1969, September

Today a session took place and Stereo mixes of Cold Turkey which was the second single by the Plastic Ono Band were worked on at EMI Studios.  The Plastic Ono Band had first recorded the song a couple of days before.

This session took place from 8pm-midnight and the final mix was similar to the single version, although missing some vocal and guitar overdubs were added on October 5th. Some electric piano, possibly played by Yoko Ono, is also audible near the end.

At the close of the session Lennon had an acetate made of the best mix. It was eventually broadcast in 1988 on The Lost Lennon Tapes radio series, although the ending was marred by a narration by the presenter. Bootleg copies later fixed this by editing in the ending of the released stereo mix.

Nothing was recorded today as far as we know.

John Lennon after 26 takes of Cold Turkey at EMI Studios didn't think the recording was good enough to be the Plastic Ono Band's second single so a second session took place today at Trident Studios.

John was on guitar and vocals, joined by Eric Clapton on guitar, Klaus Voormann on bass guitar and Ringo Starr on drums. Yoko Ono of course, was also present, and may have played some electric piano.

Not much happening today.

Abbey Road is the 11th studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It is their last recorded album, although Let It Be was the last album released before the band’s dissolution in 1970. Work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, and the album was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, and 1 October 1969 in the United States.

Abbey Road is widely regarded as one of The Beatles’ most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time. Despite the tensions within the band, Abbey Road was released to near universal acclaim and is considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2012, Abbey Road was voted 14th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2009, readers of the magazine also named Abbey Road the greatest Beatles album.
After the near-disastrous sessions for the proposed Get Back album (later released as Let It Be), Paul McCartney suggested to music producer George Martin that the group get together and make an album “the way we used to”, free of the conflict that began after the death of Brian Epstein and carrying over to the sessions for the “White Album”. Martin agreed, stipulating that he must be allowed to do the album his way. This would be the last time the band would record with Martin.

In their interviews for The Beatles Anthology, the surviving band members stated that, although none of them ever made the distinction of calling it the “last album”, they all felt when this would very likely be the last Beatles product and therefore agreed to set aside their differences and “go out on a high note”.

With the Let It Be album partly finished, the sessions for Abbey Road began in April, as the single “The Ballad of John and Yoko” / “Old Brown Shoe” was completed. In fact, recording sessions of John Lennon’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” had already started in February 1969 in Trident studios, with Billy Preston on the organ—only three weeks after the Get Back sessions. Photos from these sessions are included in the book Get Back, which came along with the Let It Be album but not in the Let It Be film. McCartney is clean-shaven and Lennon has started to let his beard grow.

Most of the album was recorded between 2 July and 1 August 1969. After the album was finished and released, the Get Back / Let It Be project was re-examined. More work was done on the album, including the recording of more music (see Let It Be). Thus, though the bulk of Let It Be was recorded before Abbey Road, the latter was released first, and Abbey Road was the last album properly started by The Beatles before they disbanded. Lennon was on hiatus from the group and working with the Plastic Ono Band during the September 1969 lead-up to Abbey Road’s release, which was effectively the first official sign of The Beatles’ impending dissolution.

The two album sides are quite different in character. Side one is a collection of unconnected tracks, while most of side two consists of a long suite of compositions, many of them being relatively short and segued together.

Paul and Linda McCartney attended the premier on this date of the film Midnight Cowboy in the UK which took place at the London Pavilion on Piccadilly Circus. A camera crew from BBC News captured footage of the McCartneys arriving, alongside stars including Marty Feldman and Richard Harris.

Also, on this date, two sessions involving the Plastic Ono Band took place. John Lennon worked with engineer Geoff Emerick on the mixes and eight songs from the September 13, 1969 concert at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival were included, as was announcer Kim Fowley's introduction at the beginning.

The mix tapes were later taken by Emerick to the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London. A different mix of Don't Worry Kyoko was made on 20 October 1969 to replace this day's version. Eventually, this album was released on December 12th.

In the evening the first studio session by the Plastic Ono Band took place, again in Studio Three. The group recorded Cold Turkey between 7pm and 1.30am, although the song was later remade at London's Trident Studios.

Today Linda McCartney is 28 years old.

Nothing happened today as far as we know.

Two days after "The Beatles" broke up

The day after the Beatles broke up.

