McCartney says Lennon responsible for Beatle breakup

Does it really matter any more who was responsible.

It was over 50 years ago....Let it Be.

Lennon and Ono were allegedly strung out on smack. As a result, they were unable to perform within the bounds of a group.

Maybe Lennon was the first to say "I'm outta here", but McCartney's 'my way or the highway' attitude broke up the Beatles.

Good on him.

Change is always good, look at AC/DC still rehashing the same old formula. It's as boring as batsh1t

Zichi,did you know the Beatles,while you were young in Liverpool

Oh come on only a fool doesn't know the real reason especially if you are a foreigner living in Japan.

Sure it was Lennon egged on by Ono.

If you know the story of how she got her claws into him, heck he basically never saw his first son until just before his death because she refused to let him.

The museum in Japan she created showing Lennon's life erased his first marriage, first son, only just before closing was a picture included showing Lennon with both his sons just months before his death.

McCartney was the one that took Julian during holidays, etc... While John sang about Imagine everyone living in peace he and Yoko refused to even see Julian.

I would believe Paul long before John/Yoko!

The Beatles had their time. And in the end, it was only Ringo and Paul that wanted to keep the group together. John and Paul would only let George have one of his songs per album. So I can see why he wanted to go solo. He did his best work after leaving the Beatles.

Over-rated, I'd say.

I visited the "John Lennon" museum in Saitama.... I thought a better name would have been "The Yoko Ono" museum....

Zichi

The Beatles didn't really have rehearsals. They basically showed up at their studio and recorded. By the time they did their rooftop performance they were done.

If he wanted to keep the rest of the band together, why didn't he then?

Not sure what kind of business arrangement they had, but they could have offered John a percentage if they wanted to keep the Beatles name, and gone on as a trio or hired someone to take his place. In 70s London, there was a lot of talented rockers changing bands, they could have replaced Lennon in a heartbeat!

It was time, one thinks. The trio could have continued if that was what they wanted but all went their own ways. So John was first to say it and George felt the same way, no?

Doesn’t matter. What’s important is that they broke up when they did. Fawlty Towers could have gone on for 100 episodes but less is more.

The picture is from their first Ed Sullivan Show appearance February 13, 1964.

My FIL has a picture history of the band from 1960 to 1970. Interesting photos of Stu and Pete and Astrid in Hamburg. I for one think Pete was the better drummer.

Brian Epstein broke up the Beatles. By dying.

Anyway, Macca went on to form 'Wings' - the band The Beatles could've been!

zichiToday  09:47 am JST

*The Beatles had rehearsals for their albums and sound checks for their major concerts.* They were playing two gigs a day sometimes. They were playing every single day. Every day was about their music and playing.

Mark Lewisohn Complete Chronicle book, 1992. It lists every studio, radio, and TV session, as well as every live gig they were involved in.

The so-called Esher Tapes are more or less complete attempts at songs... admittedly, most were still one or two takes at most...after learning the chords and such.

Eel Pie Island tapes.

They stopped touring in 1966. Yes they loved their music but I doubt they were playing every single day especially together as a band.

I don't think it's farfetched to say that Lennon initiated the breakup. There's nothing really wrong or bad about it. He tired of the band and wanted to expand his music and other projects.

zichiToday  01:02 pm JST

I believe they got a very early taste of the trials and tribulations of touring during their early years. They were a fixture in the European club scene in the early 60's as you said, performing nonstop.

I was just a child then so can't criticize their decision for not touring anymore but as we still got fabulous albums from their studio work, it made up for it.

Whenever I imagine the Beatles in concert, I reminisce about McCartney & Wings and their Wings Over America US tour. About as close as you can get to the Beatles in concert in the late 70's and one of the best concerts I've ever attended.

Anytime I see the arrogance of “Imagine” man John Lennon highlighted, I give a nod and sigh of relief. McCartney and especially Ringo, we’re nice guys considering the overbearing popularity they went through. They still are, I believe. George Harrison, an egotist who could be very deceitful. John Lennon, an extraordinary egotist and a nasty guy. Just imagine consulting him with your worries.

