Paul McCartney has set the record straight.
Throughout recent history, the Beatles' former co-lead shouldered much of the blame for breaking up one of rock's most famous bands. Now, McCartney has opened up about that time - nearly 50-years-ago - where himself, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison went their separate ways.
In an upcoming episode of the upcoming BBC Radio 4 interview series, This Cultural Life, McCartney claims that he was not responsible for the famous breakup.
"I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny," he recalled to interviewer John Wilson, per The Independent, detailing that it was the "most difficult period of my life."
"Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. And he said, 'It's quite thrilling, it's rather like a divorce.' And then we were left to pick up the pieces."
The 79-year-old said that he wanted the band to continue recording as they were still creating "pretty good stuff" after eight years together — "'Abbey Road', 'Let It Be', not bad."
"This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted it to continue," he added, citing Lennon's relationship with Yoko Ono. "The point of it really was that John was making a new life with Yoko. John had always wanted to sort of break loose from society because, you know, he was brought up by his Aunt Mimi, who was quite repressive, so he was always looking to break loose."
In the candid conversation, which is due to be broadcast on October 23, McCartney said that there was confusion surrounding the band's split because their new manager, Allen Klein, said he needed time to finish up some business.
"So for a few months we had to pretend," he explained. "It was weird because we all knew it was the end of the Beatles but we couldn't just walk away."
McCartney then sued the rest of his bandmates, in order to keep their music out of the hands of Klein. "I had to fight and the only way I could fight was in suing the other Beatles, because they were going with Klein," he alleged. "And they thanked me for it years later. But I didn't instigate the split."
"Around about that time we were having little meetings and it was horrible. It was the opposite of what we were. We were musicians not meeting people," he continued, asserting that a breakup became inevitable as Lennon "wanted to go in a bag and lie in bed for a week in Amsterdam for peace. And you couldn't argue with that."
On Ono — he said, "They were a great couple. There was huge strength there.''
Since their 1970 split, McCartney has been blamed for the Beatles' breakup, after he infamously told a journalist that the band no longer existed.
This — as well as his decision to call in lawyers to settle their disputes — placed a heavy burden on him over the years. "I had to live with that because that was what people saw," he asserted in the interview. "All I could do is say, no."
