pated, with all four on friendly terms and looking back
fondly on a shared history unlike any other. “They were
still brothers underneath,” wrote Beatles biographer
Mark Lewisohn.
A month after the breakup headlines, the Beatles
released the Let It Be album. This time critics were
less kind, put off by the embellishments of producer
Phil Spector. Although Paul, George and Ringo
returned to Abbey Road studios in early 1970 to put
finishing touches on the album’s title song, it turned
out that the last time all four Beatles would record
together was that August 1969 day when John yelled,
“Cut!” For fans bereft by the breakup, time healed
the hurt, but not, perhaps, the longing. “Nobody who
grew up with them,” noted Life in 1970, “will ever get
over the Beatles.”THE BEATLES 1969 PEOPLE 73
IN THE END
“We’d always wanted
with the Beatles to have
a great career and leave
’em laughing,”
McCartney told the
BBC in 1982, on the
occasion of the 20th
anniversary of the
group’s first single,
“Love Me, Do.”