Yoko Ono. What can you say? Just sheer destruction to anything in her path.

The Beatles’ importance as a band, though, cannot be over-estimated. Unbelievably great and prolific songwriters.

they could have replaced Lennon in a heartbeat!

You clearly don't know what a phenomenon they were. None of them were replaceable, especially not John. That said, they did a great recording of George's Sour Milk Sea minus John Lennon. Eric Clapton filled in on guitar and Jackie Lomax sang. Excellent track https://youtu.be/TEJBItLnw5I

Two words: Ono, Yoko - There is so much one could say about her, but it would only get moderated even though it's mostly true.

While not a rabid fan, I was impressed by their growth as musicians over time. From the simple (and simplistic) 3 chord pop to the much more layered and musically complex arrangements of the later albums, they exhibited a remarkable amount of growth in a very short period of time.

I have been saying that for years!!!

Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles. She didn't want to share John with the others. But really, it was impossible for them to perform and go on with screaming girls nothing could be heard.

You’re not making sense here. You talk about Yoko than jump back to when they wanted to stop touring. And these two events are in no way connected.

This is news? Lennon's been dead 41 years, what's the significance of this revelation now?

Come on! McCartney has a highly selective memory!

John Lennon can hardly comment on such a statement.

Inside the Beatles' messy breakup, 50 years ago

https://www.wiscnews.com/entertainment/music/inside-the-beatles-messy-breakup-50-years-ago/article_91968c44-f275-54bb-9894-8a0eae084608.html

Long before my time, but I read the group ultimately had run it course.

If Paul remembers John just walking in and announcing he was "out" as the simple reason for the Beatles break up, Macca may have smoked too much marijuana affecting his memory.

Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles. She didn't want to share John with the others. But really, it was impossible for them to perform and go on with screaming girls nothing could be heard.

No, Yoko Ono did not break up the Beatles, it was John that ultimately broke up the Beatles, he consciously made the personal choice to be with her, he chose her over his other 3 bandmates.

He could have explained to her how important his bandmembers were, she never put a gun to his head, he was a free-thinking adult that in actuality become tired with the band and the direction of the music, he also wanted to help Yoko push her art talents (to some) and help her promote her artwork, he was also having a difficult time dealing with his first wife and his first born Julian (who really got a raw deal all of his life) dealing with that on and off and it only worsend once Sean was born later, but getting back to what I said earlier, those were the main reasons why the Beatles broke up, she was just there, but the decisions he made were his own and let's not forget John was being more and more overshadowed by Paul and although they were extremely close, John wasn't that enthusiastic about Paul's melodic classical background which was one of the reasons why the group had so many hits, they could have made it without Paul, but Paul's influence broadened the music to the point where even elderly adults were listening to them and that was a big thing in the changing music scene in the 1960s, they were reaching across the aisle and expanding their fanbase unlike the Stones that had a bad-boy image and spoke to a more rebellious crowd primarily.

McCartney is fully aware of the history.

This has always been McCartney agenda.

When Paul McCartney Filed a Lawsuit to Break up the Beatles.......

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-mccartney-sues-to-breaks-up-the-beatles/

McCartney had been planning his own solo album.

McCartney has the gall in attempting for the umpteenth time to rewrite history.

The History is fully clear, and nothing to do with any member wandering into a room and quitting, that is fairy tale nonsense.

Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to dissolve The Beatles’ partnership......

https://www.beatlesbible.com/1970/12/31/paul-mccartney-files-a-lawsuit-to-dissolve-the-beatles-partnership/

All contained within the law suit.

There was no going back from that, a fact that McCartney is fully aware of.

McCartney is fully aware of the history.

This has always been McCartney agenda. 

When Paul McCartney Filed a Lawsuit to Break up the Beatles.......

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-mccartney-sues-to-breaks-up-the-beatles/

McCartney had been planning his own solo album. 

