As time went on, it became obvious that even new manager Klein couldn’t stop the fighting. Paul was incensed that Klein had hired Phil Spector to work on the tapes and accused Spector of ruining his songs. John was furious that his song “Cold Turkey” had been dropped from the Abbey Road album, and recorded it on his own as a protest, crediting the writing to “Lennon,” and not “Lennon/McCartney,” the first such song in thirteen years. John’s insistence on working with Yoko–and the rest of the band’s insistence on not working with her at all–drove a wedge between John and the others. George was furious that Apple Corps was falling apart, and that he still wasn’t going to be allowed more than two songs per album. John, Paul, George, and Ringo all spent time in 1969 and 1970 recording their own solo albums while Abbey Road hit the charts and Spector continued trying to shapeLet It Be into an album.

On April 7th, 1970, Paul McCartney released his album McCartneydespite Klein’s demands that it wait until Let It Be was out. Three days later, Paul released a self-interview in which he stated that he never wanted to work with the other Beatles again. The other three claimed there was no real split and that the Beatles would soon be recording together again. (John went back and forth on the issue: in public interviews at the time, he claimed that he was still a Beatle despite having recorded four solo albums, and that everything would be fine; later, he claimed that he had actually been the first to quit the group back in 1969.)

On December 31st, 1970, Paul McCartney sued the other three Beatles for a dissolution of the partnership, and talk of another Beatles album ended–except, of course, among the group’s fans, who hoped for years for a reunion that never came.