“Doth protest too much” department: Yoko Ono talks about how she didn’t break up The Beatles in this newly-released 1987 interview with music exec Joe Smith.
“In the early days Paul and John wrote the songs. Rather, John and Paul,” she said, correcting the order with a chuckle. “George didn’t write much, and Ringo especially didn’t write at all. When George started to write a lot of songs in the end, it was like, who’s gonna get the space? John was really trying to protect George and not ignore him and put (in) as many songs of George’s as possible. But frankly there wasn’t much space for that on one album, and they can’t keep on making double albums. So in a way all three of them were outgrowing the Beatles. I think Ringo was getting interested in film, and George was more interested in playing with Ravi Shankar.“…And in fact George did mention that ‘I feel more comfortable playing with those (other) guys because they understand me and this and that, and here I’m treated like the backing group for Paul.’ And that was the complaint that was expressed many times.”
Ouch!
Later she compares John giving up The Beatles for her to King Edward VIII giving up the throne for Wallis Simpson. Fascinating comparison, and you do have to give her points for comparing herself to Simpson.
Look, she broke up the Beatles. Claiming “they were headed toward a breakup anyway” or “the breakup was all for the best” doesn’t mean she didn’t push the plunger. Just sayin’.
The full audio interview is at the Library of Congress.