Newly unearthed recording of the Fab Four shows they wanted to record one final album

A newly unearthed recording of The Beatles shows they wanted to record one final album and go out on a high – putting to bed the rumour that Yoko Ono broke up the Fab Four.

The tape –  which dates back to September 8, 1969 –  features a conversation between John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison at Apple’s headquarters in Savile Row.

It was just two weeks after they finished recording of Abbey Road, and Ringo Starr was unable to make it because he was in hospital undergoing tests for intestinal problems.

Fans of the Fab Four have long vilified Yoko Ono for the break up of The Beatles, but the new audio suggests that far from being at each others throats, the band were planning a new album, and wanted a single to release in time for Christmas.

Fans of the Fab Four have long vilified Yoko Ono for the break up of The Beatles, but the new audio suggests that far from being at each others throats, the band were planning a new album, and wanted a single to release in time for Christmas

‘Ringo, you can’t be here, but this is so you can hear what we’re discussing,’ says Lennon, in the recording played to The Guardian by Beatles historian and writer Mark Lewisohn.

The singer then suggests each member of the band bring they each contribute four tracks each to the new albu, with Ringo getting two ‘if he wants them.’

Lennon also refers to the ‘Lennon-McCartney Myth’, suggesting that the each of their songs should be individually credited.

Beatles historian and writer Mark Lewisohn (pictured) said the unearthed recording was a ‘revelation’

Previously, the duo were presented to the public as a song writing partnership.

McCartney is then heard questioning the song’s Harrison wrote for the recently recorded Abbey Road.

He says:  ‘I thought until this album that George’s songs weren’t that good.’

Harrison, who wrote Something and Here Comes The Sun, quickly retorts: ‘That’s a matter of taste. All down the line, people have liked my songs.’

And Lennon intervenes to quip that no one in the band was a fan of McCartney’s Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, also on Abbey Road.

But McCartney insisted: ‘I recorded it, because I liked it.’

Lewisohn – who wrote The Beatles: All These Years – says the unearthed recording is a ‘revelation.’ 

He adds: ‘The books have always told us that they knew Abbey Road was their last album and they wanted to go out on an artistic high. 

‘But no – they’re discussing the next album. And you think that John is the one who wanted to break them up but, when you hear this, he isn’t. 

‘Doesn’t that rewrite pretty much everything we thought we knew?’