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Lot Essay
PAUL MCCARTNEY'S HISTORIC 1970 AFFIDAVIT INITIATING THE BREAK-UP OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MUSICAL PARTNERSHIPS IN THE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC.
After years of creative disharmony and increasingly acrimonious quarrels over the handling of their business affairs, many of which are outlined in the present affidavit, Paul McCartney took the fateful step that would ultimately break up the Beatles on New Year's Eve 1970. McCartney listed four key reasons that he had been driven to apply for formal dissolution: firstly, that the Beatles had long since ceased to perform as a group; secondly, he objected to the other three Beatles’ preference to retain the services of manager Allen Klein, whom he deeply distrusted; thirdly, he contended that remaining within the Beatles was a threat to his creative freedom; and finally, he charged that no accounts had ever been prepared for the partnership since its inception in 1967.
On 19 April 1967, under the guidance of manager Brian Epstein and their tax advisors, the four Beatles had entered into a revised deed of partnership with an associated corporation that would become Apple Corps, which unbeknownst to them at the time, would bind them together for ten years. You see, there was a partnership contract put together years ago to hold us together as a group for 10 years, McCartney explained to Richard Merriman when he gave his side of the story to Life magazine in April 1971. Because of what we were then, none of us ever looked at it when we signed it. We signed it in '67 and discovered it last year... So it's “Oh gosh, Oh golly, Oh heck,” you know. “Now, boys, can we tear it up, please?” But the trouble is, the other three have been advised not to tear it up. Following the unexpected death of Epstein in August 1967 and the slow realization that Apple Corps was in financial chaos and hemorrhaging their money away, the Beatles had disagreed over who should take over the handling of their business affairs. McCartney had proposed entertainment lawyers Lee and John Eastman – father and brother of his partner Linda – but was outvoted by his bandmates in favor of Klein, resulting in a three against one division in the group from April 1969.
Less than a month after final recording sessions for Abbey Road, and despite ongoing contract renegotiations with Capitol, Lennon informed McCartney and Starr of his decision to leave the band that September. The other three would revisit the moment years later for The Beatles Anthology. McCartney revealed: I’d said: “I think we should go back to little gigs – I really think we’re a great little band.” … John looked at me in the eye and said: “Well, I think you’re daft. I wasn’t going to tell you till we signed the Capitol deal” – Klein was trying to get us to sign a new deal with the record company – “but I’m leaving the group!” According to Ringo, John finally brought it to its head. He said: “Well, that’s it, lads. Let’s end it.” And we all said “yes” … it was just “let’s get the divorce over with”, really… We’d kept it together for the sake of Abbey Road. But, you know, it had gone already, then. Looking back, Harrison was pragmatic: Everybody had tried to leave, so it was nothing new… I wasn’t feeling bad about anybody wanting to leave, because I wanted out myself… It had ceased to be fun and it was time to get out of it. As cited in Anthology, Lennon would later state: I started the band. I disbanded it. It’s as simple as that. My life with the Beatles had become a trap… When I finally had the guts to tell the other three that I, quote, wanted a divorce, unquote, they knew it was for real – unlike Ringo and George’s previous threats to leave. Under pressure from Klein, it was agreed not to make the split public for the sake of ongoing business concerns, and the group went ahead with signing their renegotiated recording contract mere days later on 20 September 1969.
Devastated by Lennon’s departure, McCartney retreated to his farm in Scotland, where he would eventually begin recording his debut solo album McCartney, secretly agreeing an April 1970 release date with Apple executive Neil Aspinall. When the other three Beatles became aware of the album’s intended release date, they sought to delay it to accommodate existing release schedules for other Apple products including Ringo’s own solo debut and the film Let It Be, an action that McCartney viewed as a threat to his artistic freedom. One of the final straws was record producer Phil Spector’s intolerable interference with McCartney’s song ‘The Long and Winding Road’ on Let It Be, after Klein had engaged him to re-mix the album in early April. I mean, I don’t think it made it the worst record ever, McCartney admits, but the fact that now people were putting stuff on our records that certainly one of us didn’t know about was wrong. When interviewed for Anthology, producer George Martin concurred, revealing That made me very angry – and it made Paul even angrier, because he nor I knew about it till it had been done. It happened behind our backs because it was when Allen Klein was running John.
No doubt his bitter fury over the two incidents provoked McCartney to announce his “break from the Beatles” via a Q&A press release issued on 10 April 1970 to promote his forthcoming solo album, sparking a worldwide media storm over the implied split. We were all hurt that he didn’t tell us that was what he was going to do, Lennon told Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone that December, adding, I was cursing, because I hadn’t done it. It's notable that on the present affidavit, where McCartney states that we all agreed that it would be best that nobody should know that the group was finished, following Lennon’s original revelation that he was leaving the band in September 1969, Lennon has underlined the words we all agreed, indicating his lingering disapproval with McCartney’s surprise announcement.
