We’ll never know what might have happened – or more specifically what music we might have heard – had The Beatlesnot disbanded. And for that great rock n’ roll mystery we can thank John Lennon. In a conversation with radio host Geoff Lloyd on Absolute Radio this week, Paul McCartney revealed that it was Lennon who demanded that The Beatles end for good.
The Beatles eventually called it a career in 1970 following the recording of Let It Be. The famous foursome played their final concert on the rooftop of the Apple Records headquarters in London on Jan. 30, 1969.
Said McCartney:
“Basically me, George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr] said ‘Does this have to be final, could we do a couple of gigs or can we think about this tomorrow?’, but John was off with Yoko and he was saying ‘No, no, it’s great, I feel a release’ and all that.”
“So that was kind of final,” McCartney added.
In the same interview, McCartney also voiced his opinion about Starr being knighted. As it stands, McCartney is the only Beatle with a coveted knighthood status.
McCartney was asked if perhaps a visit to the Queen might help get Starr knighted.
“The last time I went by she was out,” he joked. “Otherwise I would have popped in and said ‘Look, love, Sir Richard Starkey’. Because I do think it’s about time, but she probably was a bit busy with Sir Brucie.”
Besides slamming Lennon for putting the kibosh on The Beatles, McCartney has plenty going on: earlier this month he attended the Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil for its fifth anniversary and coming up he has two shows at New York’s Yankee Stadium (July 15 and 16), plus concerts booked in Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati later this summer.
McCartney also said he believed that The Beatles back catalogue would be available on Spotify “soon”.
As for the final show in ’69 on the rooftop of Apple headquarters, at the close of the performance John Lennon says: “I’d like to say ‘thank you’ on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition!”
This comment was later spliced on to the end of the Let It Be album.
The Beatles eventually called it a career in 1970 following the recording of Let It Be. The famous foursome played their final concert on the rooftop of the Apple Records headquarters in London on Jan. 30, 1969.
Said McCartney:
“Basically me, George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr] said ‘Does this have to be final, could we do a couple of gigs or can we think about this tomorrow?’, but John was off with Yoko and he was saying ‘No, no, it’s great, I feel a release’ and all that.”
“So that was kind of final,” McCartney added.
In the same interview, McCartney also voiced his opinion about Starr being knighted. As it stands, McCartney is the only Beatle with a coveted knighthood status.
McCartney was asked if perhaps a visit to the Queen might help get Starr knighted.
“The last time I went by she was out,” he joked. “Otherwise I would have popped in and said ‘Look, love, Sir Richard Starkey’. Because I do think it’s about time, but she probably was a bit busy with Sir Brucie.”
McCartney also said he believed that The Beatles back catalogue would be available on Spotify “soon”.
As for the final show in ’69 on the rooftop of Apple headquarters, at the close of the performance John Lennon says: “I’d like to say ‘thank you’ on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition!”
This comment was later spliced on to the end of the Let It Be album.
