Something Happened on the Way to Heaven#Charts

The single's UK release featured comedian Tony Hancock on its front cover.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120227164154/http://www.railwaycuttings.co.uk/records_seven.htm Hancock record collection - Page seven] The different cover art for the international single release is a still from the 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gT5JAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Something%20Happened%20on%20the%20Way%20to%20Heaven%22%20%22matter%20of%20life%20and%20death%22%20-wikipedia&pg=PR11 |title=Heaven |last=Gooder |first=Paula |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-61097-777-7 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |location=Eugene, Oregon |pages=xi }} (also titled in the US Stairway to Heaven{{Cite AV media notes |title=Something Happened on the Way to Heaven |last=Collins |first=Phil |publisher=Atlantic Records |year=1990 |medium=cassette }} Cat. #7 4-86140.) created by Powell and Pressburger,{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} permitted for use by Rank Film Distributors.

Directed by Jim Yukich, produced by Paul Flattery and written by both of them for FYI. A dog is napping in a meadow, dreaming of being in a silent movie in which it saves a woman tied to a set of railroad tracks from being run over by a train. The opening of the song is heard faintly in the distance, coming from the open back door of a concert hall, and the dog wakes up and ventures inside. Here, Collins and his band do a sound check and then perform the song as the dog explores the facility, eating from the band's buffet table, climbing among the catwalks, and sitting briefly at Collins' piano and drum kit. These sequences are intercut with shots from the dog's black-and-white perspective, including a brief dream in which it sits at a formal table loaded with food.

At two different times, the dog relieves itself onstage, first by defecating near backing singer Arnold McCuller — only discovered when he steps in the resulting mess — then later by urinating on bassist Leland Sklar's leg. The latter occurs near the end of the song, and the video ends after Collins smiles and wipes Sklar's shoe with a towel (Sklar did not perform on the actual studio recording, Nathan East is the actual performer).{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKrGj73OsAY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/CKrGj73OsAY |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Something Happened on the Way to Heaven - Official Music Video |last1=Collins |first1=Phil |date= 17 May 2010|website=YouTube |access-date=7 August 2016}}{{cbignore}}

Upon its release as a single, Gary Crossing of Record Mirror noted the "pseudo Seventies Motown brass, the familiar Collins sticksmanship and the regular nauseating vocals".{{cite magazine |last=Crossing |first=Gary |title=Singles |magazine=Record Mirror |date=21 April 1990 |page=16 |issn=0144-5804}}

CD maxi

1. "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" – 4:37
2. "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (One World Remix) – 5:38
3. "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (demo) – 5:19

7-inch single

1. "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (edit) – 4:37
2. "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (demo) – 5:19

12-inch maxi

1. "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" – 4:37
2. "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven" (One World Remix) – 5:38
3. "I Wish It Would Rain Down" (demo) – 5:19

• Phil Collins – vocals, keyboards, drums
• Daryl Stuermer – guitars
• Dominic Miller – guitars
• Nathan East – bass
• The Phenix Horns
• Don Myrick – saxophone
• Louis Satterfield – trombone
• Harry Kim – trumpet
• Rahmlee Michael Davis – trumpet
• Arranged by Tom Tom 84
• Alex Brown – backing vocals
• Lynne Fiddmont – backing vocals
• Marva King – backing vocals

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{{Infobox song

| name = Something Happened on the Way to Heaven

| cover = Something Happened on the Way to Heaven by Deborah Cox.png

| alt =

| caption = Banner of the US 12-inch retail single

| type = single

| artist = Deborah Cox

| album =

| released = 2003

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = House

| length =

| label =

| writer = Phil Collins, Daryl Stuermer

| producer =

| prev_title =

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}}

In 2003, Canadian singer Deborah Cox recorded a R&B cover of the track, which was included on the Phil Collins tribute compilation Urban Renewal. It peaked at No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100. A club/house remix was issued as a single, which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart in November 2003 and stayed at the top spot until February 2004. The track spent 11 weeks at No. 1—10 of them consecutively—making it the first single on the chart to accomplish this feat, which she would hold until 2009, when Lady Gaga broke that record with her single "Poker Face", which spent 15 weeks at the top.

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{{Reflist}}

{{Phil Collins songs}}

{{Deborah Cox}}

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Category:1990 singles

Category:2003 singles

Category:Phil Collins songs

Category:Deborah Cox songs

Category:Dance-pop songs

Category:Electronic songs

Category:House music songs

Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Hugh Padgham

Category:Song recordings produced by Phil Collins

Category:1989 songs

Category:Atlantic Records singles

Category:Virgin Records singles

Category:Warner Music Group singles

Category:Songs written by Daryl Stuermer

Category:Music videos directed by Jim Yukich