Paul McCartney talks Yoko Ono’s ‘interference’ with the Beatles in new ‘Life in Lyrics’ podcast

Paul McCartney described Yoko Ono’s presence during the Beatles studio sessions as “an interference in the workplace” in the latest episode of his podcast “McCartney: A Life in Lyrics.”

The 81-year-old Grammy winner discussed the band’s production of The White Album in 1968, a period when he said it felt like they were “heading toward” a breakup.

Ono, now 90, was married to John Lennon and their relationship “was bound to have an effect on the dynamics of the group,” McCartney told poet Paul Muldoon in an episode released last week.

McCartney said Lennon insisted Ono be present in the studio with them while they were recording.

“We would allow this, and not make a fuss,” McCartney said. “And yet at the same time, I don’t think any of us particularly liked it.

“It was an interference in the workplace. We had a way we worked. The four of us worked with George Martin. And that was basically it. And we’d always done it like that. So not being very confrontational, I think we just bottled it up and just got on with it.”

McCartney explained that studio time was part of the job for the Beatles, and not something that they took lightly.

“It was the idea of the Beatles — it was also just this straight, practical thing of, ‘This was our job. This is what we did in life,'” he said.

The band split up in 1970, two years after the release of the White Album. In a 2021 interview with BBC Radio, McCartney said Lennon instigated the breakup.

“I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny,” he claimed. “John walked into a room one day and said, ‘I am leaving the Beatles.’ Is that instigating the split, or not?”

Lennon had always wanted to break from the group, and had wished to start a new life with Ono, McCartney said in the interview.

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