The Beatles had symbolized the great communal spirit of the era. How could they possibly come apart?<\/p>\n
Few at the time were aware of the underlying fissures. The power struggles in the group had been mounting at least since their manager, Brian Epstein, died in August of 1967.<\/p>\n
\u2018Paul Quits the Beatles\u2019<\/h2>\n
Was McCartney\u2019s \u201cannouncement\u201d official? His album appeared on April 17, and its press packet included a mock interview. In it, McCartney is asked<\/a>, \u201cAre you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?\u201d<\/p>\n His response? \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n But he didn\u2019t say whether the separation might prove permanent. The Daily Mirror nonetheless framed its headline conclusively: \u201cPaul Quits the Beatles.\u201d<\/p>\n The others worried this could hurt sales and sent Ringo as a peacemaker to McCartney\u2019s London home to talk him down from releasing his solo album ahead of the band\u2019s \u201cLet It Be\u201d album and film, which were slated to come out in May. Without any press present, McCartney shouted Ringo off his front stoop<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lennon, who had been active outside the band for months, felt particularly betrayed.<\/p>\n The previous September, soon after the band released \u201cAbbey Road,\u201d he had asked<\/a> his bandmates for a \u201cdivorce.\u201d But the others convinced him not to go public to prevent disrupting some delicate contract negotiations.<\/p>\n Still, Lennon\u2019s departure seemed imminent: He had played the Toronto Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Festival with his Plastic Ono Band in September 1969, and on Feb. 11, 1970, he performed a new solo track, \u201cInstant Karma<\/a>,\u201d on the popular British TV show \u201cTop of the Pops.\u201d Yoko Ono sat behind him, knitting while blindfolded by a sanitary napkin.<\/p>\n In fact, Lennon behaved more and more like a solo artist, until McCartney countered with his own eponymous album. He wanted Apple to release this solo debut alongside the group\u2019s new album, \u201cLet It Be<\/a>,\u201d to dramatize the split.<\/p>\n By beating Lennon to the announcement, McCartney controlled the story and its timing, and undercut the other three\u2019s interest in keeping it under wraps as new product hit stores.<\/p>\n Ray Connolly, a reporter at the Daily Mail, knew Lennon well enough to ring him up for comment. When I interviewed Connolly in 2008, he told me about their conversation.<\/p>\n Lennon was dumbfounded and enraged by the news. He had let Connolly in on his secret about leaving the band at his Montreal Bed-In in December 1969, but asked him to keep it quiet. Now he lambasted Connolly for not leaking it sooner.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you write it when I told you in Canada at Christmas!\u201d he exclaimed to Connolly, who reminded him that the conversation had been off the record. \u201cYou\u2019re the f\u2013king journalist, Connolly, not me,\u201d snorted Lennon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were all hurt [McCartney] didn\u2019t tell us what he was going to do,\u201d Lennon later told Rolling Stone<\/a>. \u201cJesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it! I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n This public fracas had been bubbling under the band\u2019s cheery surface for years. Timing and sales concealed deeper arguments about creative control and the return to live touring.<\/p>\n In January 1969, the group had started a roots project tentatively titled \u201cGet Back.\u201d It was supposed to be a back-to-the-basics recording without the artifice of studio trickery. But the whole venture was shelved as a new recording, \u201cAbbey Road,\u201d took shape.<\/p>\n When \u201cGet Back\u201d was eventually revived, Lennon \u2013 behind McCartney\u2019s back \u2013 brought in American producer Phil Spector<\/a>, best known for girl group hits like \u201cBe My Baby,\u201d to salvage the project. But this album was supposed to be band only \u2013 not embroidered with added strings and voices \u2013 and McCartney fumed when Spector added a female choir to his song \u201cThe Long and Winding Road.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGet Back\u201d \u2013 which was renamed \u201cLet it Be\u201d \u2013 nonetheless moved forward. Spector mixed the album, and a cut of the feature film was readied for summer.<\/p>\n McCartney\u2019s announcement and release of his solo album effectively short-circuited the plan. By announcing the breakup, he launched his solo career in advance of \u201cLet It Be<\/a>,\u201d and nobody knew how it might disrupt the official Beatles\u2019 project.<\/p>\n Throughout the remainder of 1970, fans watched in disbelief as the \u201cLet It Be<\/a>\u201d movie portrayed the hallowed Beatles circling musical doldrums, bickering about arrangements and killing time running through oldies. The film finished with an ironic triumph \u2013 the famous live set on the roof of their Apple headquarters<\/a> during which the band played \u201cGet Back,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Down\u201d and a joyous \u201cOne After 909.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/325794\/original\/file-20200406-104477-gkg4w8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip\")
\nThe Daily Mirror<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLennon had kept quiet<\/h2>\n
It all falls apart<\/h2>\n