Sir Paul McCartney has shouldered the blame for the split of The Beatles for nearly 50 years.
The supposed evidence comes from a revelation from McCartney in a press release for his solo album in 1970, when he announced a “break” from rock’s biggest band. He admitted at the time that he did not “foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again”.
However, McCartney now reveals in a new interview that band mate John Lennon actually prompted the break up. He says he is “not the person who instigated the split”, it was “our Johnny”. According to Sir Paul, “John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles”. He likened the event to a divorce, describing it as “quite thrilling”. The rest of the band then had to “pick up the pieces”.
When questioned if the band would have continued had Lennon not walked away, McCartney replies: “It could have”.
Sir Paul goes on to cite the reason for John wanting to leave as him “making a new life with Yoko”, and wanting “peace”. The band could not argue with that.
McCartney describes it as the “most difficult” period of his life. It was his band, his job and his life, and he “wanted it to continue”. He feels they were producing “some pretty good stuff”, and thought they could continue.
Suing the Beatles
Confusion festering over The Beatles’ break-up was the fault of the group’s new manager Allen Klein. He claimed a need for some time to tie up loose business ends. This meant the band having to pretend for months. Even though they knew the band had ended, they could not just walk away.
However, McCartney always refused to align with Klein. In order to keep the the band’s music out of Klein’s hands, he sued the rest of the group. In the case, which went to the high court, he seeked the dissolution of The Beatles’ contractual relationship. McCartney knew he had to fight, and saw this as his only way because the others were going with Klein.
He says that the other Beatles thank him for it now, years later. Without his legal action, it would not have been possible for archival projects like The Beatles Anthology and Peter Jackson’s upcoming documentary, Get Back.
To hear the full interview, tune into BBC Radio 4 on 23 October for their new series This Cultural Life. Recordings of the music artist reading from his new book, The Lyrics, will become available the following week on BBC Sounds.
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