Beatles Break Up Debugged By Paul But John Lives On

Sir Paul McCartney recently insisted John Lennon “instigated” The Beatles breakup, but maybe forces greater than both creative geniuses made it inevitable? Even in today’s finger-pointing culture, does it matter who seemed to have “instigated” the break up when ALL FOUR of The Beatles went on to create pretty great stuff on their own afterwards?

It’s been 50 years since the Beatles’ last appearance together & that was during an impromptu lunchtime concert on the rooftop of their Apple record company. But, fans have debated ever since who was more “responsible” for the band’s divorce. And, the controversy will surely be resurrected by the upcoming Disney+ documentary “Get Back” by Peter Jackson that chronicles the band’s final months. (It airs Oct. 23.) A Fox story this week notes how Paul, in anticipation of the Disney doc, tried to debunk the notion on a British radio show he might have played a hand in the end. He had first been asked by The Observer about “his” decision to “strike out on his own & he likewise countered: “Stop right there. I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day & said, “I am leaving The Beatles.’ Is that instigating the split or not?”

John’s well-known bluntness certainly appears to still trigger a sore spot in the more sensitive Paul decades after his partner’s murder outside the Dakota Apts across the street from New York’s Central Park. Paul noted how the group was still making “pretty good stuff” and “this was my band, this was my job, this was my life. So I wanted it to continue.” Of course. Didn’t we all? Yet, as good as The Beatles’ post-British Invasion “stuff” still was, weren’t world events & personal relationships, let alone music tastes in both arenas, rapidly changing? Could the more inquisitive John have simply seen the handwriting on the wall more quickly, more clearly?

Davd Soul