Today a meeting took place at Apple's headquarters in London's Savile Row. John Lennon used the opportunity to tell McCartney and Starr that he was leaving the group. Although the previous week John had decided to leave The Beatles, Allen Klein persuaded him to keep quiet in public. Klein was in the process of renegotiating a new contract for the group with EMI/Capitol, and persuaded Lennon that it was in everyone's interests to deny that the dream was over, at least for a while longer.  However, John decided to use the opportunity to tell McCartney and Starr that he was leaving the group. The new contract was signed by The Beatles on this day, just before Lennon revealed his plans to leave. George was visiting his mother in Cheshire, but also signed the contract days later.

This is how John remembers...When I got back [from Toronto] there were a few meetings and Allen said, 'Cool it,' 'cause there was a lot to do [with The Beatles] business-wise, and it wouldn't have been suitable at the time. Then we were discussing something in the office with Paul and Paul was saying to do something, and I kept saying, 'No, no, no' to everything he said. So it came to a point that I had to say something. So I said, 'The group's over, I'm leaving.' Allen was there, and he was saying, 'Don't tell.' He didn't want me to tell Paul even. But I couldn't help it, I couldn't stop it, it came out. And Paul and Allen said they were glad that I wasn't going to announce it, like I was going to make an event out of it. I don't know whether Paul said, 'Don't tell anybody,' but he was damn pleased that I wasn't. He said, 'Oh well, that means nothing really happened if you're not going to say anything.' So that's what happened.

This is what Paul said....'I think we should go back to little gigs – I really think we're a great little band. We should find our basic roots, and then who knows what will happen? We may want to fold after that, or we may really think we've still got it.' John looked at me in the eye and said: 'Well, I think you're daft. I wasn't going to tell you till we signed the Capitol deal' – Klein was trying to get us to sign a new deal with the record company – 'but I'm leaving the group!' We paled visibly and our jaws slackened a bit.

I must admit we'd known it was coming at some point because of his intense involvement with Yoko. John needed to give space to his and Yoko's thing. Someone like John would want to end The Beatles period and start the Yoko period; and he wouldn't like either to interfere with the other. But what wasn't too clever was this idea of: 'I wasn't going to tell you till after we signed the new contract.' Good old John – he had to blurt it out. And that was it. There's not a lot you can say to, 'I'm leaving the group,' from a key member.

I didn't really know what to say. We had to react to him doing it; he had control of the situation. I remember him saying, 'It's weird this, telling you I'm leaving the group, but in a way it's very exciting.' It was like when he told Cynthia he was getting a divorce. He was quite buoyed up by it, so we couldn't really do anything: 'You mean leaving'? So that's the group, then...' It was later, as the fact set in, that it got really upsetting.

This is what Ringo said....After the Plastic Ono Band's debut in Toronto, we had a meeting in Savile Row where John finally brought it to its head. He said: 'Well, that's it, lads. Let's end it.' And we all said 'yes'. And though I said 'yes' because it was ending (and you can't keep it together anyway, if this is what the attitude is) I don't know if I would have said, 'End it.' I probably would have lingered another couple of years. But when we all met in the office, we knew it was good. It wasn't sulky and we weren't really fighting. It was like a thought came into the room, and everyone said what they said. John didn't think we should leave, just that we should break it up. It was not: 'I'm leaving, you're leaving.' It was: 'Well, that's it! I've had enough. I want to do this...'

On September 19th 1969, Paul McCartney was interviewed at Apple offices in London by David Wigg. Their discussion would air a few days later on the BBC Radio-One program ‘Scene and Heard.'

Wigg would later remember of his chat with McCartney: "The interview was held in the Apple offices in London. Paul sat in a handsomely carved chair that belonged to George Harrison. Paul talks of enjoying life as a family man. Paul also explains about the musical, business and personal differences within the band. He was very unhappy with the whole situation, largely because he never favored Allen Klein to handle their financial affairs. We discussed Paul's plans, the Abbey Road album, the day they received their MBE's, the Royal family, and what had caused the Beatles to change."

In addition to being a BBC radio personality, David Wigg was also famous for being a columnist for the Daily Express, as well as the London Evening News. In 1976, Wigg would release a double album featuring his interviews with each of the four Beatles, entitled 'The Beatles Tapes.'

