Published on April 11 by Octopus, All You Need Is Love: The End Of The Beatles presents an insider oral history of the final days of The Beatles. Constructed from interviews conducted in 1980 for 1983’s The Love You Make - a book which so upset Paul and Linda McCartney that they ceremoniously burnt their copy – it draws from the original, unfiltered transcripts, to paint a fuller picture than the original books more salacious account provided.
However, recalled with The Beatles’ bitter split still reverberating around those close to the band, unresolved grievances are aired and scores settled, but recrimination is tempered with perspective all the more clear-eyed for being un-tinted by our latter-day rosy glow. You can read MOJO review of the book in full HERE. In the meantime, here are our top five takeaways from All You Need Is Love: The End Of The Beatles…
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Apple Records president Ron Kass was poised to sign Bob Dylan’s former sidemen The Band but “was vetoed by John and Paul. The Beatles really had an ego. They just wanted to extend The Beatles… The four weren’t interested in James Taylor.”
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On holiday on Paul McCartney’s Scottish farm with Paul and his girlfriend, actress Jane Asher, management Mr Fixit Alistair Taylor was given a ticklish task: “Can you get down to the chemist? I’ve got crabs. Jane mustn’t know. Tell the chemist it’s for you.” Obtained via The Beatles’ local solicitor, the remedy was billed as sheep dip, £3, 15 shillings.
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The first time Maureen Starkey met her future husband Ringo was outside the Cavern sitting in his first car, a second hand Ford Zodiac, licence plate NWM 466, which he drove without insurance or even a licence.
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One night at George Harrison’s house with guests including infamous manager Allen Klein, producer Phil Spector and lawyer Martin Polden, George’s wife Patti suggested they play the game Happy Families. “Klein played as though it was the biggest deal he was ever in,” Polden remembered. “He lost… and that was terrible.”
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When first lady of The Phillipines Imelda Marcos withdrew police protection from The Beatles on the 1966 tour in Manila in retaliation for their inadvertent snub, Ringo and John sought refuge from the furious airport mob behind a group of nuns. “We thought because it’s a Catholic country, if we hid behind the nuns, they won’t get us.”
All You Need Is Love: The End Of The Beatles in published by Octopus on April 11.
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