According to McCartney, between April and August 1970 there were no meetings and barely any communications between the other three and myself. He would later reveal that he spent the summer wrestling with his decision to extricate himself from Klein by any means. All summer long in Scotland I was fighting with myself, he told Merriman. I tried to think of a way to take Allen Klein to court, or to take a businessman to court. But the action had to be brought against the other three. By the end of the year, becoming increasingly concerned over the handling of their financial affairs, McCartney saw no other option than to file a lawsuit against the other three Beatles in London's High Court of Justice for dissolution of the band's contractual partnership on 31 December 1970, asking the court to order that partnership accounts be taken and to appoint a receiver in the interim. I had to sue the Beatles, McCartney explained to Billboard magazine in 2001. I tried to sue Allen Klein, but he wasn’t a party to any of the agreements, so I ended up having to sue my best friends as a technical matter. It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do, but it was pointed out to me that it was the only way to do it.
Looking back on the break-up in 2004, McCartney admitted to Uncut magazine: the way we broke up was very regrettable… John always talked about it in terms of marriage and divorce, and it was very much like that. Without a shadow of a doubt, that period was the weirdest time in my life. Allen Klein had come in and was about to take over The Beatles just as he’d taken over the Stones. I felt like I was being ambushed. If the other three wanted to be taken over, that was up to them. But I didn’t want to be taken over by this guy. The very worst of it was when I realised that the only way I could get rid of Allen Klein was to sue The Beatles. I didn’t want to do it. But the more powerful Klein got, the more inevitable it became… But I had the choice of going ahead with it or going under. If I hadn’t done it, The Beatles would have been totally captured by this guy. While the court found in McCartney’s favor, extended litigation would continue for four years until the Beatles’ partnership was officially dissolved on 9 January 1975.
Christie's would like to thank noted Beatles handwriting expert Frank Caiazzo for his assistance in authenticating this lot.
REFERENCES:
R. Merriman, 'The Ex-Beatle Tells His Story’, Life, New York, 16 April 1971.
J. Wenner, ‘John Lennon: The Rolling Stone Interview, Part One’, Rolling Stone, San Francisco, 21 January 1971.
The Beatles, The Beatles Anthology, London, 2000.
T. White, ‘Paul McCartney On His Not-So-Silly Love Songs’, Billboard, New York, 17 March 2001.
J. Wilde, ‘McCartney: My Life in the Shadow of The Beatles’, Uncut, London, July 2004.
After years of creative disharmony and increasingly acrimonious quarrels over the handling of their business affairs, many of which are outlined in the present affidavit, Paul McCartney took the fateful step that would ultimately break up the Beatles on New Year's Eve 1970. McCartney listed four key reasons that he had been driven to apply for formal dissolution: firstly, that the Beatles had long since ceased to perform as a group; secondly, he objected to the other three Beatles’ preference to retain the services of manager Allen Klein, whom he deeply distrusted; thirdly, he contended that remaining within the Beatles was a threat to his creative freedom; and finally, he charged that no accounts had ever been prepared for the partnership since its inception in 1967.
On 19 April 1967, under the guidance of manager Brian Epstein and their tax advisors, the four Beatles had entered into a revised deed of partnership with an associated corporation that would become Apple Corps, which unbeknownst to them at the time, would bind them together for ten years. You see, there was a partnership contract put together years ago to hold us together as a group for 10 years, McCartney explained to Richard Merriman when he gave his side of the story to Life magazine in April 1971. Because of what we were then, none of us ever looked at it when we signed it. We signed it in '67 and discovered it last year... So it's “Oh gosh, Oh golly, Oh heck,” you know. “Now, boys, can we tear it up, please?” But the trouble is, the other three have been advised not to tear it up. Following the unexpected death of Epstein in August 1967 and the slow realization that Apple Corps was in financial chaos and hemorrhaging their money away, the Beatles had disagreed over who should take over the handling of their business affairs. McCartney had proposed entertainment lawyers Lee and John Eastman – father and brother of his partner Linda – but was outvoted by his bandmates in favor of Klein, resulting in a three against one division in the group from April 1969.
