Paul McCartney Contends Beatles Breakup Began with John Lennon

Paul McCartney touched on the Beatles' breakup in a new interview and said John Lennon was the one to initiate the band's legendary split.

Sir Paul discussed the matter in an upcoming BBC Radio 4 interview that was previewed by The Guardian and will air on October 23. The U.K. outlet quoted McCartney saying, "I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny coming in one day and saying ‘I’m leaving the group.'"

Macca notes that the Beatles could have gone on for a number of years more had it not been for Lennon's desire to leave saying, "It could have been. The point of it really was that John was making a new life with Yoko. John had always wanted to sort of break loose from society because, you know, he was brought up by his Aunt Mimi, who was quite repressive, so he was always looking to break loose...[John] wanted to go in a bag and lie in bed for a week in Amsterdam for peace. And you couldn't argue with that. [John and Yoko] were a great couple. There was huge strength there."

McCartney also addressed the fallout of the Beatles' split, from how manager Allen Klein had the band not mention the split in the press due to various "business deals" to McCartney getting lawyers involved in the band's business, which he explained was to protect the band's legacy.

"It was weird because we all knew it was the end of the Beatles but we couldn’t just walk away," said McCartney. "I had to live with [bringing in lawyers] because that was what people saw...I had to fight and the only way I could fight was in suing the other Beatles, because they were going with Klein. And they thanked me for it years later."