TELL ME WHY

Well. Eight years passed between "Illegal Alien" (which was composed in 1983) and "Tell Me Why " (which was composed in 1991). And it seems that with the passing of time Genesis as a band at last tried to write a good song with lyrics about social problems in a serious and considerate manner. Most of the reviews that I have read about "Illegal Alien" consider it as their worst song, with some of them even considering it as offensive. I agree with those reviews. Maybe the criticism done by many people to "Illegal Alien" was the reason that Genesis took in consideration to write a serious song with lyrics about homeless people, poverty and other social and economical problems. Well. "Tell Me Why" is somewhat similar in lyrical content to Phil Collins`s "Another Day in Paradise" song which he recorded as solo musician in 1989. Maybe the members of the band realized how bad was "Illegal Alien" as a song or maybe it took to them eight years to "mature" a bit to realize about how to treat these problems in a good manner in their songs done as a band. By 1991, maybe all the members of the trio were more aware of these themes. So, "Tell Me Why" is a very good song in lyrics and in musical content, and was very well sung by Collins.