The Abbey Road album would be released in the UK on September 26th, one week after this interview was recorded.

DAVID WIGG: "Paul, first of all congratulations on another super LP from the Beatles. What were your own favorite numbers? Which were you particularly satisfied yourself on this LP? Which ones stand out?"

PAUL: "Well, I like Come Together. That's a great one, which is John's one, yeah."

DAVID: "Yeah."

PAUL: "I like Something... George writes. I think for me, I think it's the best he's written. And I like Because on the second side."

DAVID: "Why did you use the lyric, 'Turn me on' and 'blow my mind' in that particular song? I rather felt that sounded a bit passe in 1969, 'cuz it's been used so much in the past."

PAUL: "Yes, well, they, they were John's lyrics."

(laughter)

PAUL: (jokingly) "Yes, so I'm not taking any blame. But no. If they had been used just straight, it would have been, 'YOU turn me on, YOU blow my mind' Ok, that would have been passe. But to say that 'because the world is round it turns me on' is great, you know. It's like, well, it's not fantastic, but it's as, it's as good as... good enough for me, you know. And 'because the wind is high it blows my mind.' You know, it's much better than, 'You blow my mind, baby, honeybunch.' I like all the others, you know, I think there's not a bad track on it, but my favorites are those ones. And then the long one."

DAVID: "Oh, yes."

PAUL: "The whole of the long one."

DAVID: "Yeah."

PAUL: "The whole of the end bit. I think that works good."

DAVID: "I think there's a lot of people might be surprised that you sort of dared to take Golden Slumbers the well known lullabye and give it a new variation. I enjoyed it very much. But what made you decide to do that, 'cuz the Beatles have never done that before, have they, taken another tune or lyrics?"

PAUL: "No. Well, I'll tell you. I was just playing the piano in Liverpool at my Dad's house. And my sister Ruth's pianobook, she was learning the piano, and you know there's a sort of... 'Golden Slumbers and Your Old Favorites' was up on the thing, you know. It was a stand, you know, as a little book with all those words in it and stuff. So I was just flicking through it and I came to Golden Slumbers, you know. So I just started... 'cuz I can't read music so I didn't know the tune, and I can't remember the old tune, you know."

DAVID: (giggles)

PAUL: "So I started just playing MY tune to it. And then I liked the words so I just kept that, you know. And then it fitted with another bit of song I had which is the verse in between it. So I just made that into a song. It just happened 'cuz I was reading her book."

DAVID: "And what about the reference to the Queen? What made you put that on the LP? That's caused a lot of surprise. (referring to advance promotional copies of the unreleased album) It's very nice but it was, you know, a lot of people didn't know it was there."

PAUL: "I saw your column in the Daily newspaper."

DAVID: (laughing) "I wish I could have got hold of you."

PAUL: "That was just, I don't know, you know, I was in Scotland and I was just writing this little tune, you know. I can never tell, like, how tunes come out. I just wrote it as a joke, you know."

DAVID: "Has the Queen or any member of the Royal Family ever discussed your music with you? Do they ever..."

PAUL: "No, the only time I ever talked to a member of the Royal Family really was with the Queen Mother, when she... on a Variety Performance then. And she just said, 'Where are you playing tomorrow night?' It wasn't exactly about music. And I think I said, or one of us said, 'Slough.' And she said, 'Oh, that's just near us?'"

DAVID: (laughter) "I understand Princess Anne goes out and buys your records."

PAUL: "Apparently. I know we did autographs once a couple of years ago. I think they were for Prince Charles and Princess Anne, so..."

DAVID: "What do you think of the monarchy today?"

PAUL: "I don't really think about it. I like that film, you know. I enjoyed that film and... I don't know. It doesn't interest me one way or the other, you know. I think they're nice people. They seem alright, you know, the Queen tells a good joke and she did in that film, you know. They're good."

DAVID: "When you had your MBE's, how did it strike you then? Do you think they've changed very much since those days?"

PAUL: "They, the Family?"

DAVID: "Yes. Do you think the image is..."

PAUL: "I do, yes, obviously, you know. It's got a bit more 'of the people,' you know. They've got a bit more sort of down to earth. When we got the MBE's, first, I sort of really believed, you know, having been brought up in it, the whole thing of, you know... 'Her Majesty' and all that stuff, you know, which is great. I thought, it's a great honor getting an MBE, obviously."

