During an appearance in London to mark the forty-fifth anniversary of his debut solo album, Face Value, Phil Collins found himself revisiting an old Beatles connection that seems to have quietly vanished from view. On stage in conversation with musician Steven Wilson, Collins looked back at the closing track of that 1981 record, an experimental reworking of Revolver landmark Tomorrow Never Knows. The tribute once brought him what he regarded as a career high point, but a recent viewing of the moment left him raising questions about Paul McCartney.
When the documentary series The Beatles Anthology first aired in 1995, one memorable scene gathered the surviving members around a studio mixing desk. Listening back to the original multitrack tapes for Tomorrow Never Knows, George Harrison mentioned Collins by name, acknowledging his solo recording. For Collins, having his work singled out by the band as they revisited their own master tapes was an unforgettable seal of approval.
Yet when Collins recently rewatched the documentary following its arrival on streaming platforms, the exchange was nowhere to be found. Harrison's spoken nod had been edited out entirely. Reflecting on the omission during the London event, Collins openly wondered whether McCartney had been the person responsible for cutting the remark from the finished presentation.
The suspicion rekindles memories of an uneasy history between the two drummers and frontmen, rooted in an awkward encounter at Buckingham Palace in 2002. Collins had approached McCartney and his then wife Heather Mills carrying a first edition of Hunter Davies's authorized Beatles biography, hoping for an autograph. McCartney allegedly turned to Mills and quipped that little Phil was quite a fan of the band, a comment Collins found patronizing and unexpectedly painful coming from an artist he revered.
That slight surfaced publicly in 2016, when Collins remarked in interviews that McCartney had a habit of making people feel small during conversation. McCartney got in touch shortly afterward to clear the air, expressing dismay over the public remarks and urging that both men simply move past the grievance.
For a time, the matter seemed settled. Collins later admitted he regretted telling the palace story in public, confirming their differences were resolved. In 2018, Collins included McCartney on an expansive fifty-nine track box set, while McCartney supported Collins by donating items of personal memorabilia to a charity auction benefiting The King's Trust.
McCartney has not issued any response to Collins's latest comments in London. He has remained busy with other work, including the animated film adaptation of his children's book High In The Clouds, featuring Celine Dion, and his solo record The Boys of Dungeon Lane, which reunited him with Ringo Starr. Whether Harrison's brief compliment fell victim to simple pacing or an old grudge, the missing line has clearly reopened a lingering thought for Collins.
