I don’t usually completely waive an analysis as wrong, but Spitz’s analysis of that situation was just that. First of all, John’s opinion of George hardly changed when George (again, tentatively) left. John clearly forgave him seeing as the aforementioned Mr. Harrison played extensive lead guitar on the Imagine Album. Would it really have helped Yoko’s “master plan” to push away the Beatles, one by one? Spitz clearly ignores that there were obvious cracks showing already. He forgets that John had already distanced himself from the other three. Not even Paul had a real hold on John. Lennon didn’t really like “the other lads” anymore, he was doing it not only for duty, but for the remote possibility of music. Besides, his love was with him- she probably made it endurable!

My “second of all” is that it was a jam session. They weren’t recording a new song. Yoko wasn’t catapulting herself into doing the back-up vocals or anything- it was just a jam. The three Beatles were blowing off steam- their mate had just blown them off, it’s understandable! Yoko was there as a fellow musician and a companion to one of the Beatles, and since she wasn’t hurting them, she had every right to wail along. John seemed to enjoy it, and I have a feeling that he asked her to play with them, if the question should arise, moments before the jam began! And as for her sitting in George’s chair- I’m sure it was closest. When watching the Let it Be scenes filmed at Twickenham, George sat right next to John. There should be no reason for her to find another one just to avoid symbolism.

And lastly, Bob Spitz (aside from meeting Paul and George once, as insinuated in the Endnotes) didn’t really know the Beatles. He got some information, true, but it doesn’t seem that he relied on the first-hand accounts of the major surviving players (i.e. Paul, Ringo, George Martin, Yoko herself). This is what I love about the Philip Norman biography of John that just came out- Norman sat down with Yoko for months getting the truth out of her, had a lengthy coffee shop interview with Sean, and even got a few emails out of Macca! Bob Spitz relies heavily on the Anthology and, sadly, on Albert Goldman’s disgraceful “biography” on John (in which he fabricates nearly all of the information). But most glaringly is the fact that BOB SPITZ WAS NOT AT THE RECORDING SESSION WHEN GEORGE HARRISON LEFT. What gives him the right to automatically place himself there and to decide exactly how Yoko’s face looked as she sat in the chair, singing? He doesn’t even quote anyone in that paragraph. Just shameful.

Well, that’s all I have to say about that “Yoko takes the reins in a jam session!!!” incident. I do have one quick comment about Paul, though: You seem to blame him a couple times. While I will be the first to agree that, misogynist-wise, Paul was about as bad as John, people are very quick to bring up the fact that “John turned around for Yoko,” when even you yourself admitted that John couldn’t stop cheating. You also admit that Paul treated Linda quite well, but admitting that Linda was (sort of) Paul’s answer to John’s Yoko contradicts what you say earlier about Paul “being the bad guy.” And while this is a tiny bit off subject, Linda got her share of crap, too. Perhaps not as bad as Yoko, but a popular 70′s joke was “What do you call a cow with Wings? Linda McCartney.” And had she not sadly died of cancer (which seems to automatically give a person saint-like status, which may be wrong but in her case she deserved some nice press), there would definitely be some “Linda is an ugly whore who sucked the life out of Paul” groups on facebook. I’m not implying that that scenario would be as bad as what Yoko deals with, but I am saying that Yoko wasn’t the only abused Beatle wife.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy comment. As an avid Beatle fan, I’m extremely interested in trying to learn more about the souls of the men who created all those great songs- and fortunately, even as I learn more and more of how mean they were in real life, the music remains fantastic!

To Yoko, thanks for my dad, who made me a fan and keeps me remembering that men and women don’t have to be enemies. I love you!

To Cara, wow. Glad you wrote this and not me, because I wouldn’t have been nearly as thorough and well-researched, as well as eloquent of course. Dude.