Harrison was about to record his solo album All Things Must Pass, with Phil Spector as producer, but said the Beatles would probably work together again after a few solo projects. McCartney was invited to join Lennon and Harrison for sessions on Starr’s song “Early 1970,” but declined the offer. The “cute” Beatle, who’d bemoaned “chasing papers” on Let It Be’s opening song “Two of Us,” served his own “funny papers.” McCartney sued the other three Beatles in London’s High Court of Justice on December 31.The lawsuit dissolved “the partnership business carried on by the plaintiff and the defendants under the name of The Beatles & Co.,” according to the writ issued by the High Court’s Chancery Division.

At the trial McCartney’s lawyers cast Klein as disreputable, and McCartney testified the Beatles were no longer a functioning band and their differences were irreconcilable. Lennon, Harrison, and Starr submitted affidavits saying McCartney could be hard to work with but there was no reason the band couldn’t go on. High Court judge Blanshard Stamp found in McCartney’s favor on March 12, 1971.

After the trial the other Beatles were soured on Klein. Harrison thought he mismanaged the Bangladesh aid project. Lennon said Klein didn’t back him on his and Ono’s political music. Lennon, Harrison, and Starr legally broke with Klein in March 1973, leaving the band to work things out between them. “The Beatles Agreement” officially ending the band was signed in December 1974. The paper basically distributed the Beatle Empire into parts each could live with. There were a few minor kinks to work out. Lennon wanted a change to a tax provision, because he was living in America. But it was a formality. It didn’t change anything the world and the band already knew. They weren’t a band. They were free to play with whomever they chose, and Harrison, who was playing Madison Square Garden that week in support of his Dark Horse album, chose to have his old rhythm guitarist join him on stage.

The signing was set to happen on Dec. 19, 1974, at the Plaza Hotel, where the band stayed on their first trip to the U.S. in 1964, and not too far from where Lennon lived. Legal teams for Apple’s U.S. and U.K. arms were there. Starr phoned in from England, and had his lawyer and business manager attend. Harrison showed up with his lawyer and business manager. McCartney brought his own lawyers, and wife Linda, who brought a camera to document the final dissolution. Lennon’s lawyer was there, waiting for his client. A call was put through to the absent Beatle, and his personal assistant and constant “Lost Weekend” companion May Pang told the assembly Lennon was skipping the meeting because “the stars aren’t right.” Harrison told Pang to let Lennon know he could skip the Garden show too. The astrology worked in Lennon’s favor because, with the Beatles finally over, he decided to go to Disney World. By the time he got there, his tax adjustment was made, and he signed on Dec. 29, 1974. Yoko took a picture to commemorate.

So what broke up the Beatles? Why would the biggest band on the planet call it quits? Was Harrison writing too many songs? Lennon hammered that out at a Sept. 8 meeting where he proposed he, Paul, and George get three songs each per album, with two from Ringo. Did Yoko, who attended Abbey Road session on a double bed Harrod’s delivered to EMI, snore during recordings? Was it the strings Phil Spector put on “The Long and Winding Road?” Lennon probably summed it up most accurately when he explained in The Beatles Anthology, “It’s because you got the tambourine wrong that my whole life is a misery.”