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When The Beatles broke up, Paul McCartney struggled to figure out how to move forward with his life and career. Not only was he unable to work with his friends and former bandmates, but he was also engaged in a lengthy legal battle with them. For his first solo album, McCartney wrote a song that summarized the emotions he dealt with during this uncertain time in his life.
Paul McCartney sued The Beatles after leaving the band
While John Lennon was the first to tell the band he was leaving, Paul McCartney was the first to announce his departure publicly. McCartney did not get along with the band’s manager Allen Klein and was the only one who stopped being represented by him. According to NBC News, the “Michelle” singer wanted Lee Eastman, father of his first wife, Linda, to handle the company’s finances, but he was outvoted.
In 1970, McCartney sued the other Beatles to dissolve the band’s contractual partnerships after the others voted to let Klein handle The Beatles’ finances. In an interview with Billboard, McCartney said he was troubled by having to sue his friends, which left him in a bad emotional state. However, he knew that suing them was the best thing for everyone.
“My biggest problem was I had to sue the Beatles,” McCartney said. “I tried to sue Allen Klein, but he wasn’t a party to any of the agreements, so I ended up having to sue my best friends as a technical matter. It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do, but it was pointed out to me that it was the only way to do it.”
McCartney wrote ‘Man We Was Lonely’ after suing his former bandmates
“Man We Was Lonely” is the closing track of McCartney’s first solo project, McCartney. The former Beatle has often shared that he was lonely after The Beatles disbanded, and he found solace in alcohol. McCartney told Billboard that the “countryish” track was a “reflection” of the post-Beatle part of his life and the inner turmoil he felt over suing the other members.
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“It’s nice when little words come out, like ‘And we was hard-pressed to find a smile.’ I like that line. It’s a hokey thing,” McCartney explained. “I think I’m remembering it wasn’t that easy when I left the Beatles, ‘Man, we was lonely.’ I think it was a little bit of a reflection of those times.
“I knew I had to get out [of the Beatles], and I knew I would apologize to them, and I knew once I got out, they’d get out,” he added. “So if I got out of prison, I’d free them. It was a very difficult call. I went through a lot of tough times emotionally, so something like ‘Man We Was Lonely’ reflects that.
McCartney used to blame himself for The Beatles’ break up
In an interview with GQ, Paul McCartney debunked the idea that he instigated The Beatles’ break up. Many people blamed him for it, and he said he almost started to agree with them.
“I was thought to be the guy who broke The Beatles up and the (jerk) who sued his mates,” McCartney stated. “And I bought into that. That’s the weirdest thing. It was so prevalent that for years I almost blamed myself.”
However, he later realized that the group was a family, and families often tend to bicker.
“There was a misconception that we all sort of hated each other. What I realize now is that because it was a family because it was a gang, families argued,” he continued. “And families have disputes. And some people want to do this, and others want to do that.”
