The Beatles: The ‘Abbey Road’ Cover Includes 2 Clues the Band Were About to Break Up
The end of The Beatles’ run was unlike that of many bands. No members quit or died before the end (unless you believe the Paul McCartney death conspiracies). The Fab Four didn’t telegraph their split with a farewell tour. Still, the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album, their next-to-last release and the final record they worked on together, had two hidden clues the band was finished.
‘Abbey Road’ had 2 hidden clues that hinted at The Beatles’ breakup
The Abbey Road album cover has to make the shortlist as one of the most iconic ever. Given that The Beatles dramatically broke up a few months after its September 1969 release, it might also be one of the most studied. Conspiracy theorists have had a field day with the jacket.
With hindsight, we can see the album’s sleeve has two secret signs that hint at The Beatles’ disintegration.
First, the band walks away from Abbey Road Studios, the building behind the trees on the left side of the cover photo. They’re walking away from the place where they did their finest work, the place “where it all happened” (as some memorabilia in the Abbey Road online gift shop reminds fans).
The band knew time was running short.
Paul’s domineering attitude turned off his bandmates. George Harrison and Ringo Starr had already walked out on the band during the Let It Be and The White Album sessions, respectively. John Lennon played his first non-Beatles concert and announced his intention to leave the band just before the album came out. Add all that to the boardroom bickering the Fab Four did throughout 1969, and The Beatles knew their good times were over.
Some might say it was impossible to know the building was the band’s favorite recording studio in the days before Google Maps. But The Beatles were also the most famous band on earth when they made the album. They made Abbey Road Studios nearly as notable. Photos of the Fab Four’s comings and goings at the studio building included its low masonry wall and tall stone pillars near the fence. Londoners knew the location of the photo shoot. It’s not hard to imagine that knowledge crossing over to the United States.
Second, the band walks away from a Volkswagen Beetle. It’s parked there on the street in the background and situated between Paul and George. Not only do the Fab Four walk away from the studio that was their base of operations, but they also walk away from a VW Beetle. Interestingly, the car divides the two Beatles who never collaborated on new music together again. George teamed up with Ringo and John in his post-Beatles career, but never Paul.
Abbey Road doesn’t have The Beatles’ name or the title on the front cover, the first and last time that happened. It’s yet another sign the Fab Four were in a transformational period — one that brought about the end of the band.
That said, Abbey Road’s two clues about The Beatles’ breakup were surely coincidental. The band shot down several complicated ideas for the cover before deciding simply to cross the street. They couldn’t have planned for the Beetle to be there (unless they knew that car parked there frequently). And the direction of the procession on the jacket was probably chalked up to being the best lighting and overall composition.
The Abbey Road cover has at least two hidden signs that The Beatles were about to break up. Whether or not it was planned, the front jacket was eerily symbolic of the history that would happen a few months later.
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