Friday, February 10, 2012

Paul McCartney on Allen Klein and the Beatles' Money (1973)

"The Beatles could reform now that the manager Allen Klein is no longer involved. When Klein was there, the road was closed against the four of us ever working together. Now, as far as I am concerned, the road is open again. I saw Klein as a sharp operator who could only do harm with the Beatles. The others disagreed. Now they have come round to my way of thinking . . . There's no reason why we should not all work together again now. Klein was one of my main worries. He promised the Beatles the earth but the only one to make any real profit was Klein. At last the others have decided that it was simply not in their best interest to have him as manager . . . Klein takes a percentage and if he could have had his way he would have owned the Beatles lock, stock, and barrel. As it is, the money we earn goes into a central pot. Even some of the money I get with Wings goes into the pot. Every time we say we'd split the pot, Klein would say, 'Think of poor old Ringo, he'll get far less than anyone. You'll have to give him some of your share.' Now I hope it's possible we can all own our own out of what we have earned and divide the pot between the four of us. We've all lived well but we have never touched a penny of the lump of money we have earned as Beatles."

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