00:00:00Let me tell you a story about the worst phone call of all time.
00:00:04You have my interest.
00:00:05OK.
00:00:06So it's-- picture this.
00:00:09We're going to go back to 1970s Surrey in England.
00:00:13There's like a beautiful old farmhouse called Old Croft.
00:00:16And a musician has just moved in.
00:00:19And he's in a band.
00:00:21And they've just had their first top 40 song.
00:00:24So it's at that point of a musician's career
00:00:26where either this is like, we're about to take off,
00:00:29or we had that one blip on me there.
00:00:32And he's just mortgaged the most insane house
00:00:35for his wealth size, way above his income,
00:00:37because he's betting on his future success.
00:00:39And he's-- this is the childhood sweetheart dream.
00:00:41He met his wife when they were 11 years old in drama class.
00:00:44And they've got two kids together.
00:00:46So they've moved into this house together,
00:00:47this beautiful old farmhouse with their two kids.
00:00:51And he's managed to get the deal on it.
00:00:53So it's slightly cheaper than he can afford,
00:00:55but it's still way too expensive.
00:00:56But the whole thing needs a whole paint job.
00:00:58Like, the whole building needs a load of different work.
00:01:00Kind of like this stuff here, right?
00:01:03Shots fired.
00:01:04So he has to go on tour, go try and crack America to see
00:01:09if he can pay for this house.
00:01:10So he's kind of leaving the house.
00:01:12There's painters there that are doing everything up.
00:01:14And he's kind of saying goodbye to his family.
00:01:15And as he's saying goodbye, he doesn't
00:01:17know if this is going to be the last time he sees this house
00:01:22or if this is going to be the new family home.
00:01:24So he goes on tour for a year.
00:01:26And surprisingly, the tour goes really, really well.
00:01:29So he's basically going to pay for this mortgage.
00:01:32And at the end of the tour, he's having
00:01:33a phone call with his wife.
00:01:35And it's not going well.
00:01:36And she basically confesses, whilst he's been away,
00:01:39she's been having an affair.
00:01:42And his heart just drops.
00:01:44He's like, who?
00:01:45So he starts thinking of a singer or somebody else in the band.
00:01:48The guy she was having the affair with was the painter.
00:01:52He was paying for the house.
00:01:54So he just loses his mind.
00:01:55He ends up flying back from the tour, tries to win her back.
00:02:00Not only can he not win her back, she basically
00:02:03says, I'm taking the kids.
00:02:05And I'm leaving to Canada.
00:02:06So he sits down in the band.
00:02:07And he says, well, I think the band's over.
00:02:11I've got to go.
00:02:11He says, no remote work.
00:02:12I've got to go.
00:02:13I'm going to fly to Canada and try and put my marriage together.
00:02:15So the band say, hey, we'll just do a solo hiatus.
00:02:17We'll all go on solo.
00:02:18And we'll get back together.
00:02:19So he goes to Canada for three months,
00:02:22putting the marriage back together,
00:02:24flies back three months later.
00:02:26It's completely failed.
00:02:27And the only place he has to stay
00:02:28is he goes back to this old house.
00:02:31And he says, he walks in.
00:02:33And he says, the paint was still wet
00:02:34with the man who cuckolded me.
00:02:37So he can't-- so he's just fuming.
00:02:40So he leaves, goes to his favorite restaurant,
00:02:42orders a ravioli.
00:02:43And he's just staring at this ravioli.
00:02:45He's starving because he's not having days.
00:02:46And this ravioli's staring at him.
00:02:47He's staring back at the ravioli.
00:02:49He just can't eat.
00:02:50He goes back to the house.
00:02:51It's just this old derelict house that he's
00:02:53made all this money and paid for.
00:02:54But his family are no longer there.
00:02:57So he starts drinking.
00:02:58He's calling her.
00:02:58And she's ignoring his calls in Canada.
00:03:00Starts drinking.
00:03:01He's calling her.
00:03:02And finally, he goes, well, I've got
00:03:04to start channeling this thing.
00:03:05So he decides.
00:03:07He looks at the master bedroom that she
00:03:10slept with the guy who was on his payroll whilst he's on tour.
00:03:13And he goes, well, you know what?
00:03:15This is going to become my new music studio.
00:03:17So he starts channeling all the energy that's coming up.
00:03:21And as he's like in the moment, he
00:03:24gramps the invoice from the painting and decorating company
00:03:28that slept with his wife.
00:03:30And he writes a song on it.
00:03:31OK?
00:03:32So should I play?
00:03:32I've got it on my phone.
00:03:33I'll play the song.
00:03:34You ready?
00:03:35This is the song that he writes.
00:03:38[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03:40You're shitting me.
00:03:50So that's how Phil Collins wrote "In the Air Tonight."
00:03:53It's on the invoice of the painter
00:03:55that slept with his wife.
00:03:56And what's interesting, what's funny about this--
00:03:58Did you know this story?
00:04:00What's funny about this story is--
00:04:04Nothing?
00:04:05Wallis--
00:04:05[LAUGHTER]
00:04:08Look.
00:04:11It's the saddest story ever.