McCartney has the gall in attempting for the umpteenth time to rewrite history.

There have been so many rumors about that but nothing really concrete or definitive to prove or disprove that, but one thing is for certain and that is Lennon did have a more negative outlook as far as where the band was going and what he wanted to musically accomplish, he basically outgrew the band to an extent. Yoko did play a role in everything in her power to keeping John away from the band as much as possible and it was around that time that she was building a reputation of being a heartless harpy which she still holds the title to this day with McCartney.

bass4funk from reading the McCartney lawsuit, and his statement

Talk about traumas!

Not only was the Beatles broken up, this fabbest of groups and these nicest of people, the other three Beatles, these true buddies of mine from way way back, these truest friends of mine were now my firmest enemies overnight.

Ever since I was a child I’d been in this group, I’d grown up in this group, this was my school, my family, my life. John Eastman said, ‘You’ve got to do it this way, there’s no other way.’ I said, ‘I can’t do it! Can you imagine the perception of the world? I know what public relations I’m going to get.

I know how the press will perceive it.” I was just trying to walk away from them and keep it low-key, but I couldn’t. I knew I had to do it. It was either that or letting Klein have the whole thing, all the fortune we’d worked for all our lives since we were children

But we did rescue the Beatle millions. They had taken us long enough to earn and we hadn’t screwed anyone to earn them and I always thought it was very clean money compared to the shipbuilders and the great sugar fortunes. No one had to buy our records.

We’d kept people in work at the vinyl factories, we’d worked for this, scraped our own fingers to the bone. So we felt good about that and I felt good about hanging on to it.

Money and its ultimate control, that was the reason.....

The one thing I know something about is financial law, it is the route of all evil.

This is a sad epitaph to a musical partnership, that simplicity in songwriting captivated a global audience.

John Lennon.. Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.

Taylor Swift found that out the hard way.

One reason why this break up happened and you can still see it today! People don't change, and the blame is directly at Yoko Ono because she wanted to be Yoko UNO #1. She knew how popular the Beatles were and she wanted the fame and the only way to get attention was to keep Lennon to herself!! Yes John could have chose what he wanted but she had the power of the "P" and she controlled him that way. Anytime you keep a father away from his son and his fans until his death is plain evil and it was all about her and the way she set up the museum her art work and John. Her ego and control of John destroyed the Beatles. Even today you can't mentioned the Beatles without mentioning her name, she was the silent killer!!

From the simple (and simplistic) 3 chord pop

You mean superb, catchy pop?

I can play guitar to a point and know more than three chords. I wish it was simple to write simplistic pop songs which hook a massive audience.

Quite a lot of their early stuff is quite unusual in the chords they were using. Dylan called their chords ‘outrageous’.

John told Tom Snyder, Johnny Carson, Charlie Rose, and Dick Cavett that he lost interest in The Beatles before Abbey Road.

"Johnny, I didn't leave The Beatles they left me."

After Magical Mystery Tour, George was doing his own thing working with Bad Finger as a mentor/song writer, Paul was working with Eric Clapton and others looking for a solo gig, and Ringo was really the only one wanting to keep things going. John said he looked around and wated to make a break because the rest had one foot out the door already.

Easy to lay the blame on someone when they're not alive to defend themselves.

Give peace a chance.

If the Beatles hadn't broken up it's unlikely we would have heard the iconic Band On The Run album that Paul put out afterward.

Great point, or John’s 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

What? Anyway, do you want to opine on Lennon and the rest of the group or is it musically a bit too difficult to follow?

Not at all. I already ‘opined’ on the idea that early Beatles work is simple 3-chord pop - a lot of it uses unusual chords. Other musicians at the time commented on it.

I can play guitar to a point and can play some of it. I do a quite handy All My Loving and I’ll Follow the Sun. A lot of that early stuff isn’t simplistic.

As pointed out earlier, it may be a good thing that they were only recording for about 8 years. They created arguably the best work in the history of popular music in that time. I don’t particularly care about who broke them up. They left a stunning body of work.

