Paul McCartney claims John Lennon initiated The Beatles split to settle down with wife Yoko Ono

By PTI

LONDON: Music legend Paul McCartney has alleged that John Lennon was the one to instigate The Beatles to break up.

In a promo of the forthcoming episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life”, McCartney said as the founding member of the iconic rock band, the split was the “most difficult” period of his life.

“I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. Is that instigating the split, or not?,” McCartney said in the episode preview shared by The Guardian.

“This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted it to continue,” he added.

McCartney, Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr went their separate ways in April 1970, after working together for a decade on 14 studio albums, numerous concerts and many classic hits like “All you need is love”, “Paperback writers”, “A hard day’s night”, “Help” and “Hey Jude”.

The 79-year-old singer said that he, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were “left to pick up the pieces” and were instructed to keep silent about the split while pending business deals were concluded.

“So for a few months, we had to pretend. It was weird, because we all knew it was the end of the Beatles. But we couldn’t just walk away.”

He added that he eventually decided to “let the cat out of the bag” by going solo “because I was fed up of hiding it” and therefore incurred the majority of the blame for the group’s separation.

McCartney said Lennon was ready to move past his rock star days and settle down with his wife, Japanese artist Yoko Ono.

Even though he said, they “were a great couple”, the singer believes the band “could have” made music together for a little longer had his late songwriting partner decided to continue.