For years, rumors of John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, breaking up the Beatles have been in constant rotation. But could there be any truth in that?
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Paul McCartney touched on the hard topic in the latest episode of his “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics” podcast. According to the musician, Ono’s presence at their work space led to a “period of change,” though he didn’t exactly credit her with singlehandedly breaking the ultra-successful foursome up.
Paul McCartney – Says the Group Didn’t Make A Fuss When John Lennon Invited Yoko Ono To The Studio
McCartney touched on the final days of the Beatles during his latest installment for his podcast. Discussing those final moments, the 81-year-old Grammy winner recalled a time Lennon would invite Ono, now 91, to the studio with him when they were supposed to be working.
Her presence, according to McCartney, threw the group’s dynamics off, even though they didn’t make a fuss about it.
“John and Yoko had got together and that was bound to have an effect on the dynamics of the group,” McCartney told poet Paul Muldoon.
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“Things like Yoko being literally in the middle of the recording session [were] something you had to deal with,” he shared elsewhere during the chat. “The idea was that if John wanted this to happen, then it should happen. There’s no reason why not.”
At the time when this was happening, the guys were recording their 9th studio album, 1968’s “The White Album.” Sometime later, the popular boy group would split up, but not fast enough for Ono not to drive McCartney round a bend apparently.
“Anything that disturbs us, is disturbing,” he complained of Ono’s presence in the studio when they were recording.
“We would allow this and not make a fuss,” he continued. “And yet at the same time, I don’t think any of us particularly liked it. It was an interference in the workplace. We had a way we worked.”
“The four of us worked with George Martin. And that was basically it. And we’d always done it like that. So not being very confrontational, I think we just bottled it up and just got on with it.”
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Paul McCartney – Says He Didn’t Instigate The Breakup Of The Beatles
In a 2021 chat with BBC Radio 4’s John Wilson for their interview series This Cultural Life, McCartney denied being the cause of the Beatles’ split.
“I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny,” McCartney said of the band’s 1970 breakup, which saw Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul himself decide to pursue solo careers.
“I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no,” he added. “John walked into a room one day and said, ‘I am leaving the Beatles.’ Is that instigating the split, or not?”
Though he credited Yoko Ono as the reason Lennon chose to quit the group, he also said it was something that Lennon had been wanting for a while because of his “repressive” upbringing.
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