DAVID: "Yes, of course."

PAUL: "We went to the Palace and lined up with the other 5 million people who were getting it and then after you've been presented, you know, you sort of go the other end of the corridor and they give you this little medal. You do sort of think, well, it's not like you imagined it, you know, like I suppose in your dreams you'd have this great sort of... the Queen sits there with her great flowing robes and puts a sword on your shoulder and stuff. Well, you know, in fact they just give you a medal. And the medal sort of says, thanks from us. But apparently Howard Wilson really gives you it. Apparently he decides who gets them, so I don't know."

DAVID: "But you wouldn't do a Royal Variety Show, would you?"

PAUL: "Well, the reason we didn't want to do a Royal Variety Shows after a bit is that we did one and it went down great. And the only reason we didn't really want to do it the next year is that, you go and do it again and, say, it doesn't go down QUITE as well... Then it's just you're tryin' to repeat yourself, you know. And someone says, 'Well, last year they were sensational with rattle your jewels and oh, what a great show,' you know. This year, hmm, no laughs this year, say or... That was the only reason. There was no sort of thing about we won't do a Royal Variety. It's just, you know, could have been any other show. We wouldn't try and repeat our success say at Shea Stadium, you know. Once you've reached the peak of a thing there's no point in doing it twice."

DAVID: "Yes."

PAUL: "Unless you really intend to sort of go on and make that your thing to keep going on Royal Varieties. But we felt we'd done it once and that was enough."

DAVID: "What are the trappings of being Paul McCartney, Beatle Paul?"

PAUL: "Lack of privacy, that's THE trapping."

DAVID: "That's the main thing."

PAUL: "Yes, it bothers me, yeah sure it does."

DAVID: "Yes."

PAUL: "Well, the thing is, I like it when we're working. Or when I come to Apple, I expect to do autographs and just to perform in fact, you know. 'Cuz you have to switch-on a bit. But I also love to switch-off, like anyone. You come home after a hard day's work, you wanna switch-off. But sometimes, there's still people outside the house and I sort of say, 'Well, you know, can you leave us alone now, 'cuz like, we just had a baby. Give us bit of a chance,' you know. Sometimes."

DAVID: "How is the baby?"

PAUL: (proudly) "She's fantastic, yes, she's beautiful. She's about the best looking baby I've ever seen. Nicest. Just started on cereal, took every drop!"

DAVID: (laughs)

PAUL: "For all the mothers and fathers listening."

DAVID: "And now, are we going have a 'Mary' song?"

PAUL: "I don't know."

DAVID: "Soon?"

PAUL: "I don't know. There's, we did a song which has Mary in it, but it was written before she was born."

DAVID: "I see."

PAUL: "So I mean, I suppose she's already immortalized in a song."

DAVID: (laughs) "Do you plan to have more? Do you want a large family?"

PAUL: "Oh yeah. As many as..."

DAVID: "Would you like to have a son?"

PAUL: "I don't know. Yeah. I like to have anything, you know."

DAVID: (laughs)

PAUL: "I love KIDS, you know. They're great. We've got two now, which is like instant family."

DAVID: "Yes."

PAUL: (laughs) "And it's great, you know. It's lovely, 'cuz I love them both."

DAVID: "Do you feel a different person through marriage, I mean, do you feel sort of, matured?"

PAUL: "Yeah, I've never had a kid before, so that, you can't help to feel different. It takes a bit of time to click. It still hasn't really clicked that we've got a new daughter, you know."

DAVID: "Yes."

PAUL: "It takes a bit of time. I feel different, yeah. I don't feel any sort of steadier than I have ever felt, you know. I don't, I'm waiting for me settle down."

(laughter)

DAVID: "Do you find it terribly difficult to choose your friends because I would think in your position it must be awfully difficult. The people that probably would be nicer, you know, wouldn't sort of come and say hello to you, and get to know you."

PAUL: "Yeah."

DAVID: "One feels that you might be getting surrounded by a lot of the wrong people."

PAUL: "Yeah, I think that happens."

DAVID: "'Cuz they've got the cheek to, you know, get to know you."

