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

Smile away is made by 2 things and 2 things only: that guitar distortion. And Paul’s grandstanding; that whooping at the end is incredible. Bless that man.
Long Haired Lady is so beautiful, underrated psychedelia I think.

/off topic

For John it really is hard to pinpoint the last straw. I’ve heard there were days when he was still into it even after “quitting”: apparently there’s a tape of him suggesting what to do on their next album. But he was very mercurial by this point, and the drugs probably didn’t help. I think he felt stifled artistically to some degree. By “BEATLES.” Overall it was the rush to have Klein fill Epstein’s role that finalized the band’s end.

 

Not sure George recalled the correct song, because there are photos of John doing that during the recording of Baby's in Black. But as it wasn't eventually recorded that way, maybe they did it again a few months later.
This is one of the pictures, but The Beatles Book Monthly showed John actually twiddling George's knobs too. Ahem. Arnie?

 

for John its not really rocket science imho, Yoko was turning him on more than the other Beatles, and whilst he was still committed to the band that commitment became increasingly halfhearted at best and once the problems at Apple and the Klein Eastman divide made the whole Beatles thing more of a drag for him why would you want to have to deal with that when you could have more fun letting off balloons with Yoko or making films about the murderer on the A6 etc etc, it was really a drip drip no brainer for him.

However nobody has mentioned the car crash, it is possible the car crash may have given him a life's too short reappraisal but that is more conjecture on my part but it could be worth bearing in mind ( as was John's choice of car, an Austin Maxi for christs sake lol )

 

I bet you that was a trick John learned from the Hamburg lasses on the Reeperbahn...

 

Check my facebook page, you'll find pics from the Baby's in Black session...and more
The Beatles Recording

 

George was John's Paul during the creation of the songs on Revolver.

 

True- Paul was the odd man out in that period thanks to his refusal to drop acid. And they probably let him know it. John and George's bonding during the Revolver sessions -especially when working on "She Said She Said"- likely made McCartney feel like a fifth wheel, which is why he walked out of the "She Said" session.

Of course, as I've theorized before, once George gave up on acid in the fall of 1967, that marks the start of the period where Lennon made a point of contributing as little as possible to George's songs. John and George bonded over acid. Pure conjecture, but when George gave up the lysergic Lennon probably looked upon that as a kind of betrayal- certainly the two of them were never as close again.

 

I don't think John decided to leave. He just made it impossible for the others to stay. He started it and, even though he was always amenable to give up a certain amount of control to achieve his goals, when his goals evolved beyond the point of where to others were willing to go, he created the conditions where the end was inevitable. These were men who achieved fame and fortune beyond their wildest dreams. As in most cases, fame proved to be more of a liability than an asset. With money comes independence. It was only natural for each to want to assert own creative vision. Between Yoko, Allen Klein, and Johns' mercurial nature, the conditions were such that "The Beatles" were no longer the creative outlet John wanted.

 

We don't know why Paul walked out of She Said She Said. We can speculate but we don't know.

 

Didn't Paul have a dentist appointment?

 

AND:
George was Paul's John during the creation of the songs on Abbey Road.

Anyone care to keep this brain teaser going some more? ...

 

The first Beatle to leave was Ringo .

 

I thought it was Tommy Moore.

 

Ironically, George Harrison didn't even like "Don't Bother Me"; he once described it as "a fairly crappy song".

 

I think George was taking the piss there, I'm pretty sure it was a volume pedal.

 

And the photographic evidence and contemporary report in The Beatles Monthly Book?

 

I maintain that Eppy dropped Paul because of the strain on the dental plan. In comes Bill Campbell with the perfect choppers...

 

- well he did desperately have to have that chipped tooth present on the Paperback/Rain video's capped....

 

Yes, with Dr. Robert.

 

I've never seen the Beatles Monthly Book, or the photograph. If you say so. You're in Liverpool, I'll take your word for it, but it sure sounds like a volume pedal to me.

 

Yes, that is the dentist that I had in mind.

 

In fact, Magic Alex transformed John into a volume pedal, so you both are correct.

 

Awesome!

 

Or perhaps it was the period where George made a point of deliberately not using John on his songs. We have no idea why John does not appear on some of George's White Album songs, but there is no evidence it was because Lennon was deliberately avoiding contributing. As to the notion of a rift between them, it's notable that Lennon helped Harrison with the lyrics of "Piggies" during that period.

 

Worked on the loops for Piggies and played on While My Guitar, altho only parts of his guitar survives.