Tempers flared yet again. Angry voices raised to an uncomfortable din. Accusations, hateful glares, repressed feelings festered like an unpricked boil. A heavy curtain of tension so thick that bile rose into one's throat just to enter the room.
"ENOUGH!" George Martin's harsh voice boomed over the intercom. He tore his headset off and threw it onto the console in front of him.
"I've had ENOUGH of your pointless bickering! Either you two sort out your personal problems on your own time or don't bother coming in HERE and wasting MINE!" He leaned over the console, glaring down at them from his vantage point in the glassed-in control room. His uncharacteristic anger was softened only by the sadness etched in his face.
John and Paul, stunned to silence, stood staring up at the glassed-in control room, suddenly aware that their constant arguing and angry exchanges had finally pushed their producer's normally even temperament too far...shredding the last of his already tattered nerves.
"You're such a prick, McCartney! See what you've done now?" John accused.
"ME!? This is YOUR doing, Lennon!" Paul countered.
"Just shut yer gob!"
"Sod off!"
"All right! ENOUGH already! Would you two just STOP it for once?" Ringo shouted, usually the quiet observer, but this time was finally exasperated with his constantly feuding bandmates. Bandmates? Friends? He was at a loss to find a word that could any longer describe the relationship that now existed between them. They weren't yet 'former bandmates'...but that was just a matter of time, a formality. They were here to put some final touches on the last tracks of the recordings that were to be included on their last ever efforts as a 'group.' The Beatles were over...a great dying beast with the last breath being beat out of it by these two uncooperative handlers.
It wasn't necessary to do these final finishing touches together, they could have been done separately or even away from these once hallowed halls, but both John and Paul refused to relinquish the last vestige of control.
Ringo stood up from his chair over in the corner of the studio, tossing aside the crossword book he'd been using to patiently distract himself. It was a small refuge from the tensions and animosity that filled the studio as much as it was once filled with love and music. He didn't have to be here, his help wasn't needed or even particularly wanted at this point. But in spite of the overwhelming tensions, he couldn't stay away. He felt he had to be here. Something inside of him wouldn't let him just stay away and avoid witnessing the last painful death throes of the dying beast.
Ringo's heart was big and it pained him deeply to see these once close friends reduced now to these constant bickering sessions. Today's scene was just like so many countless others occurring with all too much frequency. Each one a repeat of the same angry verbalizations over small, petty issues...knowing that they were obviously only sidestepping around the unresolved bigger problems.
Paul's words could hurt him as easily as John's, as the two of them lashed out at everyone and everything around them these days. That incident on Paul's front stoop over the release of their solo albums still stung. It had ended badly with Paul slamming the door on him. And while he found he could forgive Paul for being angry and frustrated with his situation, it didn't help knowing that both Paul and John were only putting off the inevitable. But even as big as Ringo's heart was, it was starting to wear on him as he was starting to feel his heart hardening with the stirrings of resentment.
"Stay out of this, Ring, go back to yer crosswords!" John turned on him.
"Not this time, Johnny...this time you've both gone too far!" Ringo started wearily.
" I've had to sit here day after day and listen to this same fuckin' crap from you two, and for what? Neither one of ya gives one jot about how much yer constant yammering at each other hurts nearly everyone else around ya. Hell, Hari won't even come in here anymore when he knows it's the two of ya here together. Now you've even managed to piss off Mr. Martin! Is there gonna be an end to this one of these days?"
"Not as long as HE'S still an arsehole!" John jerked a thumb towards Paul.
"You must be looking in a mirror, Lennon!" Paul retorted.
Ringo rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. "See? This is exactly what I'm talking about." He shrugged his shoulders with tired exasperation. "I just can't do this anymore lads. Not if it's always going to be like this. I wish you two would either kiss and make up or just go off and kill each other and put an end to this constant crap! What the hell is the matter with the two of you anyway?"
"It's HIS doing, not mine! Ask HIM!" John pointed at Paul.
Paul sneered at John but for once, did not reply.
Ringo looked sadly from one friend to the other. Two of his three best friends in this world and to see them tearing at each other like this, knowing that as bad as the slagging was right now between them, it was barely enough to relieve the most minimal amount of tension to make it possible for the two of them to remain in the same room together at the same time and not kill each other.
And yet, somehow they managed. In spite of it all, in spite of the slurs, name calling and heated arguments...they could still manage to somehow pull some wonderfully beautiful music from out of the pits of hell. It was a wonderment to behold, but still, when the day was done, it often left him wondering if the stress and angry tension was all worth it.
There had to be something that could be done. He knew in his heart of hearts that after all that the four of them had been through together, John and Paul could not truly hate each other as much as they protested, no matter how much they tore at each other. Ringo still believed in his heart that the two of them must still have a great deal of love for each other for there to be so very much anger and pain existing between them now.
If they could just have even one hour alone together to talk through their problems...a chance to clear the fetid air between them, it could only do the two of them a world of good. Ringo knew he'd have to be the one to find a way to make that happen. There HAD to be a way to make that happen.
