Everyone was to blame for the breakup of The Beatles, it just depends on who you ask.
For drummer Ringo Starr, the blame falls at the feet of his close friend, George Harrison. The Photograph hitmaker would hold Harrison accountable just a few years after The Beatles’ split was confirmed. Speaking to Inner-view in 1977, Starr explained why he thought the All Things Must Pass mastermind was the reason for the band’s end. Harrison’s “independence” and desire to pursue a new style of songwriting made all the difference to the band in their final years. Starr was clearly aware of Harrison and Paul McCartney‘s fraught dynamic within the band, with this back-and-forth seemingly causing a little more tension than first thought.
Harrison would go on record a handful of times to say he felt undermined by McCartney during those latter days in The Beatles. McCartney too would admit he wasn’t all that fair on Harrison at the time.
Starr said: “George was getting a lot of independence for himself in those days. He was writing more, and wanted things to go his way– where, when we first started, things basically went John and Paul’s way. You know, ‘cuz they were the writers. I think Paul was… George was finding his independence, and he wouldn’t be dominated as much by Paul as he was.
“‘Cuz Paul, in the end, wanted to point out the solo to George. And George would say, ‘Well, I’m a guitarist. I’LL play the solo,’ and he always did, you know. Umm, I think that was another factor, ‘cuz George left with a big row with Paul.”
The dynamic change between Harrison and McCartney reflected a wider problem for The Beatles at the time. Starr explained: “He (Paul) got a bit like, ‘I wrote the song — I want it this way,’ where before it was, ‘I wrote the song– give me what you can give me.'”
That change appeared to be one of the many reasons The Beatles called time on working together. Despite the band’s incredible work together the push and pull between its four members was clearly causing friction, and pushing everyone to the point of no return. The blame cannot be placed solely at Harrison’s feet, of course, with Starr going on to say that each member’s personal life was simply getting in the way of working together.
He said: “We were all married by then with family, and everyone wanted to do different things. I wanted to be in movies and stuff. So I don’t think it was just Yoko that broke it up. Also… we’d been together for so long. We were just living our own lives, you know. I couldn’t put my finger on one reason why we broke up. It was time, and we were spreading out. They were spreading out more than I was. I would’ve stayed with the band.”
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