00:04:12We got a banger out of it.
00:04:14But he-- well, anyway, so Wallis, he's
00:04:16in this house or in this new music studio that he's created.
00:04:19And he then is in a fugue state, writes "Against All Odds,"
00:04:22which goes on to win a Grammy.
00:04:23So he makes that song then, "Against All Odds,"
00:04:25the next day.
00:04:26What's interesting about the story, the funny part is,
00:04:29what he makes "Against All Odds" obviously
00:04:31becomes a smash hit on the radio.
00:04:33And there's a guy in Manchester who's
00:04:34listening to the song on loop because he split up
00:04:37with his partner five years ago, his girlfriend five years ago.
00:04:39So he's listening to this song, thinking about her.
00:04:41Sees her at a bus station.
00:04:44And they end up going out on a date,
00:04:46spend all night till 6 AM.
00:04:48They get back together.
00:04:49Within six months, we're engaged.
00:04:51They have three children, second child was me.
00:04:54So the whole--
00:04:54What?
00:04:55Whoa.
00:04:55So the whole thing--
00:04:56What?
00:04:57[LAUGHTER]
00:04:59He goes, yeah, yeah, with the toothpick?
00:05:03Yeah, yeah, the second child was me.
00:05:07Are you-- hold on a second.
00:05:08So when you-- so what's beautiful--
00:05:09That was involuntary.
00:05:10When you re-listen to that Phil Collins--
00:05:12Wait, are you Phil Collins' son?
00:05:13Yeah, what-- did you--
00:05:15No.
00:05:15No, no, no.
00:05:16Wait, I got lost there for a second.
00:05:17No, no, no.
00:05:17My dad-- my dad basically loved that song.
00:05:20When he split it with my mom, basically.
00:05:21OK.
00:05:22OK.
00:05:22[INTERPOSING VOICES]
00:05:23I was like, this is how I--
00:05:24That's what you get.
00:05:25No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:05:26Boom.
00:05:27Dad!
00:05:28You know which room that was?
00:05:29This room.
00:05:30[LAUGHTER]
00:05:32That's why--
00:05:32That room became a podcast studio.
00:05:34OK, still crazy.
00:05:35So yeah.
00:05:36Fucking inception.
00:05:36But what's crazy is when you re-listen to that--
00:05:38I think that song's incredible anyway.
00:05:39It still holds up 50, 60 years later.
00:05:41But when you now re-picture him in that old master bedroom,
00:05:45where it all happened.
00:05:46And the lyrics often, when you go back and listen to those--
00:05:47What does he say?
00:05:48Is he saying something that's like, direct or coded?
00:05:50Well, there's a part in there like, if you gave me--
00:05:52if you was drowning, I would not lend a hand.
00:05:55And it talks about you've been smiling,
00:05:57or wiped that grin off your face.
00:05:59Right.
00:06:00It's all about him falling--
00:06:01Doesn't sound like a breakup song on first listen.
00:06:04But it is.
00:06:05Yeah.
00:06:06Yeah, that's crazy.
00:06:07Dude, I fucking-- it's such a fantastic one.
00:06:10What was it that we found out the other day,
00:06:12that Dolly Parton wrote two of her fucking biggest--
00:06:19Google, what two songs did Dolly Parton--
00:06:22Jolene.
00:06:23Jolene.
00:06:24And fucking, like, working 9 to 5 or something in the same day.
00:06:32She wrote them in the same day.
00:06:33Fucking hell.
00:06:34That's crazy.
00:06:34Wow.
00:06:35There's a bunch of those examples of these bursts.
00:06:37These bursts where like, I think the Beatles famously
00:06:39did this, where they recorded like, a fucking album in a day.
00:06:42They did like-- they had like, this insane burst
00:06:45of their greatest hits in a very short--
00:06:46About five-- what was it, Jolene and I Will Always Love You.
00:06:50Wow.
00:06:51In the same day, she mentioned in interviews
00:06:53that she wrote them during the same songwriting session,
00:06:55and later joked, that was a good writing day.
00:06:58Wow.
00:06:59So nonchalant.
00:07:01I think Bobby Darien's Splish Splash
00:07:02was written in 20 minutes or something like that.
00:07:05Have you guys heard the full Rocky story,
00:07:08the Sylvester Stallone Rocky backstory?
00:07:09No.
00:07:10Oh, this is insane.
00:07:11You know this one.
00:07:12So Sylvester Stallone wants to be an actor.
00:07:15And you know, but he's got this like, birth defect.
00:07:18So when he was born, I think the doctors, they did something.
00:07:21That's why he has that crooked smile.
00:07:23So he had like, a medical, almost like malpractice issue
00:07:26when he was born that messed up his face.
00:07:27But he wants to be an actor.
00:07:29He talks kind of funny, faces kind of funny.
00:07:31So he's not getting any roles.
00:07:32Keeps going to casting auditions.
00:07:33No role, no role, no role.
00:07:35So he says, all right, if I can't get casted in somebody
00:07:38else's movie, I'll write my own.
00:07:39So he goes to his house.
00:07:41And again, like sort of in that fuge state,
00:07:42he basically does two things.
