In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing. This week, with Father’s Day just behind us, we ask, “What song reminds you of your dad?”
Most of the songs I associate with my dad are snippets of operas that I don’t know, which is strange considering his life’s work has been jazz education. What’s even stranger is that he once toured as part of The Phil Collins Big Band, which played mostly instrumental versions of Phil’s hits (with Phil on drums) in a big-band style. Which brings me to “Sussudio,” a song that the PCBB played every night, and that my dad, amazingly, had never heard before joining the band. Considering how omnipresent the music of Phil Collins and Genesis is—seriously, try to go a few days without accidentally hearing a snippet somewhere—it shocked me that my dad had to learn it. Even now, I’m not entirely sure he’d recognize the original version of “Sussudio” right away, because the big-band version is what he knows.