Epilogue
By 1970, the Beatles were clearly moving down separate paths. Early in the year, John Lennon and Yoko Ono issued their live recording from Toronto, while Ringo Starr released Sentimental Journey, his first solo album of standards. George Harrison, often understated in the public eye, quietly joined Eric Clapton’s touring band while preparing his own debut, All Things Must Pass, which appeared in December. Paul McCartney released his self-titled album that spring, accompanied by an interview in which he publicly confirmed his departure from the group. By year’s end, McCartney had begun legal proceedings to dissolve the Beatles’ partnership once and for all. In the aftermath of the breakup, each member carried forward musical ideas first honed within the band, reshaping them into distinct personal idioms.
For George Harrison, the raga-like drones and modal inflections he had woven into Beatles songs such as "Ticket to Ride," "Tomorrow Never Knows," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" became central to his solo voice. Many songs featured on All Things Must Pass were built on broad, chant-like harmonic progressions and dense, reverberant production, a key element of what the album’s producer Phil Spector called his “wall of sound.” These sonic elements evoked the meditative grooves Harrison had cultivated in the late 1960s. Later, his work with the Traveling Wilburys reconnected him with the rock and folk grooves of his earlier career. Remembered as "the Quiet Beatle," Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001, leaving a legacy of music that gave rock a contemplative, devotional dimension still felt today.
Ringo Starr continued to embody the rhythmic steadiness that had defined his drumming on Beatles tracks like "In My Life" and "Ticket to Ride," where his simple yet effective grooves provided both propulsion and space for melodic interplay. His solo work retained that approachability, with "Beaucoups of Blues" leaning into country swing and tracks like "Photograph" and "You’re Sixteen" emphasizing catchy backbeats and singable melodies. With his long-running All-Starr Band, Ringo created a rotating ensemble where each member’s strengths could shine over a shared rhythmic foundation, performing a mix of his solo hits, Beatles classics, and the signature songs of his bandmates, all tied together by his characteristic steady groove. Even decades later, he continues to tour, a living emblem of the Beatles’ spirit of “Peace and Love.”
Paul McCartney carried forward the band’s melodic inventiveness and stylistic versatility, transforming his signature Beatles songwriting style into fresh textures on albums like Ram and translating the layered rhythmic and harmonic shifts of "Band on the Run" into ambitious pop-rock arrangements that fused multiple genres within single songs. Throughout Wings and his subsequent solo work, McCartney demonstrated how grooves could be both playful and sophisticated, balancing contrapuntal bass lines, syncopated rhythms, and melodic invention. His gift for ballad writing, evident in "Let It Be," evolved into the intimate yet harmonically rich expressions of "Maybe I’m Amazed," while his piano-based grooves, rooted in the Beatles’ approach to harmonic pacing and rhythmic drive, continued to anchor his solo compositions. Later collaborations with Stevie Wonder on "Ebony and Ivory," Michael Jackson on "Say, Say, Say," and more recent work with Kanye West, Rihanna, and Dominic Fike illustrate how he has adapted his melodic and rhythmic instincts to new musical environments while maintaining the clarity, inventiveness, and sense of forward motion first established in Beatles recordings. Still actively recording and performing, McCartney exemplifies the Beatles’ spirit of eclecticism and demonstrates the enduring potential of groove as both a structural and expressive foundation.
For John Lennon, the urgent pulse of many of his early songs and the raw drive of songs like “Come Together” presaged a solo trajectory that foregrounded rhythm and harmonic simplicity as vehicles for emotional and political expression. With Plastic Ono Band, he stripped arrangements to near minimalism, relying on bare harmonic repetition and stark drum-and-bass patterns to amplify the intensity of his vocals. Lennon’s solo work extended the Beatles’ balance of personal confession and social critique, often with a directness and economy of means that contrasted with McCartney’s lush textures or Harrison’s transcendent atmospheres. His life was tragically cut short in 1980 when he was murdered outside his New York home, yet his legacy endures as the Beatle who used rhythm and repetition to turn music into both protest and hope.
Even into the twenty-first century, the Beatles remain a cultural touchstone. The 2023 release of “Now and Then,” completed decades after John Lennon’s original demo with contributions from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and archival guitar from George Harrison, demonstrates the persistence of their intertwined musical voices. The song retains recognizable Beatles qualities because it preserves the core elements of their shared style: McCartney’s quarter note piano lines, his syncopated bassline, the guitar strums emphasizing the downbeat, and Starr’s steady backbeat drums, featuring his signature slightly open hi-hat in the chorus. These rhythmic elements work together to create a texture that feels immediately familiar and “Beatlesque”. “Now and Then” goes beyond merely a nostalgic reconstruction but acts as a demonstration that the Beatles’ musical identity is defined by evolving patterns of groove, melody, and rhythmic interplay that transcend their brief run in the 1960s.
Ultimately, no group has matched the breadth or depth of the Beatles’ cultural and musical impact. Their songs are continually rediscovered and reinterpreted through films, social media, streaming platforms, and new recordings, serving as a reminder of how creativity, collaboration, and vision can shape both the sound of music and the culture surrounding it. Central to this enduring influence are the Beatles’ grooves, which reflect both the music that came before them and the music that followed. Their rhythms have shaped a wide range of artists, listeners, and genres, becoming part of the broader flow of popular music. Through these rhythmic patterns, the Beatles established a cultural pulse that extends beyond their recordings, connecting generations through shared musical experience. These flexible, inventive, and collaborative grooves offer each generation a way to feel, reinterpret, and inhabit their music, showing that the vitality of their sound remains present more than fifty years later.