Phil Collins has publicly accused Paul McCartney of being behind the removal of his contribution from a Beatles documentary. The Genesis drummer claimed that a moment in which the Beatles mentioned his name was cut from the final version of the project, as reported by the Mirror.
Collins spoke about his recollection of The Beatles Anthology. He described what he considered a career highlight that he says no longer appears in the finished film.
“The one feather in my cap, which I’ll never forget, was with The Beatles Anthology….the three got the tapes out of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. And they were playing it on the multi-track,” Collins said.
Reflecting on the experience, he recalled his reaction at the time.
“I thought, ‘The Beatles mentioned my name.’ I went back to watch it recently and they’d taken it out. It’s not there anymore. I don’t know, maybe McCartney didn’t like it,” he said.
The comments follow Collins’ previous remarks about a long-running feud with McCartney, which he had described before.
“I met him when I was working at the Buckingham Palace party at the palace thing back in 2002. McCartney came up with Heather Mills and I had a first edition of The Beatles by Hunter Davies and I said, ‘Hey Paul, do you mind signing this for me?’ And he said, ‘Oh Heather, our little Phil’s a bit of a Beatles fan.’ And I thought, ‘You f*ck, you f*ck’. Never forgot it. He’s been in touch about it because he was upset. I certainly didn’t get any flowers from him; I got more of a ‘Let’s just get on with our lives,'” Collins said.
The feud dates back to 2002, when both musicians performed at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace. Collins was the house drummer for the event. During rehearsals, he brought a rare first edition of Hunter Davies’ authorized Beatles biography and asked McCartney to sign it. McCartney agreed, but he first turned to his then-wife, Heather Mills, and made the remark that Collins says stung him for more than two decades.
Collins’ link to the Anthology is not about playing on the project. His name came up in the original 1995 documentary, where George Harrison discussed the making of “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Harrison also mentioned Collins’ later cover of the song, which appeared on his debut solo album, Face Value. Collins says that reference disappeared when the documentary was re-edited for Disney+. He has said the original cut included “a reference from George Harrison about his cover of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows.'” He added that he wondered whether McCartney was behind the change.
The accusation comes only days after Collins said he and McCartney had “kissed and made up” after 24 years of tension. That makes the new comments about the documentary all the more notable.
Neither McCartney nor representatives for the Beatles documentary have publicly responded to the claims. Further updates may follow.
