1989 · Behind the Songs
A ballad about Northern Ireland, sung with a little help from David Crosby.
…But Seriously, released in November 1989, was the most sober-minded album Phil Collins had ever made — and its second track is the soberest thing on it. “That’s Just the Way It Is” is an anti-war ballad about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, an unlikely subject for a pop star at the absolute peak of his commercial powers. Collins cut it between April and October 1989 at his own studio, The Farm in Chiddingfold, and at A&M Studios in Hollywood, producing with Hugh Padgham while a Roland TR-808 drum machine ticks steadily underneath.
The track’s most famous guest almost didn’t happen — twice. Collins had wanted David Crosby to sing on his first solo album, Face Value, back in 1981, but Crosby was unavailable; the two finally met at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, and Crosby’s harmony vocal made the record. Released as a single in July 1990, the song reached No. 26 in the UK, backed with “Broadway Chorus,” a demo of “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven.” A demo of the song itself later surfaced on the album’s 2016 remaster.
What stays with you is the restraint. Collins never raises his voice; the 808 keeps its metronomic pulse, and the lyric simply watches, refusing the easy comfort of its own title. Then Crosby’s voice enters on the chorus like light through a doorway, and the song’s resignation turns into something closer to witness. It remains one of the least typical — and most quietly brave — singles of Collins’ career.