Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) – Phil Collins Keys FC (RB3 Custom) HD Gameplay (Xbox 360)

My Thoughts On The Song/Chart: One of Phil Collins’ most famous hits and the title theme to the 1984 film of the same name. ERG actually released a FBFC of this tune years ago but had to pitch the song in order to not get blocked, which it isn’t anymore. (Ironically the video has a claim on it now despite the pitch shifting.)

This song is slow and piano based being a ballad, it is one of his most recognizable tracks from his solo career, aside from “In The Air Tonight”. Let’s be fair though, most Phil Collin’s tracks aren’t the most exciting on most instruments but the songs are so iconic and grand that they are worth a play IMO, and many would agree due to the songs having thousands of downloads.

Song Facts:
“Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” (also titled “Against All Odds”) is a song by English drummer, singer and songwriter Phil Collins. It was recorded for the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name. It is a power ballad in which its protagonist implores an ex-lover to “take a look at me now”, knowing that reconciliation is “against all odds”, but worth the gamble.

The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, the first of seven US No. 1’s for Collins in his solo career. “Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)” also topped the charts in Canada, Ireland, and Norway, while peaking at No. 2 in the United Kingdom.

The song has been covered by several singers, some versions of which have been successful in both the US and UK markets. The song has twice reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart: the pairing of Mariah Carey and boyband Westlife, in September 2000, and then again by Steve Brookstein, the first winner of The X Factor, in January 2005. In 2022, an Italian version called “Impossibile” was released by German singer and TV-personality Giovanni Zarrella.

Collins was approached to write the title song to the film Against All Odds while it was still in its preliminary “rough cut form”. At the time the soundtrack was being completed, Collins was on tour with Genesis. Director Taylor Hackford flew into Chicago to see one of the band’s concerts. Collins watched the movie on a videocassette recorder in his hotel room and agreed to appear on the soundtrack.

Originally titled “How Can You Just Sit There?”, the song’s music was written by Collins during sessions for his debut solo album Face Value (1981), but it fell by the wayside as it was his least favourite of the several ballads he wrote at the time.

On episode 339 of This American Life, “Break Up”, Collins relays that the song was inspired and written shortly after the breakup between him and his first wife. In the interview he says that the divorce transformed him from being a musician into also being a lyricist.

The song was first included on a Collins album on the 1998 compilation Hits, and it also appeared on his compilation Love Songs: A Compilation… Old and New (2004). A live performance of the song also appears on the Serious Hits… Live! album. In 2015, Collins released the original demo recording from the Face Value sessions as part of his Take A Look At Me Now project.

The Guardian and American Songwriter both named “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” as Collins’ second-best solo song behind “In the Air Tonight”

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