Bet you haven’t heard this in a while.
Love the video too! Speakers UP!
The Reverse-Engineering Behind the Meaning of Phil Collins’ “Sussudio”
Fans loved “Sussudio” for its danceable beat and a synth melody and tone that was, shall we say, “inspired” by Prince’s “1999.” Everyone who enjoyed the song wasn’t necessarily wowed by its lyrics. It was hardly a surprise when Collins revealed that “Sussudio” was a nonsense word he created while improvising the lyrics. He intended to replace it with an actual word but never found one that fit the melody as well.
While the song’s title is meaningless, the song itself is not. Since Collins was not able to find a refrain that had an actual meaning, he wrote the rest of the lyrics in order to give “Sussudio” some substance. He essentially reverse-engineered a meaning for “Sussudio.”
A Song Title in need of a Narrative
Collins decided that, for the purposes of the song, Sussudio would be a girl’s name. Now he just needed to come up with a story around this character. Collins decided the song would be about a boy who is infatuated with a girl he knows from school. They don’t actually know each other well at all, though, as we learn from the first verse.
more: https://americansongwriter.com/the-reverse-engineered-meaning-behind-phil-collins-sussudio/
Good one. Thanks.
I would listen to Sussudio and other songs of Phil Collins on my way into work on the night shift to an inner city hospital to stay awake coming and going. Those were the days!!