On January 1st 1969, filming on their next and final movie, 'Let it Be', began in Twickenham Studios, London. The idea behind was a serious "day in the life" of the Beatles, but it always seemed to be doomed. On 10th of January, George Harrison walked out, due to both McCartney's demanding orders and Lennon's eternal obsession with Yoko Ono. He came back a week later, but the scars remained.
On January 28th, Lennon announced that Apple Corps was "bleeding money". Filming continued on Let it Be on January 20th at Apple Headquarters, 3 Saville Road, according to George Harrison's requests. On January 30th, on the roof of Abbey Road, they held an impromptu concert, which would be used as a finale for the film. There were plans for the concert to take place in a Roman auditorium in the middle of the desert and other complicated plans, but Harrison again didn't wish to travel abroad. The rooftop concert lasted 42 minutes until it was stopped by the police after several noise complaints. Filming ended the next day.
On February 3rd, John, George & Ringo appointed Allen Klein to manage Apple Corps & the band's affairs. Paul disagreed with this appointment, as he preferred the appointment of Lee Eastman, father of McCartney's future wife Linda Eastman, to the same position.
On March 20th, John & Yoko got married in Gibraltar. 5 days later they held their infamous 'bed-in' in the Amsterdam Hilton. On April 3rd, Billy Preston, a brilliant keyboardist, signed with Apple. He was quickly brought into the Let it Be sessions. The band had known him since the early 60's & had even considered inviting him to join in 1962. He instantly improved the atmosphere in the Let it Be sessions, as Clapton had during the White Album sessions.
On June 1st, John recorded his debut single, "Give Peace a Chance". This showed John's ever increasing independance from the band. Although this was an entirely John Lennon composition, he released it as a Lennon-McCartney composition, as was the practice at the time among the band. On July 1st, the group began recording what would be their final album, Abbey Road.
On September 13th, John and his Plastic Ono Band debuted in the "Live Peace in Toronto" concert. It's line-up was Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass, Alan White on drums with Lennon & Yoko fronted the group. The success of this gig gave John the confidence to announce to the other members of the Beatles that he was quiting the band a week later on 20th September. On October 1st, the Beatles' 'swan-song', Abbey Road was released.
After the failure that was the 'Let it Be' sessions, the group planned Abbey Road as their farewell album, and decided to put aside their various differences temporarily. The album was a huge success, and the Beatles themselves enjoyed the sessions.
On February 20th, the Plastic Ono Band released 'Instant Karma'. The group all seemed to branch out from each other into their own solo projects.
On April 10th, Paul announced that he had left the group to the public, his reasons being "personal and musical differences". 10 days later, on April 20th, he released his debut solo album, entitled 'McCartney'. Finally on May 18th & 20th respectively, the Let it Be album & film were released. Paul's announcement was the 'unofficial' end of the Beatles. The band was officially over on January 9th 1976 after lengthy legal battles. As Lennon said in the song "God" from his debut solo album 'Plastic Ono Band', "the dream is over".
Stay tuned for the next part in this "saga", where we will journey through the solo years.
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