TORONTO — Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies revealed that their Billboard Hot 100 hit “One Week” was inspired by an incident in which Genesis member Phil Collins saw a man drowning but did not lend a hand, horrified sources report.
“When I wrote ‘One Week,’ I was actually worried,” said Robertson, displaying the original handwritten rap lyrics to the song. “I thought people would call me out for writing about someone else’s life, but no one ever has. It seems obvious to me that it is about Phil Collins and the drowning guy. I mean, just look at these: ‘You’ll think you’re looking at Aquaman,’ ‘gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon,’ ‘your brain stops tickin.’ They’re very clearly about the guy who wrote ‘That’s All’ letting someone die a watery death right before his eyes. I mean, I rap ‘I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral.’ I’m just straight up describing that dark and strange night in Collins’s life.”
Barenaked Ladies fan Kevin Lungstrom was shocked to find out the actual meaning behind the song after all these years.
“It is super weird that my favorite BNL song is about the guy who wrote the ‘Tarzan’ theme song watching someone die in the cold embrace of a lake,” said Lungstrom, nodding in recognition. “But I can’t deny that it now makes perfect sense. The lyrics–about a desire for forgiveness and shameful anger that accompanies it–are exactly what Phil Collins would feel in that situation. Obviously. I also heard that ‘If I Had $1,000,000’ was going to be the original them for ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ but Regis vetoed it.”
Phil Collins was simply grateful that Robertson had finally opened up about “One Week.”
“I still remember that night so vividly. The way the drowning man kept yelling for help, and pointing at me saying ‘Phil, for the love of God please help me, you’re one of my favorite drummers and an even better vocalist,’” Collins said while sending a fax. “Even though I witnessed a man die with my own two eyes, I could never truly put the feeling down in words. I am just glad that Ed could make me immortal in his own way, unlike that guy who really should have learned how to swim as a kid.”
As of press time, Collins admitted his 1981 hit song “Something in the Air” was about the time his friends in the country rock band the Eagles had checked out of a hotel, but could never leave.