The Beatles’ John Lennon said it’s “best to go out when you’re flying high.” He also discussed the reaction to the band’s dissolution.
The Beatles‘ breakup might be the most famous breakup in all of rock history. John Lennon took a minute to imagine what might have happened if the Fab Four had stayed together. Subsequently, he explored the upsides and downsides of leaving the group.
The Beatles’ John Lennon said it’s ‘best to go out when you’re flying high’
During a 1980 interview with the Los Angeles Times, John discussed what could have happened if The Beatles kept going. “I don’t know, it would have probably gone down the tubes and then been resurrected like everything else,” he opined. “I always thought it was best to go out when you’re flying high.”
John also downplayed the Fab Four’s incredible success. “The popularity was always ebbing and flowing,” he said. “That’s what people forget. It was only during the initial rush where everything we did was right. After that, it was up or down depending on the single or the movie or whatever.”
The singer said The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger liked that The Beatles separated
John explained why the band broke up when they did. “We could split in 1970 because we were on top,” he recalled. “In fact, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to the Beatles myth.” The group’s dissolution greatly impacted pop culture. For example, the film That Thing You Do! and the Simpsons episode “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” are both based on that event.
In addition, John recalled what The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger said after The Beatles’ split. “I read this book about Mick Jagger where he said after the breakup, ‘At last, we’re No. 1,’” he said. “What he didn’t realize was that when we split, we created a bigger thing than if we had stayed. He could never catch up with that.”
Notably, The Rolling Stones never dissolved. They managed to regularly have hits in the United States until the late 1980s. Since then, they’ve mostly been a nostalgia act. Perhaps the Fab Four could have had a career like The Rolling Stones’. Regardless, they still would have gone down in history.
John Lennon felt the Fab Four did great things without each other
John also discussed the fate of The Beatles during an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971. On the program, he gently rebuked fans who blamed The Beatles’ disbandment on Yoko Ono. He also saw a silver lining to the situation. He felt he, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had all made wonderful music since they left the band. The “Imagine” singer said if Yoko ended The Beatles, she deserved credit for all that great music.
We’ll never know what would have happened if The Beatles kept going but the former members gave us great music as solo artists.
