1969-The Final Year

John, now happy in his still-new relationship with Yoko Ono, began to look at the Beatles as less an inspiration than an obligation. It was obvious that a lot of his old enthusiasm for musical discovery had left him. As he explained, “I just made the records with the Beatles like one goes to one's job at nine in the morning. Paul or whoever would say, ‘It's time to make a record.’ I'd just go in and make a record, and not think too much about it.” As it turned out, the film that would eventually be titled Let It Be became more a portrait of a band falling apart at the seams than a documentary of an album in the making. “I'd talked them into Let It Be,” Paul said. “Then we had terrible arguments—so we'd get the breakup of the Beatles on film instead of what we really wanted. It was probably a better story—a sad story, but there you are.” George began to feel particularly stifled by the group, since he had started writing more songs on his own, only to find it difficult to get them accepted by the others. Paul and George were especially at odds, with George feeling that Paul had become too domineering and critical of his guitar playing. George briefly left the band during the sessions, to be coaxed back soon after.