Legendary musician Paul McCartney gave John Lennon a “step by step” plan in order to help his fellow Beatles star get back together with his wife, Yoko Ono.
Paul McCartney made an attempt to reunite Beatles members
The revelation is part of a memoir by Elliot Mintz, a radio host, that captures his close personal relationship with the couple. In We All Shine On, Mintz describes how in 1974, while Lennon was producing an album for singer Harry Nilsson entitled the Pussy Cats, McCartney turned up at the recording studio.
Lennon was in the midst of his famous “lost weekend”, in which he had separated from Ono and spent 18 months partying in Los Angeles with other stars, including Nilsson. During this time, Lennon also started his infamous affair with 23-year-old May Pang, who flew to Los Angeles as his personal assistant.
As Lennon expressed his desire to reunite with his wife, Mintz says McCartney reportedly offered to speak to Lennon for Ono and visited his fellow Beatles star at the recording studio. The two had not performed together since the Beatles had split.
“They were all just looking at us, thinking that something big was going to happen. To me, it was just playing with Paul”, Mintz recalls Lennon saying about the encounter via Telegraph.
Eventually, McCartney sat down with Lennon and “laid out, step by step, what he would need to do to win Yoko back”, the excerpt from The Times reads.
Ono has historically been accused by fans of breaking up the Beatles, and was regularly referred to by some as the “dragon lady”.
However, McCartney’s actions in 1974 suggest otherwise, which is only further backed up by his interview with BBC Radio 4 in 2021, where he stated that he held Lennon responsible for the band’s breakup.
“We All Shine On” chronicles Mintz’s friendship with Lennon and Ono, as well as the couple’s complex relationship. In the book, Mintz recounts how he was so close to the couple that they set up a special hotline for him, and a red light would flash in his bedroom whenever one of them called.
Following an 18-month separation, Lennon and Ono reconciled in November 1974 when she surprised Lennon by attending an Elton John performance in which he participated as a guest. Later, the couple met backstage and rekindled their connection in a dressing room.
Lennon continued to live with Pang for a short period, but eventually returned to Ono, telling Mintz: “Let the media know the separation did not work”.
