Via Christie's: Another interesting item up for sale as part of the Jim Irsay Collection auction, set for March 12:
A mimeographed typescript affidavit filed IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE CHANCERY DIVISION GROUP B by JAMES PAUL MCCARTNEY, Plaintiff v LENNON & OTHERS, Defendants..., [31] December 1970 by Ashurst Morris Crisp & Co., London, in support of McCartney’s application to dissolve the official partnership of the Beatles, the 13 page document annotated in black ink by John Lennon with various comments, retorts and rebuffs in the margins to counter McCartney's statements and claims, including:
- Lennon’s assertion that there were many fights on tour about leadership, in response to McCartney’s statement that whilst [the group] had been touring the relationship between us was very close;
- where McCartney references Ringo temporarily leaving the group during the recording of The White Album, Lennon remarks [Ringo] said we didn't want him any more;
- where McCartney observes that Musical differences became more marked, particularly between myself and John... By the time that 'Abbey Road' was recorded we were openly critical of each other's music, and he was no longer interested in the performance of songs which he had not written himself, Lennon responds Paul was guilty of this for years - witness 'Let It Be' clip;
- where McCartney recalls George walking out of recording sessions for Let It Be after a row with the rest of us about the performance of songs, Lennon contends that George’s row was only with Paul;
- Lennon’s contention that McCartney had been delaying everything for weeks, when McCartney writes On Friday 9th May 1969 it became clear to me that the other three had already signed the agreement [presumably the agreement to appoint Klein as manager of the Beatles] on the previous day without my knowledge, and that it was going to be ratified later that day... I told them that I wanted at least until Sunday (11th May 1969) to think it over;
- where McCartney relates the events of a meeting in which Lennon expressed his wish for a divorce, like my divorce from Cynthia, and recalls Lennon’s explanation that our recording activities had come full circle, because the photograph on our very first album was almost exactly similar to the photograph then planned for the album called 'Get Back...’, Lennon notes dismissively never happened;
- where McCartney recounts Phil Spector’s interference with his song 'The Long and Winding Road', writing Spector had not only "mixed" the recording, but had added strings, voices, horns and drums and changed the recording of my other songs considerably. This had never happened before and I regarded this as an intolerable interference with my work, Lennon remarks used to happen in early days;
- where McCartney relates that in August 1970, he wrote a letter to John suggesting that we should “let each other out of the trap”, to which Lennon replied, “How and Why?”, prompting McCartney’s response “How by signing a paper which says we hereby dissolve our partnership. Why because there is no partnership”, Lennon comments I expect something[?] a little less 'poetic' considering his advisors had been explaining it to him for 2 yrs;
- where McCartney states on the final page of the affidavit that he particularly resented the threat to my artistic freedom constituted by the attempt by the other three to stop or at least delay the release of my record [presumably his self-titled debut solo album McCartney], Lennon counters indignantly we resented the high handed way in which his record 'suddenly' appeared and demanding release dates with no consideration whatsoever for other Apple products.
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