Two Hearts by Phil Collins Songfacts
Two Hearts by Phil Collins Songfacts
Songfacts
This was written for the movie Buster. Collins was in the film, playing former train robber Buster Edwards. The film was a (you guessed it) bust at the box office, but its soundtrack contained two US #1 hits: "Two Hearts" and a Phil Collins cover of " A Groovy Kind Of Love ."
Lamont Dozier produced this song and wrote the music (Collins wrote the lyric). As part of the famous songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland, Dozier wrote 12 #1 hits for Motown artists, mostly The Supremes. For Collins, who covered one of those hits (" You Can't Hurry Love "), writing with Dozier was a thrill. "I grew up with Lamont's music," he said. "He's written some of the best songs, and to have my name next to his at the bottom of the song credit means an awful lot to me."
For Dozier, "Two Hearts" was his 14th and last #1 hit as a writer (Kim Wilde's 1986 cover of " You Keep Me Hangin' On " was #13).
Collins returned the favor by singing with Dozier on his 1991 song "The Quiet's Too Loud."
In the movie credits, this feel-good song is listed as "Two Hearts (One Mind)." It is about a couple who are connected though time and space even when they're not together. Their two hearts share a brain.
This won a Grammy in 1989 for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television. Remarkably, this was the first Grammy win for any member of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team.
Phil Collins first met Lamont Dozier when they were introduced at one of Collins' concerts. They stayed in touch, and when Collins was working on Eric Clapton's 1986 August album, he called Dozier to see if he had any songs for Clapton to record. Clapton ended up doing two Dozier compositions: "Run" and "Hung Up on Your Love." About a year later, Collins was working on the movie Buster, which is set in the '60s. He wanted songs that had the feel of the era, so he thought of Dozier - a good man to call for a '60s-sounding hit. Dozier listened to some of his old songs to get the feel, and came up with the music for "Two Hearts," which Collins loved.
Collins and Dozier wrote other songs that also made the soundtrack: "Big Noise" (performed by Collins) and "Loco In Acapulco" (performed by the Four Tops).
For Collins, this was his sixth US #1 hit as a solo artist, and his fifth as a songwriter. After writing and recording the chart-toppers " Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) ," "One More Night" and " Sussudio ," Collins had two #1's with songs he didn't write - " Separate Lives " and " A Groovy Kind Of Love ," and also co-wrote the Genesis #1 " Invisible Touch ." After "Two Hearts," he scored another #1 as artist and composer with " Another Day in Paradise ."
This was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. It lost to Carly Simon's " Let The River Run ," from the Working Girl soundtrack. Collins got the award in 1999 for " You'll Be In My Heart ," which he wrote for Tarzan.
The song did win a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song (sort of - it tied with "Let The River Run"). Accepting the award, Collins said, "I'm very proud and pleased that Buster is in some way represented tonight. I had a great time doing it... it's just a shame that not more people saw the film."
In the Buster movie, this doesn't play until the end credits. The other song Collins sang for the film, "A Groovy Kind Of Love," plays near the end of the film. Collins put his songs at the end because he didn't want his singing to interfere with his character.
Collins is far from the first to use "Two Hearts" in a title, but his is by far the biggest hit. A look at some songs with dual-heart action and their messages:
1955: Pat Boone - Two hearts make one love. (#16 US)