John Says Bye Bye to The Beatles

I don't know what magazine the following article appeared in. The article is from the year 1996.

"For the first time in years, I'm able to be myself. It's like having a whole new world open up for you and starting a new life, and I want to make the most of it. Sure I miss my buddies-but I miss them as good friends, not as Beatles."
Those were the words of John Lennon as he spoke to us shortly after his return from Spain where he filmed his first non-Beatle movie, How I Won The War.
Undoubtedly the showbusiness calendar for this year will record many important dates. Perhaps the most talked about, most publicized will be that which marks the splitting up of the Beatles. It'sl likely that Beatlemania will linger a while longer, but the four young men who made phenomenal showbusiness history will no longer be a part of it. While the Beatles legend continues to grow, all eyes will be one John, Paul, George and Ringo-as they go their separate ways. The big question-what will become of them in their separate, new lives?
For John Lennon, the future seems already foreseemable. His is the first of four stories that all the world wants to read and hear about. It's John who made the break official-although no official announcement of their split was as yet made at the time of our interview.
"There's a limit to what four people can do," John said. "It was a fast, crazy ride to the top for us. But it has to end somewhere. It's better to end it now, while we're still up there. Sure we were a team, but people could only accept up as Beatles not as individuals. It was an impossible kind of life that we lead-never a moments privacy.
"When we were on tour we hated to leave our hotel rooms because we know what to expect outside-all we could do was spread apart a little to make the attack less fearful. We achieved far more than our wildest expectations-but we didn't achieve individual ambitions. That's what we want to do now."
And what are those ambitions and what is John doing to fulfill them? At 26, he's rich for life-if he wanted to, he could sit back and live off the multi-millions he has earned as a Beatle. But John is a doer and his current activities are proof of it. As a composer, writer and performer, you're going to be hearing a lot from him.
"Being a Beatle was enough for me," John admitted. "I feel I want to be them all-painter, writer, actor, singer, player, musician. I want to try them all and I'm lucky enough to be able to. I want to see which one turns me on. This film is great for me. Apart from wanting to do it because of what it stands for, I want to see what I'll be like when I've done it."
In the film, John plays an opportunistic British orderly. We asked him what it was like to report for work as John Lennon, actor-and not John Lennon, Beatle.
"I was a bundle of nerves," he said with a smile. "That first day is front of the cameras and was the longest day in my life. I kept doing things wrong, blowing lines, stammering, all sorts of idiotic things. I had a long talk with myself that night and I told myself that I either prove to myself that I can do it or I give up. I'm not one who finds it easy to throw in the towel.
"I learned a great deal from our director, Dick Lester. Most of all I learned that I could stand on my own if I really tried. I don't know what the public is going to think about me when they see this film, but I hope they'll give me a fighting chance."
We told John that there was some talk about the Beatles splitting up because of personal reasons-like they couldn't get along together anymore. John quickly discredited these rumours.
"I guess it's hard for people to believe that we wanted to go our separate ways-and that we're doing it with a friendly parting of the ways. Most people ask me why I wanted to go on my own when I could make so much money with the group and continue to be successful. Well, money had nothing to do with it. We're all pretty well off in that category. As for the success, we're all grateful for it. The real challenge comes now-seeing if we can maintain that success in our separate lives.

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