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

He married Yoko.

 

A side question: Was there any indication to Beatles before Paul's statement in April 1970 that the band was nearing its end or was over? I mean, among fans?

 

Paul went into depression after the Beatles break up, mainly because he didn't know what to do with himself. He was scared to leave the Beatles because it was all he knew.

John wanted the divorce, and Paul only wanted to stay together for the kids (the music.)

Paul knew at the end of the bickering and arguing, the end result was usually a good sounding record.
John wasn't interested in the process it took to get there anymore.

Someone mentioned it, but I believe George would have quit had the other two not done it first, and probably not long after.
George was probably also too scared of the backlash he would have received for wanting to quit, so he just stuck it out.

Someone mentioned that Paul wanted to make music, John wanted to play it. Well, Paul wanted both. He wanted to do
a tour during the Let it Be sessions. It was George who refused and finally agreed to the ONE TIME roof top concert.

 

Alas... the nail struck on the bullseye .. or pretty dang close.

 

Curious, if anybody has ever posed the question to Yoko in this fashion: "How did you help John realize The Beatles were over, and it was time to make that move?" Placing her in the position of being the "sage', and not the "PITA", might have given her a reason to answer candidly.

I'll bet he was in a real uncomfortable position, now that George had been pushing for more "Harrisongs", and showing his homework to the rest of the class; starting back up after a breather would still put him in conflict with that. And with Paul trying to turn his own "bits" of ideas into songs, while John was trying to write different things than he was.

And here we all thought it was gonna be Ringo's grampa who was gonna break 'em up - hell, we've got it on film, what a pest he can be...!

 

John always spoke of hey Jude very fondly . He felt like it was about him. Lists it as favorite Paul song I believe

 

No... it was George who was adamantly opposed to playing live anywhere.

Several sites / locations were mentioned (probably by Paul) and George said "No" to all of 'em.

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there had been serious rumours & speculation since the end of 1966, there was even a TV programme ( or programme segment ) made in the UK specifically about this ( the doorstep abbey road interviews from dec 66 come from this ) , but these ebbed and flowed, i cannot for certain say that during 1969 these had not resurfaced but i would be surprised if they had not given the Beatles bar Paul branching into so many separate projects.

 

Eastman and Klein was the major reason me thinks .....

 

Dr. Winston O'Boogie.

 

....and in the end.

 

There were rumors ever since they stopped touring.

Biggest rumors were before "Sgt. Pepper" was released, because that was the longest period the band had ever gone between LP releases.

There's a brief interview with Ringo as he enters Abbey Road Studio and the interviewer asks him if the band is breaking / had broken up (Ringo, of course, says No).


EDIT: I was typing this before muffmasterh's post (essentially saying the same thing) posted above.

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This pretty much nails it, IMO (though I'd add that George, probably even more than John, "wasn't interested in the process it took to get there anymore").

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John pretty much wanted to leave the door open, after all they were still all going to be partners in Apple and his hope was that they'd all be under the same management and working with each other. I'd say John wanted a break, maybe a permanent break but its clear the door was left open for the Beatles (in some form or other) to continue.

"If we want him, because we want him – but the thing is, like George said, it’s that The Beatles, to me, isn’t just limited to the four of us. I think that I, alone, could be a Beatle. [to Paul] I think you could. [to Ringo] I’m not sure whether you could, because you’re doing… Well, like, but I’m just telling you what I think! I don’t think The Beatles revolve around the four people! It might be like a job—" John 1969

And of course according to Pete Doggett's book it was Lennon and Harrison arguing about album space at the very last time the four Beatles had a meeting, something that seems a bit strange from John if he had decided enough was enough.

Paul made it final, Paul's was a proper divorce while John just wanted to have 'a long weekend', one that he may or may not have returned home from.

 

A thought-provoking viewpoint:

Why the Beatles Broke Up: The Story Behind Our Cover

" ... Through all my research, certain conclusions became inevitable, and they managed to surprise me a bit: The Beatles' end was an accident, a maneuver by John Lennon that went horribly wrong. "

 

Reportedly George was the first who wanted to quit being a Beatle, right after the Candlestick Park gig was done.
If John or Paul or Ringo didnt say a word about quitting in '69 probably George would've been the first who'd leave permanently,
as he enjoyed working with other people in the late 1960s more than with his old buddies. Just a guess though.

 

It's funny that only a year of downtime back then could lead to thoughts of a group being over and now you don't hear from bands for sometimes years at a time. So much pressure....

 

Why the Beatles Broke Up - Rolling Stone

We'll need to wait another 10 years at the minimum to read what Lewisohn says about all of this.

 

I've got a friend who is a very good artist and has been painting pictures of The Beatles, Dylan, Elvis, etc for many years.
She is collected by many well known entertainment and musician clientele. Many of her paintings are quirky and thought provoking .. she has done many works re: the Beatles. Here is one that I have decided to post simply because it is so connected to what we are discussing .. a bit off the wall, but most good art is thought provoking.
Her name is Kata Billups, and if interested her excellent art can be seen at: www.rockandrolliconart.com

The painting is called Jesus visits Paul with a lambchop puppet trying to cheer him up.
A depressed, unkept Paul in morning robe following the Beatles break up has a visitor...
c., 2004.

 

That doesn't make much sense considering Paul wanted them to play live together, which was probably one the main reasons behind the Let it Be project, he wanted them to be a live band again, and he's consistently been the one who is seems to love playing live(and really only seemed to take off in the 80's because Linda wanted to).

Paul wanted to create music AND play music.

 

I heard John wanted to push Paul off the rooftop!

 

not strange to me at all, they often remained very possessive about their own corners even after the band was done.

 

Would've been nice to have at least one Beatles album in the 1970s (or 80s if John survived).
Weird that a reunion never happened, though John was optimistically about that in an interview around his 'Lost Weekend' period, guess it was the interview with Bob Harris visiting him in America.

 

Isn't true that Lennon wanted to do four-five songs of whatever he wanted per album???----veto-proof and the others said no????-----soon thereafter he said he wanted a divorce.

I don't think Lennon planned it........ but I do think it was walk-back-able until the release of the McCartney album and press statement.

 

After they smashed their gear at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.