Fifty years after the end of the Beatles , much has been speculated about who was really to blame for the breakup of one of the greatest bands in history. According to Paul McCartney , the answer is John Lennon .
Much of the blame has fallen on McCartney's shoulders over the years, as he was the first to bring in lawyers to resolve the band's disputes and also the first to acknowledge the end of the Beatles while promoting his solo LP in 1970. In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4 , however, Paul McCartney states that it wasn't quite like that.
“I didn’t instigate the breakup. It was our Johnny who showed up one day saying, ‘I’m leaving the group,’” he recounts. “That was my band, my job, my life, so I wanted to continue. I’m not the one who instigated the breakup. No, no, no. John walked into the room one day and said, ‘I’m leaving the Beatles.’ Isn’t that instigating a breakup?”
McCartney further added that the Beatles were doing “very good things” during their time apart. “The truth is that John was building a new life with Yoko . John always had to kind of break free from society because he was raised by his aunt Mimi who was quite repressive, so he was always looking for a way to break free,” the musician reflected.
In November, some of the Beatles' last works as a band can be explored in the documentary Get Back , which premieres on Disney+ and is directed by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings ).
READ ALSO: Eric Clapton almost replaced George Harrison in the Beatles due to John Lennon's decision.