The group's drummer and vocalist Phil Collins released a re-recorded version on his first solo album Face Value in February 1981.
Lyrically, the song is about pleading to a former lover, a subject that fitted smoothly into Collins' post-divorce solo album.
Collins revealed on the Classic Albums documentary on Face Value that his solo remake came about after "recording 'Behind the Lines', we ran the tape back at double speed and suddenly this other song appeared".
This version is billed as "Behind the Lines – Part 2", as it edited out the long instrumental introduction to the song, and is in essence the second half of the original recording.
The song was also played in full (in a medley, between "Dance on a Volcano" and "Follow You Follow Me") on the 1982 Encore tour, and a shorter version was included in an old medley ("Eleventh Earl of Mar"/"Behind the Lines"/"Firth of Fifth"/"The Musical Box") during January 1984 for the Mama Tour.