John Lennon Always Regretted This About the Beatles (But Didn't Do Anything About It)

Regrets that stem from inaction can be some of the most painful to reconcile, and that seemed to be the case for the one thing John Lennon always regretted about his time with the Beatles. Although he would admit in the same breath, he didn’t regret it enough to act on it.

So it often goes in life, after all. Hindsight is always 20/20, and when it comes to matters of creativity and ego, that type of clarity can reveal far more than we’re often comfortable seeing face-to-face.
John Lennon Regretted This About The Beatles

David Sheff’s All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono is as revealing as a conversation with that kind of pomp would suggest. In the massive interview spanning three weeks in August 1980, four months before Lennon’s death, the ex-Beatle talked about his life with his second wife, individual Beatles songs, and memories (and regrets) of his time in the Fab Four.

The last included one notable tinge of remorse Lennon always felt about George Harrison and Ringo Starr’s place in the Beatles’ songwriting compensation. As Lennon was discussing hurtful comments Harrison had made about him in his memoir, the “Imagine” singer said it was particularly painful because he had tried to ensure Harrison and Starr would get decent compensation from Beatles songs.

“It was because of me that Ringo and George got a piece of John and Paul’s songwriting,” Lennon argued to Sheff. “Under [manager] Allen Klein’s auspices, John and Paul own completely anything that [publishing company] Maclen published. I always felt bad that George and Ringo didn’t get a piece of the publishing. Not bad enough to do anything about it, but slightly guilty about it.”

Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com

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