Yoko Ono Talks Beatles Breakup and How It Was "Getting to Be Like Paul's Band"

New revelations pour cold water on the idea Lennon's widow was central to the band's demise

By Josh Grossberg Dec 28, 2012 4:28 PMTags
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As we all know, the Beatles couldn't work it out unfortunately.

But a two-decade-old interview Yoko Ono did with famed rock journalist Joe Smith that's surfaced for the first time courtesy of The Huffington Post sheds more light on why the Fab Four called it a day.

And if you ask John Lennon's widow, whom fans have long blamed for the split, it was already in the works by the time she began to make her presence felt.

During the sit-down recorded in 1987, Ono explained that the tensions that had come to envelop the Beatles stemmed from her hubby, Ringo Starr and George Harrison's increasing desire to venture out on their own.

"The Beatles were getting very independent," she told Smith, noting that while Lennon was "feeling very good about" what she called a "divorce," the others were feeling very much like they needed to get some distance from Paul McCartney.

"Each one of them [was] getting independent," she added. "John, in fact, was not the first one who wanted to leave the Beatles. [We saw] Ringo one night with Maureen [Starkey Tigrett], and he came to John and me and said he wanted to leave. George was next, and then John."

In fact, two years before the Beatles announced their breakup in 1970, Starr left the group for two weeks during sessions for The White Album. But by the time the mop-tops were recording their swan song, Abbey Road, Ono said, it was Paul who was essentially left with the task of keeping the dream alive.

"Paul was the only one trying to hold the Beatles together," the Japanese avant-garde artist recalled. "But the other three thought Paul would hold the Beatles together as his band. They were getting to be like Paul's band, which they didn't like."

Revealingly, Ono's telling of the Beatles' demise jibes with what Macca told iconic British journalist David Frost in an interview back in October.

"She certainly didn't break the group up; the group was breaking up," McCartney said, noting that John was going to exit regardless.

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Yoko also made clear the issues she and Lennon had in their own relationship due to the split, noting that the late music legend missed his bandmates and "expected all that to be replaced by me."

Ono, now 79, continues to record music and perform and recently launched a fashion line with Opening Ceremony inspired by her love for Lennon.