After providing so much joy for the world, The Beatles went out in a morass of misery. There were the acrimonious management disputes, the publishing problems, the power struggles, the interpersonal irritations, the hard drug problems, and the weird and disruptive romantic relationships. Also, apparently, Paul was dead. All in all, 1969 was not a happy year for The Beatles.
At basically no time does Ken McNab let us forget this in And in the End: The Last Days of The Beatles. The book is far too fascinating to label a slog, though it is hardly a happy read. Along with the big, well-covered problems, there are also small sadnesses that really humanize The Beatles’ end-of-career depression. John visits members of his extended family and faces a wall of ice. He politely declines a fan’s autograph request, is showered with abuse for the refusal, and reveals that this happens “every time I leave my house.” George is serially devalued and dismissed by his bandmates. The perpetually sunny Paul has a mild nervous breakdown. Ringo is hospitalized with intestinal problems that his work-related stresses possibly exacerbated and can barely bring himself to crack a smile during The Beatles’ final photo session as a foursome.
Ironically, 1969’s silver lining for The Beatles is that it was their last year as a band, so they were able to stop being Beatles and get on with their lives, which was clearly the healthiest thing the guys could have done. Toward the end of And in the End, things start looking up as John kicks heroin, George finally gets some respect for his talents when he places “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun” on Abbey Road and builds the confidence to make what may be the best album of the seventies, and Ringo learns to have fun making music again when he starts working on his own debut solo album. All this should make still-bitter Beatlemaniacs feel better about the band’s break up.
Like Steve Turner’s superb Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year, And in the End is organized month by month to get deep into what John, Paul, George, and Ringo were up to every step of the way through the year. It’s a terrific format, and I’d love to see Turner and McNab divvy up ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’67, and ’68 to complete a detailed portrait of The Beatles’ whole career.
