Episode 33 – Beatles ’69 pt6

It’s the spring of 1969 and the Beatles are back in the studio working on a new album...but a storm cloud looms overhead. Business disagreements and personal differences continue to ebb away at the once united foursome at every turn, and things went from bad to worse when John, George and Ringo signed with Allan Klein to become the Beatles manager and fill the long-vacant seat left by the late Brian Epstein. Paul’s serious and justified reservations about letting Klein into the organization are ultimately undercut by his desire to include his new inlaws, the Eastmans, into the band’s financial affairs, and with no other alternatives to put forward, the group signs with Klein without Paul. But amidst these trying issues, or perhaps in spite of them, music continues to be made and released - first in the form of a single from the defunct Get Back project, the eponymous track backed with John’s Don’t Let Me Down. Next, John and Paul venture into the studio together without George and Ringo to record John’s The Ballad of John and Yoko - it’s a boogie-woogie tribute to the newlyweds’ journey to marriage and marks the last time John and Paul would collaborate together as a pair in the studio. Also in the spring, following an intense argument with his bandmates, Paul contributes drums and vocals to the Steve Miller track My Dark Hour. George also used music to escape the tension, penning the beautiful Here Comes the Sun in Eric Clapton’s garden whilst playing hooky from his Beatle commitments. The end of May saw John and Yoko once again staging an elaborate bed-in for peace, this time in Montreal, which stood in stark contrast to the peace that alluded the Beatles back home...