The Beatles Boxed Set (37 page)

            John
had also grown tired of collaborating with Paul. Tensions between the group members
were further aggravated by John’s preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko
Ono, whom he would always bring to the sessions when they had agreed that none
of their wives and girlfriends were allowed inside the studio.

After two weeks, Ringo had had enough. He quit for a brief
time, leaving Paul to play drums on two tracks. He spent two weeks with actor
Peter Sellers on the latter’s yacht in Piraeus where he wrote
Octopus’s
Garden.
He said later that he felt his role was minimized compared to the
other three Beatles. He felt unappreciated and he had also grown tired of
having to wait through long and contentious recording sessions.

John, Paul and George convinced him to return, which he did
after two weeks. When he returned, he found his drum kit decorated with blue,
red and white flowers, which George did as a welcome-back gesture. But the
reconciliation was only temporary. After completing the album, George and John
would also depart from the band.

            The
album, the band’s first one under Apple Records, came out in November 1968 to
positive reviews. It was a success, reaching number one on the UK charts on
December 1. In the US, the album was also successful. It debuted at number 11,
jumped to number 2 and reached number one in its third week. All in all, the
album spent 155 weeks on the
Billboard
200. The Recording Industry
Association of America claimed that
The Beatles
was the best-selling
album at 19-times platinum and the tenth best-selling album of all time in the
US.

 The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and
ranked tenth on
Rolling Stone
’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

It
was clear that as early as January 2, 1969, the Beatles were breaking up. The
tensions, conflict and divisiveness reminiscent of their previous recording
sessions for
The Beatles
album weren’t gone, and each Beatle was more
than happy to spend some time away from each other.

            Now
that they were to work on their next album and film, they found themselves at
the Twickenham Film studios. Obviously they were on their way to breaking up,
but they had agreed to have it documented.

           
Let
It Be
, which Paul originally called
Get Back
, was mainly his
project. He wanted the Beatles to rehearse new material for a live show at an
unspecified venue. And by filming the whole thing, Paul wanted to show the
world that the Beatles was still “a great little band.”

            Paul’s
intention was good enough, but they couldn’t decide where to stage the live
show. Suggestions included an ocean liner, in front of empty seats, and even at
the foot of a volcano. Ringo refused to stage it outside of England; George
didn’t want to go through with it; John couldn’t care, suggesting that maybe it
was time for them to call it a day.

            When
they began recording, old tensions and rivalries resurfaced. They worked in a
cold and cheerless surroundings. They had been used to working in the dead of
the night at Abbey Road, but now they were recording at Twickenham Film Studios,
which was bigger than Abbey Road to accommodate the film crew, in daytime. To
make matters worse, George Martin was not around during their recording
sessions, an absence that added to the band’s disorganization.

Recording session for the Let It Be album
(originally Get Back) with Billy Preston on electric piano/organ

            Another
factor that further weakened the relationship between the Beatles was their
dissatisfaction with the quality of their songs. They were running out of new
material for their new album.          

            As
a result, some of the songs they rehearsed at Twickenham were unfinished,
including John’s
Gimme Some Truth
and Paul’s
Teddy Boy
, and it
looked as if they had no motivation to finish each other’s songs. John, in particular,
had fewer contributions to the
Let It Be
album. Even then, some of
George’s songs would still be rejected.

            George
walked out on January 1 and didn’t show up for almost two weeks. His exit
coincided with the release of the
Yellow Submarine
soundtrack. George
said he wouldn’t return, and even told them to advertise for a replacement in
the NME.

            The
Beatles were once again complete when George eventually returned, on the
condition that there would be no more talks about touring or television. But tensions
were ever present between the four of them.

            Due
to George’s firm decision not to perform before an audience, the Beatles
finally decided to stage their live show on January 30 on the roof of the Apple
offices in Saville Row, London. They played for 42 minutes, performing
Get
Back
three times,
Don’t Let Me Down
twice,
One After 909, Dig A
Pony
and
I’ve Got a Feeling
twice. The lineup did not include ay of
George’s songs.

            Ringo
and George weren’t all that thrilled, probably because of the grey, cold weather.
But they played great that day, with some people finding their way up the
building or across it to watch the Beatles. Some of the people who worked
nearby phoned the police to have the disturbance stopped.

            The
band carried on until policemen arrived with handcuffs. But as it turned out,
the Beatles weren’t arrested but their live show ended. Was it the end for
them?

            George
had a solo album released while John and Yoko had projects of their own. But
the real nail in the coffin was Allen Klein.

