When The Beatles officially broke up in 1970, fans all over the world wept in shock. It was truly the end of an era. The Fab Four had been growing apart for a couple of years, both musically and personally, and their disagreements over who should manage them after Brian Epstein’s death caused a seemingly irreparable rift between them. Particularly between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. After the breakup was announced, Lennon seemed to be the one who never wanted to even think about getting the band back together. He made it abundantly clear, both in interviews and in his music. But by 1975, something had changed.
John Lennon Was Ready for a Beatles Reunion in 1975
Even though the four Beatles went on to have very successful solo careers after the band dissolved, for a decade after their breakup, they were constantly asked whether there was a possibility of them getting back together. The answer was always half-hearted and ambiguous at best and resoundingly negative at worst. The main problem seemed to be the damaged relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The two of them had always had a very intense relationship, personally and professionally, and their fights were just as passionate. They were writing diss tracks about each other before they were even a thing, and the whole world got to hear about their feud in the ’70s.
John Lennon was particularly vicious. One of his first songs after the breakup, called “God”, stated that he didn’t “believe in Beatles,” and proclaimed, “the dream is over.” By 1971, he was publicly attacking Paul McCartney in his music. The infamous track, “How Do You Sleep?”, featuring fellow Beatle George Harrison, called him “a pretty face” and bashed his solo music, calling it “muzak.” Needless to say, people weren’t hopeful that Lennon would be convinced.
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However, by 1975, the dust had settled a bit. In a recently resurfaced interview, when he was asked about the possibility of a reunion, Lennon noticeably didn’t shut down the discussion. On the contrary, he said that enough time had passed for him to be open to the possibility, but pointed out that he didn’t think Harrison would be. He added that he had worked with Harrison and Ringo Starr on his solo music, but not with McCartney, because they weren’t talking at the time, but by 1975, they had reportedly become “close” again, and he said he would have been happy to explore a potential reunion.
At one point, Lennon also revealed that he had played with McCartney for the first time since the breakup the year before. It was in Los Angeles, while he and Yoko Ono had been taking some time apart, and Paul and Linda McCartney had visited them. Lennon laughed as he added that there were about 50 people there with their instruments, but everyone was watching him and McCartney play.
The Time Lennon and McCartney Almost Reunited on Saturday Night Live
Even if the reunion never materialized, it was nice for fans to know that Lennon and McCartney had reconciled. Opening up a little about their relationship, Lennon admitted his song “How Do You Sleep?” might have been overkill, and said that, in retrospect, he wished he hadn’t been so vicious. He went on to explain that he felt the song said more about him than McCartney, and that he was lashing out more than anything, but at the end of the day, they would always be friends. Many years later, in his 2021 book The Lyrics, McCartney admitted to being deeply hurt by Lennon’s words, but confirmed that they had resolved all their issues not long after and were friends again by the time Lennon passed away.
Lennon referred again to a possible Beatles reunion in an interview with Playboy in 1980, shortly after he was murdered, and he once again stated that it was a possibility, but admitted that it wouldn’t be the same. “The Beatles don’t exist and can never exist again,” he explained. “John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Richard Starkey could put on a concert… but it can never be the Beatles singing ‘Strawberry Fields’ or ‘I Am The Walrus’ again, because we are not in our 20s. We cannot be that again, nor can the people who are listening.”
During that same interview, Lennon was asked about the time Lorne Michaels jokingly offered them $3200 to get the band back together and perform on Saturday Night Live, and he revealed that he and McCartney almost took him up on his offer.
“Paul and I were together watching that show. He was visiting us at our place in the Dakota. We were watching it and almost went down to the studio, just as a gag. We nearly got into a cab, but we were actually too tired.”
It’s impossible for fans not to feel disappointed and saddened by the knowledge that a Beatles reunion was within grasp when Lennon’s life was tragically cut short. It would have been a monumental moment in music history, and instead, it was replaced by one of the biggest tragedies in pop culture.