With April comes the anniversary of the Beatles' break up. The 10th is generally considered the day the band ended, when Paul's statements issued in a press release for McCartney hit the headlines. Yesterday, I re-read Paul's press statement and listened to some interviews with John, George, and Ringo in the weeks leading up to this announcement. I was surprised to see that the other three spoke somewhat optimistically about how another Beatles record was not entirely off the table; John is vague but doesn't rule it out, whereas it seems that George is expecting that they will record together again fairly soon.

You can read Paul's interview here and listen to the interviews with the other three here. I thought I'd share what I thought were some of the main takeaways relating to their comments on the future of the Beatles, but the interviews are worth a listen - they speak positively of one another's solo works and you can hear their comments on Abbey Road in the earlier interviews.

John Lennon (February 1970)

Q: Are you going your own way with Yoko these days? Because that is the impression one has.

JOHN: Well, each Beatle's doing their own thing at the moment. It could be a rebirth, or a death. We'll see what it is. It'll probably be a rebirth for all of us.

Q: When do you in fact plan to record with the Beatles again?

JOHN: At the moment there is no plan whatsoever. At the moment we have this film and album in the can, until that's sorted out there won't be any plans. I plan to make an album with Yoko with Phil Spector in about two weeks, I heard Paul was planning to do an LP too.

Q: Do you think it's unlikely that you will be making another track with the Beatles?

JOHN: You can't pin me down because it's completely open whether we do it or not... anything is open, I don't like to pre-judge it. I have no idea if the Beatles are working together again or not - I never did have. It was always open. If somebody didn't feel like it, that's it. Maybe if one of us starts it off the others will come 'round and make an album. It's just like that at the moment.

Q: It's the first time this situation has arisen, isn't it?

JOHN: Before Sgt. Pepper, there was nine months of nothing. So in between our albums now, there's a lot of stuff going on, that's all. There might be nine months or a year before we decide we're interested enough to produce a Beatles album. But there was nine months before Sgt. Pepper and it's only been since September since we worked together.

Q: Do you care about making another one?

JOHN: I think Beatles is a good communication media and I wouldn't destroy it out of hand, or dissolve it out of hand.

George Harrison (March 1970)

GEORGE: ...in a way it's a great relief for us to work seperately at the same time. Maybe if I get the chance, I'd like to do an album as well just to get rid of a lot of songs, so I'll try to get that together some time during this summer. And I suspect by that time, we should be ready to do a new Beatle album.

Ringo Starr (March 1970)

Q: Would you say that the Beatles are just as united as they had been or not?

RINGO: I think behind each other we're as united as we ever were.

Q: On the face of it, it hasn't looked like it so much over the last few months.

RINGO: No, but that's only because you read the papers where they say "Is there a split?" where they've just got nothing else to write.

Paul McCartney (April 1970)

Q: "Are you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?"

PAUL: "No."

Q: "Is this album a rest away from the Beatles or the start of a solo career?"

PAUL: "Time will tell. Being a solo album means it's 'the start of a solo career...' and not being done with the Beatles means it's just a rest. So it's both."

Q: "Is your break with the Beatles temporary or permanent, due to personal differences or musical ones?"

PAUL: "Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family. Temporary or permanent? I don't really know."

Q: "Do you foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again?"

PAUL: "No."

I don't expect this to be a popular question but I'm interested to see how we feel about this.

I was interested in what the headlines were like on this day 56 years ago, so I went looking on Google and found this:

>"NOW A TRIO - The famed Beatles, world's top pop group, now are a trio. Paul McCartney (left) announced Friday that he's split from the group, but may be back".

This got me thinking about how it might have been if John, George, and Ringo continued to record together as the Beatles while Paul continues as a solo artist. Would they bring someone to fill in for him on bass? Maybe Klaus Voormann? Or would they opt for another songwriter instead? Would they leave the door open for Paul to rejoin, or would it be them vs Paul like in our timeline? What would the competition between The Beatles and Wings (assuming they were still formed) have been like?

Obviously the headline was incorrect and from the 10th of April onward the Beatles were pretty much over. But what if they really did carry on as a trio? My question to you all is how do you envision it playing out?