VIDEO: Paul McCartney Explains Fallout With Michael Jackson

Paul McCartney discussed the highs and lows in his long history with the late Michael Jackson Wednesday on The Late Show with David Letterman.

McCartney, 67, recalled the first time the high-pitched voice of Jackson, who died June 25, was on the other end of a phone call. He said the late King of Pop meekly asked him, "Wanna make some hits?"-- and the result was a pair of smash singles, "Say, Say, Say," and "The Girl is Mine."

The pair stopped making music together when a rift grew because Jackson, who purchased the rights to the Beatles catalog, wouldn't re-negotiate a royalties fees with McCartney.

Said Paul: "He kept saying, 'That's just business, Paul, you know,' so I went, 'Yeah, it is,' and waited for a reply. But we never kind of got to it and I thought, 'Mmmmm,' so we kind of drifted apart. It was no big bust-up. We kind of drifted apart after that."

McCartney called the late Thriller singer "a lovely man" and "massively talented."

"And we miss him," Paul said.