1970
John, George and Ringo all threatened to leave the band at
various times during 1969.
Lennon left in September 1969 but agreed not to make the
decision public. He was very angry when Paul McCartney
officially ended The Beatles in April 1970.
"I started
the band. I finished it." Lennon said later.
Why did
The Beatles break-up?
"One of the main reasons The Beatles ended is because ...
we got fed up with being sidemen for Paul. After Brian
Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly
led us. But what is leading us when we went round in
circles?"
This is a unfair on McCartney. He worked hardest of all the
The Beatles to keep the band together. But in the end his
relations with the other band members broke down.
After The
Beatles
By the end, John and Paul only spoke to each other through
lawyers. Much bad feeling followed their. 'divorce'. During
the 1970s John attacked his former partner in interviews.
He even made a record directed at McCartney called, 'How
Can You Sleep?'.
Slowly relations improved. Both songwriters realised that
the other made them stronger. There was even talk of a
Beatles reunion until the death of John Lennon in 1980.
