The Beatles & bad break-ups!

The month of April has a something for everyone, some silly jokes for the pranksters on April Fool’s Day and the chance for nature lovers to plant a tree on Arbor Day. With the weather starting to turn warmer in much of the U.S., it’s also natural to think about Spring and Earth Day.

I’m kind of a different animal. April makes me think of bad break-ups.

Here’s what I mean. 

On April 10, 1970, Paul McCartney preparing for his first solo release announced that he had no plans to appear, record music or write with John Lennon or the other members of the Beatles, sparking widespread media attention and worsening the tensions between him and his bandmates. Lennon had left the group several months earlier but was persuaded to keep quiet while their final album, Let It Be, was due for release.

Library of Congress

In large typeface, usually saved for wars and tragic events, The Daily Mirror in London reported: “Paul Is Quitting The Beatles.” Soon other newspapers followed, reporting on the news. The rest as they say is history. In reality, the four were drifting apart and contemplating their independence well before the formal collapse. Following Paul’s announcement, the legal disputes between the band members continued for several more years, until the separation became official in December 1974.

The break-up prompted countless books and documentaries over the years about why they called it quits. The Beatles break-up ranks as one of the biggest break-ups in history, but they’re certainly not the only couple, group, or partnership to decide to head their separate ways.

“Why she had to go
I don’t know, she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong
Now I long for yesterday”

Yesterday — The Beatles

Go your own way

There are so many separations to choose from over the course of history. As a kid, it seemed that Elizabeth Taylor was getting married every few years to a new guy. She was known as much for her marriages and break-ups as much for her movies and fragrance and jewelry brands. In total, she was married eight times to seven men.

Taylor’s list of ex-husbands is long, but she’s not the only celebrity to get a divorce: Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt seemed to be on the male version of the Elizabeth Taylor track for a while. You had Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers; Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman; Tom Cruise and Kati Holmes; Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston; and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Celebrity break-ups seem to happen all the time. Others that jump out to me, include, Sonny and Cher; Elvis and Priscilla Presley; Madonna and Guy Ritchie; Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries; Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere; and on and on. 

“You can go your own way
Go your own way
You can call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way“

Go Your Own Way — Fleetwood Mac

Nothing compares to you

Musical break-ups can be just as bad as the marriage ones. The Beatles highlights this list, but the list again is long. Pink Floyd; Eagles, Van Halen, Simon & Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac all experienced trying break-ups. 

Pink Floyd was in the high of its heyday when things fell apart. Following the release of The Final Cut in 1983, a squabble over management and royalties led to Roger Waters claiming that the others — David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason — could no longer use the Pink Floyd name, but the Gilmour-led Floyd went on to release two albums. While the remaining members regrouped one last time for Live 8 in 2005, the tension remained high.

Sometimes though miracles do happen. When The Eagles broke up in 1980, Don Henley joked that they they’d get back together “when hell freezes over.” Of course, when the band reunited in 1994 for the Hell Freezes Over album, Glenn Frey joked that the Eagles never broke up, they just took a 14-year vacation.

Likewise, Sting left the Police in 1984 to pursue a solo career but returned to play with police bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland for a brief reunion tour in 2007 and 2008.

“It’s been seven hours and fifteen days
Since u took your love away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since you took your love away
Since you been gone I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant
But nothing, I said nothing can take away these blues“

Nothing Compares 2 U — Sinead O’Connor

Separate ways

Break-ups aren’t just reserved for the musically or theatrically inclined. They happen in the corporate world too. 

In 1974, the U.S. government filed an antitrust lawsuit against the AT&T Corp because it had a monopoly on telephone lines. After eight years of litigation, the two sides reached a settlement that led to AT&T giving up control of its 21 regional operating companies and the creation of seven independent companies.

There have been other big ones too. General Electric, once a behemoth with numerous divisions, including aerospace, energy, healthcare, and finance, began selling off assets in late 2000s to focus on aviation. And then several years ago, the company started the process to formally split into three public companies: GE Healthcare, which was spun-off last year, GE Aerospace, which builds jet engines, and GE Vernova, which is comprised of its energy generation business. The stock for those two remaining companies started officially trading on US markets last week.

Oh, breaking up is hard to do! Like the Beatles wrote, “Love was such an easy game to play, Now I need a place to hide away, Oh, I believe in yesterday.”

“Someday, love will find you
Break those chains that bind you
One night will remind you
How we touched and went our separate ways“

Separate Ways — Journey

The Beatles – Help