PAUL: "That happens, but generally the ones who are friends choose themselves, you know. It just seems to happen. And you don't sort of go out and say, 'I'll have you for my friend.' You do get a few hangers on, of course. But they fall away."

DAVID: "You've got your eyes open for that sort of thing?"

PAUL: "Yeah. I mean, they can't stick if they're only hangers on. You know, it's funny. It's like water on a duck's back, you know. They try and get on but they roll off."

DAVID: "Did you ever have any complexes about this. You know, people wanting to know you?"

PAUL: "Not really, you know."

DAVID: "Just for what you represent."

PAUL: "I mean, that wouldn't worry me, you know. I accept that some people want an autograph. Some people want money. Some people want you to do them a favor and stuff. But, you know, there's always that. We get it magnified 'cuz we're us. We the Beatles, not the Royal 'we.'"

DAVID: (laughs)

PAUL: "It gets magnified, but everyone gets that, you know. There's always some of them who's got an uncle or something who wants a few bob. But he suddenly becomes the uncle you're not talking to or the one you're not really friends with."

DAVID: "What about the image of the Beatles. Now there's no doubt that the older generation who've been very for you, a lot of them have started saying things like, 'Oh they're not like they used to be, what are they doing,' you know. 'All this hair...'"

PAUL: "It's true."

DAVID: "Does this disturb you, that you might lose some of your old...?"

PAUL: "No, no. See, the thing is... you grow up, you know. Everyone grows up. And it is always a great pity to see a baby turn into an adult. 'Cuz it's always nicer when they're a baby and they go 'goo-goo' and they do everything you want. You know, it's lovely. And in a certain period in our career we were sort of particularly nice, you know. When we had like, a very all-around appeal. It wasn't put on, you know. We just... we were more like that, you know. But as we've grown up, we've... You become more individual. And so like, for instance if you don't want a press interview, like these days we don't have to say, yes. We're more true to ourselves, these days. And it, obviously it doesn't please some people but I think you'll find like a lot of other people like us FOR it. You know, I tell you what happened. We, once in the old days, we used to wear leather jackets, used to wear leather suits a lot. And we changed. Brian said, 'Look lads, smarten up a bit,' you know. 'Get yourselves suits.' So we got suits and ties and stuff and we went on like that. We gained a whole new audience and lost all the people who wanted us in leather."

DAVID: "I see."

PAUL: "See, so this is happening again, you know. I think it always will happen, that. We'll lose all the people who wanted us to be just four nice cleancut lads and who didn't want us to grow beards."

DAVID: "Yes."

PAUL: "And we'll gain all the people who don't care whether we got beards or what, you know. 'Cuz they're out for us."

DAVID: "Yes."

PAUL: "Not for what we look like or what... how nicely we speak, you know. They're out for us being truthful to ourselves, that's what they're interested in."

DAVID: "How much interest and how much control do you have over Apple, now that you have a new manager in Mr. Klein?"

PAUL: "The four of us have it."

DAVID: "Are you like businessmen?"

PAUL: "No, I don't like doing the business bit that much. But you can't avoid it. See, the thing is like, we were once a band, just a band. But then, because we were successful, you can't help it being successful. Money comes in. You can't help that, again. When money comes in, income tax is to be paid. So you can't really help just turning into a businessman 'cuz someone says to you, 'Where's your income tax, mate?' You say, "well, I better go on to someone,' you know. 'I hope I've got a bit to pay you' and stuff. So you got to get all that together, you know. So, it's just force of circumstance. You can't help it."

DAVID: "Paul, what about the future of Beatles? I happen to know that the organizers of the 'Isle Of Wight' pop festival are going to ask you and the rest of Beatles if you will top the bill next year at the Isle Of Wight. Now, what's your reaction to a thing like that? Are you likely to go back on stage and perhaps do a show like that?"

PAUL: "I don't know, you know."

DAVID: "Does it appeal?"

PAUL: "I've never known. I didn't know when we were playing the Cavern that we'd be on the Royal Variety Performance. And after that all the papers said, 'Well, what's left for them.' So then we went to America. They said, 'What's left for 'em' then, you know. And we got into making better albums and stuff. I mean, I just don't know what's gonna happen. It'll be alright though."

