And in the End

Although it had been slow in coming about, the end of the Beatles finally came in April 1970. Paul had secretly recorded his first solo album, titled simply McCartney. In the course of promoting it, Paul announced to the world that there would be no new Beatles projects, because he was leaving the band. By this time, there was really no band to leave. As Paul explained, “I didn't leave the Beatles. The Beatles have left the Beatles, but no one wants to be the one to say the party's over.” Strangely, one month after Paul's announcement, another Beatles album appeared on the shelves. After twelve months of wrestling with the raw materials, the Let It Be album and film finally premiered. The film really showed the band falling apart, while the record, according to the British music magazine New Musical Express, marked a “sad and tatty end to a musical fusion which wiped clean and drew again the face of pop music.”