A huge argument between Paul McCartney and The Beatles led to the Wings frontman’s “first grey hairs”.
McCartney would suggest his bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had “bullied” him into accepting Allen Klein as the band’s new manager. While the Let It Be hitmaker says this makes him sound “wimpy”, he was worried for the future of the band and their discography should the band agree to sign with him. McCartney would go on to allege Klein had conned his three bandmates, suggesting there was an “American board” he had to answer to regarding percentage cuts of profit on The Beatles. Klein wanted 20% of the profits, and the three Beatles agreed. McCartney was firm in his disagreement with this, though he was accused of stalling by his ex-bandmates. This blowout with The Beatles saw McCartney get his “first grey hairs” and the songwriter has since recalled what made it such a nerve-wracking time.
He said: “I said, ‘He’ll take 15 per cent We’re massive, we’re the biggest act in the world, he’ll take 15 per cent.’ But for some reason the three of them were so keen to go with him that they really bullied me and ganged up on me. It sounds a bit wimpy but anyway they outvoted me on these issues. They said, ‘He’s got to have 20 per cent.’
“And Klein of course saw all this and said, ‘I can’t do it for any less than this. My board back in America won’t allow it…’ Now the idea that Klein was run by some sort of board was a complete fiction. It was him and his assistant Peter Howard. Klein was the board, you only had to look on his letterhead.
“But they believed it. They went, ‘No, he’s got to have a board meeting, he’s told us. Tomorrow, Saturday.’ I said, ‘I’ve never heard of anyone doing any work on a Saturday, certainly not him.’ They said, ‘You’re just stalling.’ They were completely besotted with this guy.
“I said, ‘No, I’m not. I want a good deal out of this guy. I don’t think we should just run and jump into his arms. I’ll wait to Monday before we ratify anything. My lawyer will be present on Monday. I happen to have a Jewish lawyer. What can I say to him? “Change your bloody religion, man, I need you”? You can’t do that.’
It wasn’t enough to satisfy Lennon, Harrison, and Starr though, with the three infuriated by McCartney’s unchanging stance. He continued: “”And they said, ‘Well, we’ll do it without you,’ which they couldn’t, that was why they needed me otherwise I don’t think they’d have bothered showing up. So they said, ‘Oh, fuck off!’ and they all stormed off, leaving me with the session at Olympic.
“It was a very strange time in my life and I swear I got my first grey hairs that month. I saw them appearing. I looked in the mirror, I thought, I can see you. You’re all coming now. Welcome. On the Monday negotiations began afresh and a compromise deal was worked out with Allen Klein.”
McCartney during this time would feature on the Steve Miller song, My Dark Hour, as a way of releasing stress. He played drums on the track after a “big argument” with The Beatles. He said: “He and I made it alone. I had to do something, thrash something, to get it out of my system.”
