Early 1970

I just marked the fiftieth anniversary of the recording of the last song the Beatles (minus John Lennon) would record together before the breakup, George Harrison's "I Me Mine."  At that point, the group was still technically together, and there are some indications that the breakup of the group almost didn't happen.  As the seventies began, Paul McCartney was desperately trying to keep the group together, and Ringo Starr, faced with the prospect of a solo career when he had only written two Beatles songs and could barely sing, would, as he later admitted in his song "Early 1970," much rather "see all three" when he went into town to make records.

The fate of the Beatles hung in the balance in the weeks and months following the release of Abbey Road.  Apple business manager Allen Klein had negotiated a new contract that was favorable to the group with Capitol Records in the U.S. to carry the Apple label.  John had been planning a music festival for the summer of 1970 in Toronto to promote his Year One After Peace concept, an idea to commence a pacifist period for human history as the 198th decade of the Christian calendar was a year away from beginning (on January 1, 1971, but John preferred to make 1970 Year One).  It was rumored that the festival would feature the Beatles themselves, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and practically everyone else - "the biggest music festival in history," Lennon promised.  Lennon had chosen Toronto because of its proximity to the U.S., where he couldn't get in, and because of a successful appearance with Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voorman, and future Yes drummer Alan White under the Plastic Ono Band name at a music festival in September 1969.

Meanwhile, Paul was trying to get the other Beatles interested in resuming concert tours, as the Rolling Stones were doing with their 1969 arena tour of America.  At a pivotal meeting of the group on September 20, 1969, he even made the novel suggestion of renting an ocean liner and having the Beatles perform as the house band on a cruise.

"Well, I think you're daft!"  John exclaimed.  Then he dropped the big one.  "I wasn't going to tell you until we signed the [Capitol] contract, but I want out.  I want a divorce."  John's outburst didn't mean the end of the Beatles - not yet - but he agreed to act like it was business as usual until they signed the new record contract when Klein and Paul, in a rare moment of solidarity (the two couldn't stand each other), convinced John to reconsider, or at least not say anything publicly yet.

On another occasion, John and George confronted Paul and demanded that he agree to their idea for recording Beatles albums going forward. John said he was getting tired of Paul calling all of the shots in the studio and arranging "pre-packaged productions" tailored to Paul's own talents.  Henceforth, John and George said each of the three of them should have four songs per LP, with Ringo getting to add one or two songs if he wanted to.  The plan was a form of what Americans would recognize as "affirmative action," but Paul's response was hardly affirmative or action. Instead, he complained that such a quota system was regimentation more suitable to the military than to a rock and roll band; John and George insisted that this the only way to ensure that everyone got a fair share of time on a Beatles album.

Soon, however, circumstances began to emerge that would put the band's future in grave doubt and ultimately prevent them from ever returning to the recording studio except for work needed to complete Let It Be.  In the fall of 1969, John had come up with a new song that he offered to the group as a new Beatles single; he had contributed only one Beatles single since July 1967.  Paul wasn't sold on the tune - "Cold Turkey," a song about getting off heroin and the pain involved - so John put it out as a Plastic Ono Band single, having played it at the Toronto concert.  It was the first song credited to John Lennon alone, thus ending the twelve-year Lennon-McCartney songwriting collaboration, but the single, released in October 1969, was not a big hit.

At about that time, Paul dropped out of sight for awhile, which led to the rumors that he was dead.  He had, in fact, repaired to his farmhouse in Scotland to plot his course for what would come next.  When he returned to London in December, at the same time John and George were playing at a benefit for UNICEF at the Lyceum Ballroom, he began work on a solo record in his home studio.  With the group on ice, Paul wanted to stay active musically, but he had to find his way as a solo artist after having been part of the Beatles for so long.

Events then moved quickly.  With the Let It Be album - still at this point to be called Get Back - in limbo, Allen Klein and Capitol patched together an LP of ten single tracks that hadn't appeared on a Capitol-issued Beatles album before to provide fresh product for American record stores; the LP's title, The Beatles Again, which would be released in late February 1970, was soon changed to Hey Jude.  Meanwhile, Beatles Monthly,  the group's fan magazine, folded after its December 1969 issue (though it would resume publication in 1976 and would continue for nearly 27 years).  This last issue would fault the Beatles for letting the music be taken over by business and lamented how they were no longer the handsome young lads they used to be, all of them having grown uncultivated beards by then.  The group's seventh and final Christmas disc for their official fan club was also a disappointment, dominated by John Lennon and Yoko Ono's irreverent but irrelevant ramblings and showing no joy or cheer whatsoever.

When Paul George, and Ringo completed their recording sessions for Let It Be on the first weekend of 1970, having taped "I Me Mine" on Saturday, January 3 and overdubs for "Let It Be" on Sunday, January 4, there was still a modicum of hope that the Beatles would stay together, at least outside the confines of the group. But John had already lost interest in the Year One festival he'd been planning and had pulled the plug on it when business issues and logistical concerns - the latter prompted by the Rolling Stones' disaster at Altamont - intervened.  More work was still needed to complete Let It Be.  Paul was reportedly unsure at this time if his break from the group was temporary or permanent.  

To be continued . . .