When did John decide to leave The Beatles/what was the "final straw"?

Love the painting, but that looks like *Jesus from The Walking Dead.

 

You get that he's writing in John's voice, right? (Are Macca stans the most touchy on this board?)

 

John recorded a ton of stuff in 1968, hard to see him really start to distance himself from the group until 1969, when he still contributed quite a bit.

 

Question:
When the Beatles went to George's Esher house on May 24, 1968, to rehearse the songs that they wrote in India, did Yoko go? This took place only a week before the actual sessions began for The White Album, and I'm curious if Yoko had been at George's home that day. If not, then it must have certainly been a surprise having Yoko at the studio starting on day one.

 

Cyn said to John in front of a reporter: "You need them (the band) more than they need you!"

 

Wasn't she there for Hey Bulldog? Although I'm not sure they were really together yet.

 

No, Yoko wasn't there in February 1968 when The Beatles did "Hey Bulldog" and "Lady Madonna". She had incidentally attended one session in September 1967 (I think for "The Fool On The Hill") along with 2 Japanese journalists. It wasn't until The White Album began that she was John's partner in the studio.

 

She was apparently there for “Fool On The Hill”.

 

See my note above (post #182).

 

Maybe John remembered wrong, but I'm pretty sure he said it in an interview. he was embarrassed to be performing a poppy song and he was talking about Hey Bulldog at the time. Don't know how accurate Ian MacDonald's book Revolution In The Head is, but he also mentions her being there.

 

the thing that puzzles me the most about the break-up of the Beatles, is that John kept complaining about how Paul and George Martin would sabotage his recordings, and how a lot of the stuff they recorded he didn't regard very highly...then he went on to record something as enervated as the Mindgames album, or as slick as Double Fantasy....

 

She was NOT there for "Hey Bulldog". That's a fact. Also, this was before the trip to India, and John was still with Cynthia.

 

Just saying pretty sure John said it, I sure wasn't there to confirm.

 

This. John said "screw it" after this one!

 

John might have said it (but you should double-check to find the exact quote), but she wasn't there. That session in February 1968 was also filmed for the "Lady Madonna" promo film. There was no Yoko to be found. And all the Beatles were very happy being together at that time.

 

Am I the only one who thinks Cold Turkey is better than Love Me Do, Slow Down or Hello Goodbye?

 

As it is for everyone else here who can't stop talking about them. Move on, folks. It isn't 1965 anymore.

 

George & even Ringo weren't too fond of that 1 either.

The worst session ever was Maxwell's Silver Hammer. It was the worst track we ever had to record. It went on for ****ing weeks. I thought it was mad.
Ringo Starr
Rolling Stone, January 2008

 

maybe the latter one but it is better than the other two, being from the country or origin its hard to get my head around the fact that Slow Down could have been a single...

 

move onto another thread if it bothers you so.

 

I love Cold Turkey (the song, not the leftovers), but I realize a lot of others don't.

 

So the adolescent Uncle Albert is better than Maybe I’m Amazed?

Better than Love?

Better than Imagine?

Better than Smile Away?

Better than It Don’t Come Easy?

Better than Isn’t It A Pity?

Better than What Is Life?

Better than Beware Of Darkness?

Better than Oh Woman Oh Why?

Better than Come And Get It?

Better than God?

 

but was he not by then already playing hide the sausage with Yoko or was that after india ?

 

I don't really buy that he "was persuaded" by Paul. For a lot of reasons:

1. If John wasn't listening to Paul when it came to posing nude on album covers or bringing Yoko into the studio, why would he suddenly listen to Paul "for commercial reasons"? Saying that Paul "persuaded" John -- as if John was the victim here when he wasn't the 1 in their 3-against-1 fight -- is just another way of letting John off the hook for his own choices.
2. John Lennon pretty much did what John Lennon wanted to do. If he'd wanted to officially end the band, he would have. I don't think he did want to end it. He never left in a way that made it permanent. He just left things hanging, perhaps thinking Paul would finally cave in to Klein and to the way John wanted the band to operate.
3. After Paul filed suit, John's odd behavior -- his hurt feelings and his incredible bitterness -- is reminiscent of the person who's thinking about breaking up, but still feels something, and can't quite pull the plug -- then gets infuriated when he gets dumped. That he was so shocked by Paul's decision suggests to me that, deep down, John wasn't ready for the band to be over.

 

We can't be certain of his real intentions only of his actions and i believe that it was John who was on record as saying that Paul & Klein that persuaded him to keep stum.