Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media Inc.
Paul McCartney’s documentary Man on the Run explores the turbulent breakup of The Beatles and the subsequent creation of his band Wings.
Paul McCartney revisited one of the most turbulent periods in The Beatles’ history in the documentary Man on the Run.
In the film, McCartney addressed his decision to take legal action against The Beatles and recounted the infamous “f— you, John” moment, which came during the tumultuous period following the band’s breakup and before he launched Wings. After The Beatles dissolved, McCartney had to navigate the fallout from their split. With the death of the group’s original manager, Brian Epstein, tensions rose over who should manage the band moving forward.
McCartney opposed hiring Allen Klein—a choice supported by John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison—as the band’s new manager.
“I could see where it was headed. Allen Klein would have just taken over all The Beatles’ money,” McCartney said in the Prime Video documentary, released February 27. “I felt I had no choice but to fight it.”
He credited his brother-in-law and his father-in-law for advising him on how to proceed. “They told me to sue, and I thought, ‘I can sue Allen Klein, but I can’t sue The Beatles. These are my friends, and everyone will hate me—public, bandmates, even myself.’ But I had no other way out.”
McCartney did eventually sue the other Beatles in 1970, feeling trapped in a business partnership dominated by Klein. His concern wasn’t about the band’s music—the group had already broken up—but about formally dissolving the business and preventing further mismanagement of Apple Corps.
In response, Lennon penned the song How Do You Sleep?, taking aim at McCartney’s departure. Lines like “The only thing you done was ‘Yesterday’/And since you’re gone you’re just another day” reportedly reflected Klein’s influence. McCartney said in the documentary, “In my mind I was thinking, ‘If all I did was ‘Yesterday,’ what about all the others—‘Let It Be,’ ‘Long and Winding Road,’ ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘Lady Madonna’… f— you, John.’”
He later added with a laugh, “How do I sleep at night? Actually, pretty well.”
By 1973, Lennon, Harrison, and Starr also sued Klein over financial mismanagement, eventually cutting ties with him. McCartney remains firm in his view: “John broke up The Beatles, but I got the blame. That’s a heavy thing to carry.”
McCartney and Lennon first met as teenagers at a church festival in Liverpool, England, where Lennon was already performing with The Quarrymen. He invited McCartney to join the band, and within a few years, The Beatles were formed.
Reflecting on his enduring bond with Lennon during a screening of Man on the Run, McCartney described their early connection: “I knew John from a very young age—we were just two kids who loved rock and roll. We hung out, wrote little songs at my place, and even tried smoking my dad’s pipe. No tobacco, so we smoked tea instead! Those were the memories we shared.”
He added that through the rise and chaos of The Beatles, Lennon could be difficult, but he remained the same John to him. “Even when he was being harsh, I thought, ‘That’s just John. He’s always been like that,’ which made it easier to handle.”
