Paul McCartney explains why The Beatles never reunited in the 1970s: “It was a different life’
Paul McCartney has explained why The Beatles never reunited in the 1970s to make more music.
After they officially split in 1970, members of the Fab Four did work on each other’s work in the studio, but never recorded together as a full band again.
While rumours of a reunion were a constant after their split until John Lennon’s death in 1980, it never came to fruition, and McCartney believes it’s right that they left it where they did.
In a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, the topic of conversation turned to why The Beatles never got back together while discussing his new solo track, ‘Home to Us’, which marks the first time he’s ever duetted with Ringo Starr.
Reflecting on why they never picked up where they left things off, McCartney frankly admitted, “I think we knew we’d finished and we’d all said it’s full circle, this is great. John was off with his life with Yoko, you couldn’t say, ‘Would you mind coming back and we’ll do a bit more Beatles?’.”
He honestly added, “I wouldn’t have put that to him, I could see what he was doing, it was a different life. And I was too, with Linda, you know?”
McCartney then said of the band’s post-Beatles relationships, “We were doing, y’know, ‘would you play drums on this for me’, ‘would you play bass on this for me’, ‘would you sing on this’, on bits and pieces. So it was great to get around to it in the end on this.”
His comments to Lowe come after McCartney finally admitted that John Lennon was his favourite member of The Beatles.
“Well, there’s only one left. Now, currently, it’s Ringo,” he told Amelia Dimoldenberg on Chicken Shop Date, before adding, “During The Beatles, I think we all used to look up to John; he was like the leader, even though there wasn’t officially a leader of the group. He was very witty, and he was great to have in the group.”
On behalf of George and Ringo, he added, “I think all of us might have said John was the leader of the group.”
With his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, McCartney is in a reflective mood and has been looking back through rose-tinted spectacles at The Beatles, declaring them as “the greatest band ever” earlier this week.
In a four-star review of McCartney’s new album, Far Out observed, “On one hand, The Boys of Dungeon Lane is a good but not great collection of songs, but on the other, also perhaps the best album ever recorded by an 83-year-old?”
The review adds, “I’ve always imagined that McCartney must find it odd to be asked every day about things he did 60 years ago, considering how much he’s done since. But as it turns out, what he really wants to talk about was stuff that he did 70 years ago.”
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