00:07:44He paints all the windows black.
00:07:46And he's like, I'm not leaving this house.
00:07:48I don't even want to know if it's night or day
00:07:50until I finish the script.
00:07:51He hates writing.
00:07:52So he's like, I just got to do this fast,
00:07:54because I hate writing.
00:07:55So in three days, he writes the script for Rocky.
00:07:58And he has-- and the story of Rocky,
00:07:59which is like, this average guy wants to be a boxer,
00:08:02but it's not really happening for him.
00:08:04It's a story of him wanting to be an actor.
00:08:05But he just shows boxing, because it's
00:08:07more like physical knockout punch.
00:08:09It's easier for the audience to understand.
00:08:11But it's his story.
00:08:12And so then he goes, and he pitches the script.
00:08:14And people are like, actually, the script is pretty good.
00:08:15He's like, awesome.
00:08:16And they're like, well, buy it.
00:08:17He's like, great.
00:08:18He's like, and I'm Rocky.
00:08:19And they're like, no, no, you're not Rocky.
00:08:20Well, buy the script, but you're not Rocky.
00:08:22And so he has an offer, I think for a million dollars
00:08:24or something like that, which at the time was a lot of money.
00:08:26And he turns it down.
00:08:29He ends up taking, I think, 25 grand or some ridiculously
00:08:34low amount of money for the script.
00:08:35But he gets to be Rocky.
00:08:37And he's struggling to make ends meet.
00:08:39He literally-- he's eating canned beans.
00:08:43He ends up selling his dog, because he can't feed his dog.
00:08:46So his dog was his only companion in the world.
00:08:48He goes, he sells it to a guy, and gets a couple hundred
00:08:52bucks for his dog.
00:08:54And then it's just like, fuck, he's just literally rock bottom.
00:08:57To film Rocky, he basically films the whole movie
00:08:59on like a million dollar budget, handheld camera, no permit,
00:09:02sneaking into things.
00:09:03They film Rocky that way.
00:09:04OK, Rocky becomes this huge hit.
00:09:06He basically gets this money, he goes, and he--
00:09:09first thing he does, he goes back and buys back his dog.
00:09:11The guy doesn't want to sell it to him.
00:09:12He's like, I love this dog.
00:09:14And he ends up paying 25 grand to get his dog back.
00:09:17And then that was basically the start of Sylvester Stallone's
00:09:19story, was this like three day bender
00:09:22he had to write the story of Rocky.
00:09:24How insane is that?
00:09:25Isn't the guy in the film as well, right?
00:09:26And that was part of the deal.
00:09:27It was like, I'll give you 25 grand,
00:09:29and you get to be a cameo in the movie.
00:09:31And he's in the movie Rocky.
00:09:32The guy, he's like, buy the liquor store,
00:09:34is the guy who sold this dog to you.
00:09:35I didn't know any of that.
00:09:36Holy fucking shit.
00:09:37I didn't know that Sylvester--
00:09:38Isn't it better than the actual story of Rocky?
00:09:39And that dog was George.
00:09:40[LAUGHTER]
00:09:44Sylvester Stallone is George's dad.
00:09:45[LAUGHTER]
00:09:48Oh, it does.
00:09:50You've got the nose for it.
00:09:52We'll get back to talking in just one second, but first,
00:09:55tell me if this sounds familiar.
00:09:57You train regularly.
00:09:57You eat reasonably well.
00:09:59Maybe you even supplement.
00:10:00You feel fine, but you're just kind of going off vibes.
00:10:03Most people have absolutely no idea
00:10:05what's going on inside of their body, which
00:10:06is why I partnered with Function.
00:10:08Function gives you access to more than 160 advanced lab tests
00:10:12spanning hormones, heart health, metabolic markers,
00:10:14inflammation, thyroid, nutrients, liver, and kidney function.
00:10:18It even detects early signals linked
00:10:21to more than 50 types of cancer.
00:10:22To put that in perspective, your typical annual physical
00:10:25might test about 20 markers, and Function runs over 160.
00:10:29And this isn't just numbers dumped into your inbox.
00:10:32Every result is reviewed by clinicians.
00:10:34Abnormal markers get flagged, and you get clear explanations
00:10:37and a personalized protocol with actionable next steps
00:10:40so you can actually do something about what you learned.
00:10:42Best of all, you test twice a year,
00:10:44and everything lives in a simple dashboard.
00:10:46You can just track trends over time,
00:10:48make sure that you're moving in the right direction.
00:10:49Normally, this level of testing would
00:10:51cost thousands through private clinics.
00:10:53With Function, it is $365 a year.
00:10:56That's $1 a day to know what's actually
00:10:59happening inside of your body.
00:11:00And right now, you can get $25 off, bringing it down to 340.
00:11:05Get the exact same blood panels that I get
00:11:06and save that additional $25
00:11:09by going to the link in the description below
00:11:10or heading to functionhealth.com/modernwisdom
00:11:14and using the code modernwisdom at checkout.
00:11:15That's functionhealth.com/modernwisdom
00:11:18and modernwisdom at checkout.