Collins wrote the song amid the grief he felt after divorcing his first wife Andrea Bertorelli in 1980. In a 2016 interview, Collins said of the song 's lyrics: "I wrote the lyrics spontaneously. I 'm not quite sure what the song is about, but there 's a lot of anger, a lot of despair and a lot of frustration. '' In a 1997 BBC Radio 2 documentary, the singer revealed that the divorce contributed to his 1979 hiatus from Genesis until the band regrouped in October of that year to record the album Duke.
story of i can feel it in the air tonight
grief he felt after divorcing his first wife Andrea Bertorelli in 1980