SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY - MCCARTNEY: 'WE WERE INNOCENTS WHO COULDN'T HANDLE THE BEATLES BUSINESS'

MCCARTNEY: 'WE WERE INNOCENTS WHO COULDN'T HANDLE THE BEATLES BUSINESS'

PAUL MCCARTNEY has spoken out about the final months of the BEATLES, insisting the group became victims of their own success when businessman ALLEN KLEIN took over their financial affairs.
In a rare interview about the Fab Four's tense final recording sessions together, MCCartney tells music magazine Mojo he and his bandmates struggled to come to terms with all the business decisions they were suddenly forced to make as they were recording final album Abbey Road.
And the fighting over cash and contracts really became a huge burden.
He explains, "We were musicians, we were kids from Liverpool, we'd gone to grammar schools, we'd done Hamburg - we kind of knew all that. But the idea that you were going to get this money and someone was going to take it off you...
"I think we all just thought, 'You get the money, you put it in a bank, and it gradually gets bigger,' and you say, 'Thank you very much, and you live happily ever after.' Then you suddenly get with accountants and they say, 'No, you can't just sit there'.
"Then there's tax, and some business person is on a raid - it was a huge upheaval."
MCCartney admits the group's business woes were poured into their new songs: "George (Harrison) would write Piggies, and I knew exactly what he was talking about, and he wrote Taxman when we first found out about the tax system."
MCCartney refused to be drawn into talking about Klein, but hinted he still hasn't forgiven the businessman for things that will remain unspoken. Klein was hired to manage the Beatles in 1969, despite objections from MCCartney. The rift between the group eventually led to a court battle before the band broke up - with many Beatles fans blaming Klein for contributing to the group's split.
When asked about Klein's part in the downfall of the Beatles, the singer/songwriter says, "I don't want to speak ill of the dead."
Klein passed away in New York earlier this summer (09) after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.