Music Mix: John Lennon split from Paul McCartney

All this time, Paul McCartney has been believed to be the cause of the Beatles’ split-up in April 1970. This was mainly due to the fact that he was the one who quit the band (which included John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison), but there’s more to the split-up than meets the eye. A lost, taped interview with John Lennon – who was assassinated in 1980 – has resurfaced, which tells a different story. In it, the guitarist and singer revealed that he told his co-songwriter that he wanted to split with the band in September 1969, before the release of their last album, ‘Let It Be’. John said he told Paul this when they had a fall-out at a record company meeting. “At the meeting Paul just kept mithering on about what we were going to do, so in the end I just said, ‘I think you’re daft. I want a divorce,’” he said.

It can be recalled that John wrote the song ‘How Do You Sleep’, which had lyrics attacking Paul. He also kept on being critical of Paul even after the Beatles’ break-up, although in the lost interview, he did say that the only other person he worked as closely as he did with Paul was his wife. “I suppose it was a bit hard on him. I only ever asked two people to work with me as a partner. One was Paul McCartney and the other Yoko Ono,” John said.