Rock Of All Ages was recorded on this day. McCartney co-produced the song with Mal Evans, and helped write it, although the latter gesture went uncredited. McCartney assisted in a number of sessions for Badfinger's album Magic Christian Music in 1968 and 1969, producing several songs and writing Come And Get It.

During the session McCartney played piano and sang a guide vocal alongside Badfinger's Tom Evans, which was later replaced by a second vocal part by Evans.

Two stereo mixes of Rock Of All Ages were released. The single version had McCartney's piano in the right channel, while the album version had it centred. The latter version of the song also faded 10 seconds earlier.

Nothing much happening today.

Today Maclen (Music) Limited began legal proceedings against Northern Songs, the company founded by music publisher Dick James, Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1963 to publish Lennon-McCartney songs.

This legal notice was to request a re-audit of royalty statements from February 11, 1965 onwards. (Northern Songs was in the process of being sold). Maclen had been set up to publish Lennon and McCartney's songs in the US.

Company audits were Allen Klein's speciality, and he almost always managed to uncover misdeeds leading to compensation for his star clients. It was just one of many tough negotiations Klein entered into on The Beatles' behalf in 1969.

Today John and Yoko gave an interview after returning from the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival. This was to a camera crew from ITV News and took place at Apple Corps in London. The following day it was brodcasted in the UK. It focused on the debut performance by the Plastic Ono Band in Toronto.

Lennon spoke about assembling the band quickly, and how rock musicians were eager to jam with one another whenever possible rather than being confined within bands. Asked whether it marked the beginning of a solo career, he said he would play it by ear.

The reporter asked the couple to define their "howling" sound. Ono described it as "an expression that's not so intellectualised as words", while Lennon said it was simply "pure sound". They then gave a vocal demonstration.

After the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, the Plastic Ono Band were taken to the private estate owned by wealthy Canadian businessman John David Eaton where they stayed for two nights. The day after the concert, they relaxed and toured the estate grounds in golf carts.

The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was a one-day festival held at the Varsity Stadium of Toronto University. The 20,000 ticket holders were unaware that Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band were to perform until the festival was underway.

However - John Lennon woke up regretting that he agreed to perform that evening. Eric Clapton, however, was eager to play, and convinced Lennon that it was too late to back out.

The festival was headlined by The Doors, and also featured Bo Diddley, Chicago Transit Authority, Tony Joe White, Alice Cooper, Jerry-Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, Gene Vincent, Junior Walker & The All-Stars, Little Richard, Doug Kershaw, Screaming Lord Sutch, Nucleus, Milkwood, Tony Joe White, and Whiskey Howl.

Alice Cooper's group was the backing band for Gene Vincent, while local act Nucleus provided support for Chuck Berry. The Doors closed the festival. At approximately 10pm the Plastic Ono Band's black limousine arrived in the backstage area, while Cat Mother was onstage. The group was accompanied by festival promotor John Brower, and the car was escorted by 80 motorcycles from the Toronto Vagabonds.

As they arrived photographers scrambled to get a glimpse of the car. Police escorted the Lennons towards the musicians' dressing room, where they remained until midnight.

John just stood in the dressing room, which was admittedly rather tatty, beforehand saying, 'What am I doing here? I could have gone to Brighton!' After all, it was a long way to go for just one concert. He did a really great thing. He had all the lights in the stadium turned right down and then asked everyone to strike a match. It was a really unbelievable sight when thousands of little flickering lights suddenly shone all over the huge arena. Lennon later admitted he was addicted to heroin at the time of the performance.

Said John "We were full of junk too. I just threw up for hours till I went on. I nearly threw up in Cold Turkey – I had a review in Rolling Stone about the film of it – which I haven't seen yet, and they're saying, 'I was this and that.' And I was throwing up nearly in the number. I could hardly sing any of them, I was full of shit. "

Was today that John Lennon decided to leave the Beatles? First today, Live music promotor John Brower telephoned the Apple office and spoke to John inviting him and Yoko Ono to the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival taking place the following day. He offered eight first class tickets for the couple and their friends. At the time sales for the festival were slow, and he needed some high profile guests to boost its appeal. To his surprise, Lennon agreed on the condition that he could perform at the event. An astonished Brower accepted without hesitation.

Since The Beatles hadn't performed in a live concert since August 1966, and there was little enthusiasm within the group for a return to the stage, Lennon had to swiftly assemble a new group.