I still believe the White Album could have been the greatest album of all time had it been pruned and polished.

Not at all.

Good, just keep the focus on the Beatles and all will be good.

As pointed out earlier, it may be a good thing that they were only recording for about 8 years. They created arguably the best work in the history of popular music in that time. I don’t particularly care about who broke them up. They left a stunning body of work. 

I still believe the White Album could have been the greatest album of all time had it been pruned and polished.

I can agree with that. Personally, always loved Harrison's writing the best. His writing style was a bit more enigmatic, but melodically, he wrote a lot of fantastic songs, extremely underrated as a Beatle.

Zichitomorrow

Ono and Lennon first met on November 9, 1966, at the Indica Gallery in London, where she was preparing her conceptual art exhibit.

Nice try but doesn’t fly.

Ono’s sitting in on the White Album was the start. That was nearly two years after “the screaming girls”, so like I said, not connected.

Ringo said it best.

”The final straw was during the recording of ‘Let it Be’, when Yoko insisted that we record her on the toilet taking a dump. She insisted that we release that as the first single instead of ‘Get Back’. She threw her dirty tampon at me when we refused. Me, Paul & George walked out after that and never looked back.”

There is no disputing that Paul McCartney iconic status as a songwriter is etched in Band on the Run, pride of place in my CD collection, Dad has an original vinyl. I know I look after his collection.

I don't know why Paul McCartney wants to proportion blame, however as a employer nobody walks into a room, throws a wobbler and leaves never to return.

That is nonsense.

Rough with the smooth. After all we are only human.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/10/it-was-john-who-wanted-a-divorce-mccartney-sets-the-record-straight-on-beatles-split

McCartney says Lennon responsible for Beatle breakup

...under the influence of his new wife. I thought everyone knew that, what is new?

Ringo said it best.

”The final straw was during the recording of ‘Let it Be’, when Yoko insisted that we record her on the toilet taking a dump. She insisted that we release that as the first single instead of ‘Get Back’. She threw her dirty tampon at me when we refused. Me, Paul & George walked out after that and never looked back.”

Yep. And during the making of the White album Ono lay on a bed in the studio barking at the Beatles through a microphone her critiques of their songs. Poor John. I feel sorry for him ever taking up with this talentless fraud. I suspect he realized later what he’d done. By that time, of course, he and Ono had put so much into promulgating the myth of their great “love” that it was hard for him to escape without looking like an utter fool and hypocrite. Indications are that he was looking for a way out near the end of his life.

Paul would have done anything to keep the Beatles together.

George Harrison invited Lennon to play at the Concert for Bangladesh after the Beatles break up. John was keen to do it. When George told him that of course Yoko Ono was not invited to perform with him John backed out, afraid of incurring the anger of “Mother”.

George Harrison invited Lennon to play at the Concert for Bangladesh after the Beatles break up. John was keen to do it. When George told him that of course Yoko Ono was not invited to perform with him John backed out, afraid of incurring the anger of “Mother”.

I remember that, totally forgot about that. John made his own decisions, but there was no doubt that he was totally whipped and Yoko knew the extent of her power hold on John, she even worked hard to push him not to spend time with Julian and that was always a sad thing how he totally got shafted, he tried to get close to Yoko, but she was just extremely jealous of him and John's relationship, the little bit they had.

In 1980,when John was working getting ready to record what turned out to be his final album, Ono approached the records producer Jack Douglas and told him, “Im going to be on half this album. John doesnt know it yet.”

The problem cause by Yoko Ono. She wanted to be in the band and even in the Album cover photo shoot. John was obsession with Yoko that time and he will do whatever Yoko said. Also, Yoko Ono wanted John quit the band and start solo career. So, she can control John more. Yoko Ono was very much capability woman. If she wanted and then she doesn't care whoever in her way and she Will get it at whatever costs to her. She stolen John from the Linda by slept with John on her bed. Yoko Ono was the person who was responsible for the Beatles breaking-up.