Paul McCartney wanted The Beatles to continue to work, record and perform when the band infamously split up in 1970, and that it was his teenage friend John Lennon who sparked the breakup.
Whatever caused the demise of the world’s most famous pop group has been a non-stop, wide ranging debate in vast circles
Theories range from various artistic differences and legal disputes, to Lennon’s marriage to artist Yoko Ono.
In a forthcoming episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life“, 79-year-old McCartney addressed what he said was the most difficult period of his life.
“I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny,” he said. “This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted it to continue.”
McCartney told the interviewer that he never set out to leave, before giving his explanation of what happened.
“John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles,” McCartney said.
“And he said, ‘It’s quite thrilling, it’s rather like a divorce’. And then we were left to pick up the pieces.”
McCartney said the band would have continued if Lennon had not walked away; “I thought we were doing some pretty good stuff – Abbey Road, Let It Be, not bad“.
McCartney claims that after Lennon’s decision to move on from the band, that the remaining members were advised by their new manager, Allen Klein, to keep their impending move a secret while he tied up some loose ends.
“So for a few months we had to pretend,” McCartney said. “It was weird because we all knew it was the end of the Beatles but we couldn’t just walk away.”