Lennon called Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White, each of whom agreed to fly to Canada the next day. Clapton wasn't Lennon's first choice as guitarist, however.

When the Plastic Ono Band went to Toronto in September John actually asked me to be in the band, but I didn't do it. I didn't really want to be in an avant-garde band, and I knew that was what it was going to be.

He said he'd get Klaus Voormann, and Alan White as the drummer. During the last few years of The Beatles we were all producing other records anyway, so we had a nucleus of friends in the studios: drummers and bass players and other musicians. So it was relatively simple to knock together a band. He asked me if I'd play guitar, and then he got Eric Clapton to go – they just rehearsed on the plane over there.

Brower arranged their visas and immigration papers, and Mal Evans was instructed to sort out the musical equipment for the new group's debut performance.

John said that it was very, very quick. "We didn't have a band then – we didn't even have a group that had played with us for more than half a minute. I called Eric and I got Klaus, and we got Alan White and they said, 'OK.' There was no big palaver – it wasn't like this set-format show that I'd been doing with The Beatles where you go on and do the same numbers – I Want To Hold Your Head – and the show lasts twenty minutes and nobody's listening, they're just screaming and the amps are as big as a peanut and it's more a spectacular rather than rock'n'roll."

The event was not just the live debut for the Plastic Ono Band; it also marked the point at which Lennon decided to leave The Beatles.

"We were in Apple and I knew before I went to Toronto, I told Allen [Klein] I was leaving. I told Eric Clapton and Klaus that I was leaving and I'd like to probably use them as a group. I hadn't decided how to do it, to have a permanent new group or what. And then later on I thought, 'Fuck it, I'm not going to get stuck with another set of people, whoever they are.' So I announced it to myself and to the people around me on the way to Toronto the few days before. On the plane Allen came with me, and I told him, 'It's over.'"

The Beatles' final recorded album, Abbey Road is completed and waiting for release. Now the Beatles turned to other projects.

What's The New Mary Jane had been recorded during the sessions for the White Album, but was left off at the last minute. Today, however, John Lennon oversaw the creation of new stereo mixes.

Three mixes were made, each of which ended with Lennon's closing comments: "Let's hear it, before we get taken away!" The session lasted from 2.30-5.30pm, at the end of which the mixes were copied onto a separate tape reel which were taken back to Apple by Malcolm Davies.

Lennon was considering releasing the song as a Plastic Ono Band single, although the song remained unreleased until 1996's Anthology 3. This day's mixes were never used, however, as further overdubs were added on 26 November 1969.

Two films by John and Yoko were premiered today at the New Cinema Club at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. The names of the films were Self-Portrait and John & Yoko's Honeymoon.

Mr & Mrs Lennon's Honeymoon was a documentary about the couple's honeymoon bed-in for peace in Amsterdam. Directed by Peter Goessens, it was filmed in colour and lasted 40 minutes. It begins with scenes from the city intercut with Lennon and Ono singing "Hair peace, bed peace", followed by scenes of the couple sleeping and reading newspapers. The second half contains interviews and footage of Lennon talking into the camera.

The event was billed with the words: "John and Yoko's evening of film events will end towards midnight. It will happen once. It will be what they want it to be." Two people sat in a white bag beneath the screen at the ICA throughout the evening, leading many to believe the couple was actually present.

It's been a quiet week so far.......

Nothing to report today.

The Beatles were not doing much together today.

Not much happening today on this date.

No recordings were taking place. Did the Beatles know it would soon be over?

Nothing much happening today.

Paul and Linda and Baby Mary

Bob & Sara Dylan stayed with Pattie & George at Kinfauns after the Isle of Wight concert and the Harrison’s dropped them at the airport for their flight back to New York. Mal Evans, partially shown on left, accompanied Pattie and George to Heathrow.

Bob Dylan visited John and Yoko at Tittenhurst Park. following his appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival the previous night.John, George and Ringo had attended Dylan's and accepted an invitation to be taken to England in Apple's rented helicopter.

This was the final time that Dylan met Lennon, and it was not a success. John would say "He came over to our house with George after the Isle of Wight and when I had written Cold Turkey. I was trying to get him to record. We had just put him on piano for Cold Turkey to make a rough tape but his wife was pregnant or something and they left."