That's just the way it is - Phil Collins

'That's just the way it is' was written by Phil Collins as an anti-war ballad, about the conflict in Northern Ireland, The Troubles. Collins commented: 'It's about Northern Ireland as far as I am concerned. (...) If you are living in England and you just sort of constantly people getting blown to smithereens because this thing that's been going on for the last twenty years. You see newsreels of kids throwing petrol bombs because their brothers throw them and then their dads throw them and their dads dads and it's just bred, inbred now this violence. I just thought someone somewhere, and it's got to be from both sides, has got to say 'Hang on, life means more than this. This has got to stop.''

The B-side of the single is 'Broadway chorus', a demo version of the previous hit single from the album, 'Something happened on the way to heaven'. The single reached number 26 in the UK singles chart and number 10 in the Dutch Top 40 in the summer of 1990.

My collection: 7" single no. 4598
Found: Velvet Vinyl Outlet, Leiden, February 26, 2010
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'That's just the way it is' / 'Broadway chorus'