Less than a month after final recording sessions for Abbey Road, and despite ongoing contract renegotiations with Capitol, Lennon informed McCartney and Starr of his decision to leave the band that September. The other three would revisit the moment years later for The Beatles Anthology. McCartney revealed: I’d said: “I think we should go back to little gigs – I really think we’re a great little band.” … John looked at me in the eye and said: “Well, I think you’re daft. I wasn’t going to tell you till we signed the Capitol deal” – Klein was trying to get us to sign a new deal with the record company – “but I’m leaving the group!” According to Ringo, John finally brought it to its head. He said: “Well, that’s it, lads. Let’s end it.” And we all said “yes” … it was just “let’s get the divorce over with”, really… We’d kept it together for the sake of Abbey Road. But, you know, it had gone already, then. Looking back, Harrison was pragmatic: Everybody had tried to leave, so it was nothing new… I wasn’t feeling bad about anybody wanting to leave, because I wanted out myself… It had ceased to be fun and it was time to get out of it. As cited in Anthology, Lennon would later state: I started the band. I disbanded it. It’s as simple as that. My life with the Beatles had become a trap… When I finally had the guts to tell the other three that I, quote, wanted a divorce, unquote, they knew it was for real – unlike Ringo and George’s previous threats to leave. Under pressure from Klein, it was agreed not to make the split public for the sake of ongoing business concerns, and the group went ahead with signing their renegotiated recording contract mere days later on 20 September 1969.
Devastated by Lennon’s departure, McCartney retreated to his farm in Scotland, where he would eventually begin recording his debut solo album McCartney, secretly agreeing an April 1970 release date with Apple executive Neil Aspinall. When the other three Beatles became aware of the album’s intended release date, they sought to delay it to accommodate existing release schedules for other Apple products including Ringo’s own solo debut and the film Let It Be, an action that McCartney viewed as a threat to his artistic freedom. One of the final straws was record producer Phil Spector’s intolerable interference with McCartney’s song ‘The Long and Winding Road’ on Let It Be, after Klein had engaged him to re-mix the album in early April. I mean, I don’t think it made it the worst record ever, McCartney admits, but the fact that now people were putting stuff on our records that certainly one of us didn’t know about was wrong. When interviewed for Anthology, producer George Martin concurred, revealing That made me very angry – and it made Paul even angrier, because he nor I knew about it till it had been done. It happened behind our backs because it was when Allen Klein was running John.
No doubt his bitter fury over the two incidents provoked McCartney to announce his “break from the Beatles” via a Q&A press release issued on 10 April 1970 to promote his forthcoming solo album, sparking a worldwide media storm over the implied split. We were all hurt that he didn’t tell us that was what he was going to do, Lennon told Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone that December, adding, I was cursing, because I hadn’t done it. It's notable that on the present affidavit, where McCartney states that we all agreed that it would be best that nobody should know that the group was finished, following Lennon’s original revelation that he was leaving the band in September 1969, Lennon has underlined the words we all agreed, indicating his lingering disapproval with McCartney’s surprise announcement.
According to McCartney, between April and August 1970 there were no meetings and barely any communications between the other three and myself. He would later reveal that he spent the summer wrestling with his decision to extricate himself from Klein by any means. All summer long in Scotland I was fighting with myself, he told Merriman. I tried to think of a way to take Allen Klein to court, or to take a businessman to court. But the action had to be brought against the other three. By the end of the year, becoming increasingly concerned over the handling of their financial affairs, McCartney saw no other option than to file a lawsuit against the other three Beatles in London's High Court of Justice for dissolution of the band's contractual partnership on 31 December 1970, asking the court to order that partnership accounts be taken and to appoint a receiver in the interim. I had to sue the Beatles, McCartney explained to Billboard magazine in 2001. I tried to sue Allen Klein, but he wasn’t a party to any of the agreements, so I ended up having to sue my best friends as a technical matter. It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do, but it was pointed out to me that it was the only way to do it.
Looking back on the break-up in 2004, McCartney admitted to Uncut magazine: the way we broke up was very regrettable… John always talked about it in terms of marriage and divorce, and it was very much like that. Without a shadow of a doubt, that period was the weirdest time in my life. Allen Klein had come in and was about to take over The Beatles just as he’d taken over the Stones. I felt like I was being ambushed. If the other three wanted to be taken over, that was up to them. But I didn’t want to be taken over by this guy. The very worst of it was when I realised that the only way I could get rid of Allen Klein was to sue The Beatles. I didn’t want to do it. But the more powerful Klein got, the more inevitable it became… But I had the choice of going ahead with it or going under. If I hadn’t done it, The Beatles would have been totally captured by this guy. While the court found in McCartney’s favor, extended litigation would continue for four years until the Beatles’ partnership was officially dissolved on 9 January 1975.
Christie's would like to thank noted Beatles handwriting expert Frank Caiazzo for his assistance in authenticating this lot.
REFERENCES:
R. Merriman, 'The Ex-Beatle Tells His Story’, Life, New York, 16 April 1971.
J. Wenner, ‘John Lennon: The Rolling Stone Interview, Part One’, Rolling Stone, San Francisco, 21 January 1971.
The Beatles, The Beatles Anthology, London, 2000.
T. White, ‘Paul McCartney On His Not-So-Silly Love Songs’, Billboard, New York, 17 March 2001.
J. Wilde, ‘McCartney: My Life in the Shadow of The Beatles’, Uncut, London, July 2004.