(Credits: Far Out / Eric Koch for Anefo)
Tue 11 November 2025 19:00, UK
The world didn’t stop turning when The Beatles split up, but for many, it may as well have.
The band remains one of the most influential outfits on the planet. After leading the British invasion, they became one of the biggest groups in the world and completely changed how people viewed the music industry. Suddenly, there was a proper blueprint for how bands could crack America, and loads of acts who might’ve flown under the radar before started making a name for themselves. Put simply, many still see the ‘60s as one of the greatest decades in music – and it all kicked off with The Beatles.
In their revolutionising of the music industry, the band managed to gain fans all over the planet. There was no escaping the Beatles; everywhere you went, their music was playing, there was merchandise available, people were cutting their hair to look like them, and they were starting bands in their garage in a bid to try and sound like them. These fans were left devastated when the band eventually split, but for anyone who had been paying attention, the writing was always on the wall.
While the band had plenty of success, each member became their own individual, and in discovering themselves, they grew apart from the rest of their fellow Beatles. Cracks started to show as creative differences manifested in nearly every song that the band put out. Eventually, it was time for them to embark on their own solo careers, and those creative differences were visible based on how different each of their solo projects were.
Of course, while their music was incredibly different from one another when they started working on solo projects, people never ruled out the idea of a reunion happening. It was a dream for many Beatles fans to see the Fab Four working together once again, and it nearly came to pass on a Ringo Starr solo record. John Lennon wrote the track ‘I’m the Greatest’ for Starr, and when they went into the studio to record it, three out of four of The Beatles helped out: Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison.
“The three of us were there and Paul would most probably have joined in if he was around but he wasn’t,” recalled Lennon, “I just got a call from Ringo, asking me to write a track so I did. It seemed the natural thing to do. For the track that I wrote, I was on piano, Billy Preston was on organ, Ringo was on drums, George was on guitar and Klaus Voorman was on bass.”
The next time that the band would come anywhere close to a reunion, it was impossible for all four of them to take part, as John Lennon had sadly been murdered by then. In the mid-1990s, McCartney, Harrison and Starr all got back together to record some new Beatles music for what would become Anthology I. While Lennon wasn’t in the studio, there is a chance that his spirit might have made itself known to let the band know they were doing a good job, at least, that’s what McCartney believes happened.
When discussing recording Lennon’s demo for ‘Free As a Bird’, McCartney said that there was “A lot of strange goings-on in the studio.”
He continued, “There was just an overall feeling that John was around. We put one of those spoof backward recordings on the end of the single for a laugh to give all those Beatles nuts something to do. I think it was the line of a George Formby song. Then we were listening to the finished single in the studio one night, and it gets to the end, and it goes, ‘zzzwrk nggggwaaahhh jooohn lennnnnon qwwwrk’. I swear to God. We were like, ‘It’s John. He likes it!’”
Related Topics
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.