The 1993 song Phil Collins refused to perform: “I only ever played it once”Phil Collins, despite being an unavoidable cultural force in the 1980s who somehow performed at Live Aid on two different continents in one day, has always been a reluctant star. Intriguingly, Collins is known for having written songs that appear both highly complex and delightfully simple over the duration of his career. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday following the album’s release, Collins explained, “This song, like a lot of my songs, wrote itself. While he didn’t divulge which other songs came to him similarly, it’s a remarkable feat to simply have a song feel complete in one sitting and then leave it alone. It was very much a solo album.