In the studio on January 8, George plays his song “I Me Mine” (also the title of his 1980 memoir) for John. It’s a barbed commentary on the epic clash of egos that’s crippling the band.

“I just got so fed up with the bad vibes,” he explains.

And then George turns his anger on Yoko. “Dylan and a few people,” he lights into her when they’re all sitting in the Apple offices at 3 Savile Row, “said that [you’ve] got a lousy name in New York and you gave off bad vibes.”

George and John sit and stare at each other.

“I didn’t hit him,” John remembers. “I don’t know why.”

“I Me Mine” would be the last new song the Beatles ever recorded.

“John had a tremendous weight on his shoulders,” Ken Mansfield observes. “He wanted to use his fame to change the world. Unlike the others, he was becoming a real political force.”

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Let’s stay together.

—“Let’s Stay Together”

The Beatles return to Twickenham Studios, where they’d filmed A Hard Day’s Night and Help! Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who directed The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (which winds up shelved and not unveiled to the public until 1996), will film the making of the band’s tenth British studio album, Let It Be (originally titled Get Back). “It’s another of Paul’s projects,” says Barry Miles: the title song is inspired by a dream Paul had about his mother, Mary, ten years after her 1957 death.

“I think we should go back on the road,” Paul says as the 1968 holidays approach. “Small band, go and do the clubs. Let’s go back to square one and remember what we’re all about.”

There’s a new kind of pressure behind his words: financial.

Back in October, the Beatles’ accountants had issued an urgent warning: because of their extreme tax exposure, the band needs to earn £120,000 for every £10,000 it spends. The costs of running the sprawling Apple Corps have spiraled.

Director Lindsay-Hogg has grand ideas about the way to execute the film’s concert finale. He’s thinking of staging a multicultural tribute to world peace to be shot on an ocean liner or in the Sahara. “The Beatles were to start playing as the sun came up,” he says, “and you’d see the crowds flocking toward them through the day.”

“We can build a replica of the Roman Colosseum so the band can arrive with a group of lions,” Paul suggests.

“Let’s go back to Liverpool,” Ringo puts in. “To the Cavern Club.”

John says, “I’m warming to the idea of doing it in an asylum.”

A movie about the world’s greatest band needs a daring ending.

George has one.