            Without
a manager, the Beatles, or at least John, George and Ringo, wanted Allen Klein
to manage the Beatles. John later accused Paul of trying to take over the group
following Epstein’s death when Paul proposed his new in-laws to manage them.
The other three Beatles thought that Klein was the best candidate as he had
done a good job managing The Rolling Stones. They couldn’t agree, so both
managers were temporarily appointed. Klein ultimately became the band’s sole
manager on May 8.

            Meanwhile,
Let It Be
was still in no fit state to be released and the sessions
were, in Paul’s words, “a miserable experience.” He “thought it was the end of
the road for all of us.”

            The
Beatles began recording for their album
Abbey Road
on July 2. They put
aside their differences for a while, though John insisted that his and Paul’s
songs would occupy separate sides of the album. On
Abbey Road
, the
Beatles sounded like young men, a sharp contrast to the overall sound of their
unfinished
Let It Be
album.

            The
mood was considerably brighter on
Abbey Road,
no doubt because of George
Martin’s presence and the familiar surroundings of Abbey Road studios. For this
album, each Beatle contributed to each others’ songs in the fullest since
Revolver.
And as a result,
Abbey Road
came out as an ambitious album in that the
Beatles did things they had never done before in their previous albums. There
was an extended song cycle, a three-way guitar duel, and a drum solo.

            But
even then, the last session that all four Beatles would be in the same studio
together was the August 20, 1969 session for
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
.

            A
month later, John announced his departure from the group. But they agreed that
they would not tell anyone. It was not clear whether this was made to avoid
undermining sales of the upcoming album or Klein’s contract negotiations with
EMI.

            John,
George and Ringo took it upon themselves to mislead the press about the status
of the Beatles. In February 1970, Ringo told the NME, “Everything’s fine. I’ve
got things to do and George has things to do and Paul has his solo album and
John has his peace thing. We can’t do everything at once.”

           
Abbey
Road
was released in the UK in September 1969, just six days after John’s
departure, and would become one of the most successful Beatles albums ever.
After its release in the UK, it debuted at number one and stayed in the top
position for 11 weeks before being displaced to number two for a week by the
Rolling Stones. The week of Christmas,
Abbey Road
reclaimed the top spot
and held it for 6 weeks.

            In
the UK,
Abbey Road
was the best-selling album of 1969 and the fourth
best-selling album of the entire 1969s.

Abbey Road was the best-selling album of
1969

            The
album was also very successful in the US. It debuted at number 178, then made a
big jump to number 4. In its third week, it was at number one. It was named the
best-selling album of 1969 by NARM and was certified 12x platinum by the RIAA
in 2001.

            For
the album, Ringo contributed
Octopus’s Garden
which he wrote aboard
Peter Sellers’ yacht. George helped him with the song, perhaps out of kinship as
his own songs were often rejected by John and Paul. George had said, “Octopus’s
Garden is Ringo’s song. It’s only the second song Ringo has ever written, mind
you, and it’s lovely.”

            Though
John left the Beatles, they still had unfinished business. In December, Paul,
George and Ringo and their partners enjoyed a New Year’s Eve party at Ringo’s
house in Highgate. Then they recorded George’s
I Me Mine
for the
Let
It Be
album with American producer Phil Spector. John was away in Denmark
on vacation.

            Numerous
preparations were taken to the
Let It Be
album after the recording of
I
Me Mine
. When Paul heard the final product, he was dissatisfied with some
of the changes, particularly the lavish orchestration to his
The Long and
Winding Road
. He demanded that the changes to the song be reverted but he
was ignored. Subsequently, he announced his departure from the band on April
10, 1970.

            The
Beatles’ final album,
Let It Be
, was released in May 1970. The
accompanying single,
The Long and Winding Road
was released in the US
but not in the UK. The documentary accompanying the album was released later
that month and would later win the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Score.

            More
misery followed the Beatles when Klein, backed by John and George, attempted to
delay the release date of Paul’s solo album
McCartney
so that
Let It
Be
could be released without a clash. John and George sent him a letter
that asked him to postpone the release of his album and “Don’t take this
personally.”

            Then
they sent Ringo to Paul’s house as a mediator. Ringo had described the event:
“To my dismay, he went completely out of control, shouting at me, prodding his
finger toward my face, saying, ‘I’ll finish you all now’ and ‘you’ll pay.’ He
told me to put on my coat and get out… While I thought he had behaved a bit
like a spoiled child, I could see that the release date of his record had a
gigantic emotional significance for him… and I felt… we should let him have his
own way.”