Paul McCartney doubts the Beatles would have ever reunited: “We made a decision we weren’t going to pick it up again”

Paul McCartney has expressed his doubts about a Beatles reunion ever coming to fruition following the band’s split in 1970.

Reflecting on the legendary English rock band’s decision to fold, the 78-year-old musician told The Sunday Times that all four members were adamant when the Beatles broke up, they “weren’t going to pick it up again”.

“We switched off from the Beatles,” Macca said. “You talk about something coming full circle that is very satisfying; let’s not spoil it by doing something that might not be as good. It was a conscious decision to leave well enough alone, so I don’t really think we would have. But who knows?”

He added, in regards to his relationship with longtime songwriting partner John Lennon: “We had certainly got our friendship back, which was a great blessing for me.”

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Macca’s statement about the reunion, however, contradicts the sentiment of Lennon in a 1975 interview with BBC reporter Bob Harris. Five years before his death, Lennon explained that he had taken on a “why not?” attitude towards a reunion.

“At one period when they were asking me [about a reunion] I’d say, ‘Nah, what the hell? Go back? Not me.’ And then it came to a period where I thought, ‘Well, why not?’ if we felt like making a record or doing something.

“Everyone always envisages ‘the stage show’… for me, if we were together, [it would have been the] studio again.”

He added: “It’s never got to a position where each one of us wanted to do it at the same time. I think over the period of being apart we’ve all thought ‘well that would have been nice, that wouldn’t be bad’, you know?”

Meanwhile, McCartney is set to release his third self-titled album on 18 December. The album was recorded while in lockdown for COVID-19.

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