Paul McCartney’s Stunning New Take on “Let It Be” Undermines Long-Held Myths About Yoko Ono
July 4, 2025 – London – Sir Paul McCartney has once again stirred Beatles lore—with a revelation that shifts the blame for the legendary band’s breakup from Yoko Ono to himself and his bandmate George Harrison.
In a recent interview coinciding with the Disney+ re-release of the original 1970 Let It Be documentary—restored using Peter Jackson’s archival techniques—the 82-year-old music icon revisited the culture-shaping Beatles era. “I had no issue with Yoko,” McCartney said firmly, recalling her benign and sweet presence in the studio. It was he and Harrison, he admitted, whose fraught musical squabbles fractured the group’s unity .
For over half a century, the narrative endured: Yoko Ono’s intrusion into band dynamics had torn the Beatles apart. The restored footage, however, lays bare a different story. McCartney recounts how he and Harrison clashed over artistic direction—often heatedly—with George temporary quitting the sessions in early January 1969, before being coaxed back to finish the project .
This acknowledgment reframes the “Let It Be” sessions not as a fallout instigated by an outsider, but as internal tensions between core bandmates—a revelation that history has soft-pedaled for too long. “There’s no trace of Yoko causing trouble,” says McCartney. “It was just us, Paul and George, trying to make it happen.”
The re-release of Let It Be on Disney+ (May 8, 2024) renews the spotlight on these band dynamics. It adds credibility to the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which also highlighted McCartney–Harrison discord while showing Lennon and Ono largely detached from the friction .
The initial 1969 documentary, directed by Michael Lindsay‑Hogg, had painted an uneasy picture of the Beatles at odds. But this new context—and McCartney’s candid clarification—changes the narrative. The restored film reveals creative arguments, debates over song arrangements, and Harrison’s brief walkout—not any overt conflict centered on Yoko Ono .
Within the film, moments of levity also shine through: spirited rehearsals, impromptu renditions, and playful studio banter — all testaments to the band’s still-vibrant camaraderie. But behind the laughter lay artistic tension—McCartney’s perfectionism clashing with Harrison’s quest for musical autonomy.
McCartney’s clarification comes at a key moment. Peter Jackson’s restoration has returned Let It Be to public consciousness, allowing fans and historians to reassess its historical weight. As the lens clears, so too does the truth: the Beatles’ demise was not due to Yoko Ono’s presence, but to the creative friction between two of its most talented and headstrong members .
What this means for Beatles legacy
McCartney’s frankness not only absolves Ono of decades of unjust blame—it also shines a light on the complexities of creative collaboration at its highest level. For fans, scholars, and creators, this is a chance to revisit the Beatles’ twilight with nuance—recognizing the human genius and turmoil behind the myth.
This revelation adds a powerful psychological and historical dimension to one of rock’s defining moments—reminding us that even legends have fragile, fallible hearts.
