“Man On The Corner” by Genesis

"Man on the Corner" is Phil Collins' song on Genesis's 1981 album Abacab, written and sung by the drummer, and it went out as a single in March 1982, reaching 41 in Britain and 40 on the Hot 100. It's about a fellow who haunts a street corner all day, yelling at anyone who passes, and according to the radio show In the Studio with Redbeard it was Collins' first go at homelessness and at a society happy to look the other way, a subject he'd come back to in "Another Day in Paradise".

The mood is dark and spare, built on a Roland TR-808 that ticks away from the first bar to the last, with Collins' real kit crashing in for the bridge. Tony Banks plays keyboards, Mike Rutherford handles guitar and bass, and the band produced it themselves with Hugh Padgham engineering.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.