Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair at Literary Hub:
“Looking back on it, we did used to say, it’s like a divorce,” Paul McCartney reflected on the Beatles’ breakup, now a marathon heading into its fifth year. “It really was like that, but four fellas trying to divorce instead of a man and a woman. And then you get four sets of lawyers instead of just two. All of that kind of stuff was not making life easy at all.” At the moment, the lawyers were not the problem.
As Paul, Linda and their three daughters—Heather (11), Mary (4), and Stella (2)—were enjoying some downtime at High Park in Campbeltown between recording sessions in Stockport, the attorneys representing each of the former Beatles convened in New York on Monday, February 11, 1974—the tenth anniversary of the Beatles’ American debut concert in Washington, D.C.—to hammer out an agreement dissolving the Beatles’ partnership.
This had been Paul’s goal since early 1970, shortly after John Lennon announced to his bandmates that he was leaving the group. It was John, in fact, who first used the word divorce, likening his split from the Beatles—and the liberation he felt in declaring it—to his divorce from his first wife, Cynthia.
McCartney had not wanted to divorce the Beatles. He wanted to divorce Allen Klein, the brash New York manager whom John brought in to manage the Beatles and their company, Apple, which was losing money alarmingly by early 1969.
More here.
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