Hear me out -- Part of what they promised had to do with money.
“I really remember looking around the estate where I lived and thinking what's the main problem here cause I'm gonna have to face it. And it was lack of money. Nobody had money, you know, and they were always arguing husband and wife over that. I thought if I can avoid that, this will be good.” Paul McCartney, 2012
And I remember thinking very consciously, ‘Okay, I’ll solve that; I will try to get money.’ That set me off on the ‘Let’s not have too many problems with money’ trail. – Paul McCartney, 2020
Paul says, ‘That’s where the Beatles started. That’s where John gave me half his chocolate bar.’ And now Bono’s like, ‘What chocolate bar? I’ve never heard of any chocolate bar.’ And Paul says, ‘John had a chocolate bar, and he shared it with me. And he didn’t give me some of his chocolate bar. He didn’t give me a square of his chocolate bar. He didn’t give me a quarter of his chocolate bar. He gave me half of his chocolate bar. And that’s why the Beatles started right there.’ – Matt Damon, 2022
[I once had] one really big one about thousands of half-crowns all around me, and finding lots of money in old houses and just as much of the stuff as you could carry. I could never carry enough. I used to put it in my pockets and in my hands and in sacks, only I could still never carry as much as I wanted. -- John Lennon, 1966
I remember when John and I were first hanging out together, I had a dream about digging in the garden with my hands. I’d dreamt that before but I’d never found anything other than an old tin can. But in this dream, I found a gold coin. I kept digging and I found another. And another. The next day I told John about this amazing dream I’d had and he said, ‘That’s funny, I had the same dream.’ So both of us had this dream of finding this treasure. And I suppose you could say it came true. -- Paul McCartney, 2012
I can still see them now; Paul and John having toast and John wanting jam on the toast and Paul telling him off: 'John, you must be mad! It's a penny extra.’ – Allan Williams 2019
It always struck me as odd that Paul is having a panic attack over John's penny. I know he's crazy money-conscious, but still. It's John's penny. What, did they have a shared bank account or something? Don't be ridiculous. But lately I've been wondering if maybe there was something like that going on.
Every Tuesday, Paul and I used to go to the pictures. One night, John, Paul and I went out for something to eat to a little cafe. We had nearly finished the main course and they both winked at each other and then they started to have this terrible row across the table. I'm thinking, what's going on? They were shouting at each other until we all got thrown out so we didn't have to pay. – Iris Caldwell 2012
And so he said "what are we gonna do?" so I said, "we could hitch-hike. And then, you could spend the money as we go, you know." So we did. -- Paul McCartney, 2026
Why is Paul so confident here in spending this huge windfall John got so frivolously? He's never frivolous with money ever once in his life, and before, he was shouting at John for spending a penny on jam for toast. What was up?
And Paul and I also did the same thing, once. We just cancelled. . . . Paul and I just cancelled all the engagements, and left for Paris . . . — John Lennon, 1976
Northern Songs and other Companies
Under Northern Songs, first organized in 1963, John and Paul each held 750k shares exactly.
Under The Beatles Ltd., first organized in 1963, all four Beatles were "individuals sharing their income."
Under Lenmac Ltd., their royalties company, NEMS owned 20%, John owned 40%, and Paul owned 40%.
Under Maclen (music) Ltd., their publishing company in America, first organized in 1965, NEMS owned 20%, John owned 40%, and Paul owned 40%.
Under The Beatles and Co., the Beatles became "apart from songwriting royalties, which would be paid directly to the authors of the individual songs, all the money earned by the group would be" pooled into the company.
Under Apple Corps, each Beatle owned 5% of the company separately, and then jointly they held the other 80% together. All their money from recording and performing went straight into Apple. Songwriters would be paid individually for royalties, and as Lennon/McCartney were a partnership, they would be paid together for their royalties.
I copped money for Family Way, the film music that Paul wrote while I was out of the country making How I Won the War," said Lennon, laughing. "I said to Paul, 'You'd better keep that', and he said, 'Don't be soft.'
According to Peter Brown, "Paul and John had always had an unwritten agreement that neither of them would own more shares than the other in their music publishing company. It was that simple."
So when John found out that Paul had bought a thousand extra shares (remember, they each owned 750k shares, so in the grand scheme of things, this is tiny), Peter Brown says John "felt he'd been betrayed," and "became enraged, no doubt egged on by Klein." Brown remembers John "slamming a table" as "Barbs were exchanged."
“You bastard!” John spit. “You’ve been buying up stock behind our backs!” Paul blushed and shrugged limply. “Ooops, sorry!” he smiled. “This is fuckin’ low!” John said. “This is the first time any of us have gone behind each other’s backs.” Paul shrugged again. “I felt like I had some beanies and I wanted some more,” he said.
Peter Brown then says John stormed out of the meeting.
So to me, this is another lace curtains, burnt condom type moment. Paul is extremely hurt when John says his vote against Klein doesn't matter. To him, that was when he knew it was over. (so I think that must have to do with the promise too). So what does Paul do? he's got this thing, where he can get his revenge. He knows it will hurt John, but it will just look like this little tiny thing. No one but them two will know what a big deal it was.
Paul Only Cares About Money
PLAYBOY: "You're talking about records, of course."
LENNON: "Yeah, to churn them out because I was expected to, like so many people who put out an album every six months because they're supposed to."
PLAYBOY: "Would you be referring to Paul McCartney?"
LENNON: "Not only Paul. But I had lost the initial freedom of the artist by becoming enslaved to the image of what the artist is supposed to do.
PLAYBOY: "Why did you become a househusband?"
LENNON: "There were many reasons. I had been under obligation or contract from the time I was 22 until well into my 30s. After all those years, it was all I knew.
The Beatles, even after they publicly broke up, were contractually obligated to continue the Apple arrangement of pooling their money until the divorce papers were signed, at which point, they could all take their piece of the pie and go as Paul put it. AKOM points out, without really digging into the money issue, that John's disappearance from his career as a popular musician happens directly after the papers are signed. As soon as he is no longer pooling his money with Paul, he loses all motivation to be a contributing member, pulling his weight. He stops putting out albums to make money. ((((I am not saying this is the only reason. John's mental health and his baby would've also played huge roles. I am saying it could be part of it.)))) And then he reemerges when he feels that Paul has invited him back. When he thinks they're ready to "start over" again.
The Paul McCartney Project
John's 1980 Playboy interview
John's 1971 Rolling Stone interview
Peter Brown and the Beatles Bible
My own quote doc which compiles lots of interviews
blakekathryn
romaincrisis
