The end of the Beatles is – much like every aspect of the group’s story – shrouded in myth, speculation, and half-truths. The recent Get Back documentary series by Peter Jackson offered some much-needed light, showing a band pulling tenaciously at ideas, and maintaining their momentum.
That said, The Beatles weren’t quite functioning as they once did. George Harrison detected this earlier than anyone – The Quiet Beatle was used to taking a backseat, but as his own songwriting strengthened, he became cowed to the self-interest of the fabled Lennon & McCartney partnership.
It all became clear on one song. ‘I Me Mine’ is a tail of ego disrupting life’s beauty, drawing from the Bhagavad Gita in the process. Spiritual in tone, the song taps into the festering arguments and over-sized egos that would prove to be The Beatles’ demise.
Indeed, when the band were first approached with the song neither John Lennon or Paul McCartney would recognise its quality. Ever-acerbic, John Lennon pulled Yoko Ono close, dancing a mocking waltz in recognition of the song’s 3/4 verse.
For his part, Paul McCartney would gamely attempt to add various aspects to the song, but also mocked George Harrison’s creation by signing it in a Spanish accent.
The songwriter would later reflect of those sessions: “There was a lot of trivia and games being played…”
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With songs such as the opinion-splitting ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ taking priority, the band pushed ‘I Me Mine’ to the side-burner. Here’s the thing: it became the final song the Beatles recorded together, with only George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr present in the studio.
Phil Spector may have created a grandiose sonic backing, but there’s no disguising the potent nature of lyrics such as “Even those tears / I me mine, I me mine, I me mine…”
George Harrison reflected in 1997: “I kept coming across the words I, me and mine in books about yoga and stuff … [about the difference between] the real you and the you that people mistake their identity to be … I, me and mine is all ego orientation. But it is something which is used all the time…”
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