Paul McCartney did an interview with Howard Stern that completely blew all of the mystique and mysteries of the Beatles breakup out of the water. In the interview, when Howard Stern says, “Who knows who broke up [the Beatles], everyone has a theory, and…” Paul McCartney quickly interrupts Stern and says, “I know.” Stern asked him, “Who broke it up?” Without hesitation, Sir Paul replied, “John,” in a very matter of fact way. Stern then suggests that John Lennon tried to pin it all on Paul, but Paul dismisses that theory just as quickly. McCartney said that it was actually a long story and a lot of “he said, she said,” that suggested that Lennon tried to blame it on Paul. However, Paul makes it clear to Stern that there was a meeting during which Lennon came in and said, “Hey guys, I’m leaving the group.”
Paul elaborates on what prompted Lennon to break up the Beatles. According to Paul, Lennon had found Yoko, and “John loved strong women.” He explains that Lennon’s mother had been a strong woman, as was the aunt who raised Lennon. He further adds that “Bless her, but his first wife wasn’t,” referencing Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia Lennon. Cynthia apparently told Paul once that she wished she had a man who enjoyed his pipe and slippers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t John, Paul explains. Then Sir Paul goes into detail about how Yoko Ono interfered with the group. She would come in and sit in on recording sessions, and “we had never had anything like that.” With all of that said, McCartney absolutely acknowledges that “Looking back on it, the guy was totally in love with her, and you’ve just got to respect that. And we did, and I do.”
We get another juicy admission from McCartney in this interview with Howard Stern. He confessed that the Beatles were angry at each other, and they began “writing songs at each other and like, weaponizing songs.” However, he says he feels very blessed that they got over it, and he’s very relieved about that. He thinks that if they had never made peace with one another and Lennon went and got killed with things unresolved, Paul would have never made peace with that. After the group broke up, Paul and Lennon would frequently talk on the phone, and Paul even visited Lennon on more than one occasion in New York.
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Another fascinating story comes out in this interview, and Howard Stern asks if it’s true. The story he recounts is that John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr wrote McCartney a letter which Ringo hand-delivered to McCartney’s house. In the letter, the three members demanded that McCartney not release his own solo album while a Beatles album was being released. Stern said, “and you took him and just threw him out of the house?” McCartney replies, “I did, I did.” Paul said that it was bad enough that they were splitting up without that added bit going on, with “Ringo delegated to come around and tell me” what to do. Paul says that he told Ringo to, “Fuck offffffff!!! Get out of my house!” However, being Paul, of course, they all got over it. “That’s what families do.” This video is fascinating. Watch it below.
