard when we discover the `Against All Odds' in the title refers to his hopes of her returning and there's not a dry eye left in the room when we hear him saying that he'll still be there, waiting.