Synopsis

Set in a black-and-white 1930s theater, the video follows Billy, a drummer suddenly asked to replace the lead singer of a troubled stage production. Eric Clapton recommends him, but the demanding theater director, played by Jeffrey Tambor, is unimpressed by Billy's acting and singing. As Billy performs "I Wish It Would Rain Down," he imagines becoming a celebrated star through a playful montage of newspaper headlines, movie scenes, television appearances, and awards. His fantasy ends abruptly when the director rejects the number and sends him back to the drums.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video runs for approximately eight and a half minutes, with roughly two and a half minutes of dialogue and acting before the song begins.

• Its theatrical setting and melodramatic style parody 1930s Hollywood, particularly the world of stage musicals and the film "Gone with the Wind."

• Jeffrey Tambor plays the irritable theater director. His performance gives the clip much of its comic energy and turns the video into a miniature backstage farce.

• Eric Clapton appears as himself and recommends Billy for the vacant singing role. His dialogue includes an inside joke about Phil Collins moving from drummer to lead singer after Peter Gabriel left Genesis.

• The dancers rehearse to a riff resembling "Sunshine of Your Love," the Cream song co-written and performed by Clapton.

• Several members of Collins' touring band appear in the story. Chester Thompson plays a theater drummer, while bassist Leland Sklar is also seen among the performers.

• Billy's imagined rise to fame is presented through fabricated covers and headlines from publications including "Billboard" and "Variety," as well as staged references to classic films and television shows.

• The fantasy montage places Collins alongside figures including Groucho Marx, James Cagney, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable, using impersonators, altered stills and staged recreations.

• The clip also promotes the next single from "...But Seriously." After the song's sheet music is shown, the camera briefly reveals the sheet music for "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven."

• The ending undercuts Billy's fantasy: the director dismisses the performance, praises only the guitarist, and then learns that Eric has given a week's notice.