The Beatles, 1969

As the new year began (Jan. 1st), the Fab Four started filming the documentary "Let It Be". On Jan. 10th, George Harrison walked out on the band during filming. In the movie there's the well known argument between Harrison and Paul McCartney over how to play chords on a number, but according to Mojo magazine (October 2000 issue) the real reason Harrison left was because of John's obsession with Yoko; George was deeply insulted. Harrison DID reconcile with the group a week later.
On a happier note (Jan. 13th), the soundtrack album "Yellow Submarine" was released in the U.S. and reached the number two position on the British and American charts (No. 1 was held by the WhiteAlbum).
But chaos appeared to rule again (Jan. 18th) as John Lennon announced that "Apple Records is losing money. If it carries on like this, we'll be broke in six months" (That didn't happen).
Jan. 20th saw the group resuming filming this time at Apple headquarters instead of TwickenhamStudios, the original location.
On Jan. 30th, The Beatles performed together for their last live "public" appearance, held on the roof of the Apple building. This was included in "Let It Be" (The concert ran for about 40 minutes before the police arrived to stop it).
The whole film project was troubled from the start (with the exception of meeting and playing with BillyPreston, who was featured on "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down", the B side. And the rooftop concert).
There was the stress of controlling everything (without Brian Epstein) and more stress by having to get up extremely early and having the presence of a film crew recording your every move.

Feb. 3-Allen Klein was appointed to look after the group's affairs by John, George, and Ringo. Paul rejected the appointment; he preferred Lee Eastman (Linda Eastman's father).
Klein managed Sam Cooke in 1964 (until his untimely death), getting a one million dollar advance for the star from RCA. Klein also took over managing The Rolling Stones from Andrew Loog Oldham in 1967.
The other three Beatles felt that Eastman would look out for and put McCartney's well-being first before that of the group.

March 12th saw the debut of the Apple Scruffs; they were not a rock group, but rock "groupies" or female fans who stalked the Apple building, various recording studios, and Beatle homesteads waiting for a glimpse of their idols (These women would be immortalized in the song, "Apple Scruffs" by GeorgeHarrison).
Also on this day, George and Pattie Harrison's home was raided; they were charged with possession of cannabis. That's marijuana, in case you didn't know.
AND Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman at St. John's Wood Church in London.
ANOTHER Beatle marriage occurred this month when John wed Yoko in Gibraltar on March 20th.
Then from Mar.25th-31st, John and Yoko held the "Bed-In", room 902, at the Amsterdam Hilton (Holland). The two sat in bed for seven days and talked to reporters. They also received important guests and friends, all the while in bed.

April 1st-John and Yoko appeared in "a bag" while in Vienna (Bear in mind this was also April Fools' Day-so was this a political statement or just for fun, for the heck of it?)
3rd-Billy Preston signs on with Apple Records. George Harrison would later produce his first two albums on the label: "That's The Way God Planned It" and "Encouraging Words".

May 25th to June 5th-John and Yoko arrive in Toronto and are temporarily detained by Canadian Immigration authorities for over two and a half hours because of Lennon's previous drug conviction. Canadian Immigration decides to grant Lennon a 10-day stay. While in Canada, the couple's activities are headlined in major newspapers, TV, and radio.
May 26th-A second "Bed-In" was held at Hotel La Reine Elizabeth, room 1742 in Montreal.
June 3rd-The Lennons visit Ottawa. At about 5:30 pm., they attended a peace seminar at the Ottawa University Arts Building.
The Ottawa visit was for a few hours; The couple boarded an 11:30 pm. train, arriving at 6:30 am. the next morning at the Union Station in Toronto, staying at the Windsor Arms Hotel.
5th-The couple left Canada to catch an evening flight to London.

July 1st-The Beatles began recording the Abbey Road album.

August 20th-This day marked the last time all four Beatles would record together in a studio. Legend has it that the last song was "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".
22nd-This day marked the last photographic session of the Beatles together.

September 5th-Allen Klein successfully re-negotiates with EMI for Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. The group would now earn 58 cents per album up until 1972, then 72 cents after that. Part of the new EMI contractual agreement required the Beatles to release at least two albums per year until 1976. Prior to this re-negotiated agreement, the group's 1966 contract had them earning 39 cents per album; When they first signed up with EMI, they only made 6 cents per album.
13th-John and Yoko made a second visit to Canada. At Toronto's Varsity Stadium, the couple performed live with Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, and Alan White. It was at this performance the concert album "The Plastic Ono Band-Live Peace in Toronto 1969" was later released on Apple (And the event was filmed. And it marked the return of Mal Evans, the Beatles' Road Manager, in his former occupation-Remember, the group had stopped touring in 1966.)
17th-The "Paul Is Dead" hoax starts up in America. This originated from a Des Moines, Iowa college article entitled: "Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead?"

By Oct. 12th, WKNR-FM picked up on the story from a phone caller who revealed "hidden clues" in Beatle songs. The Chicago Sun-Times later covered the story on Oct. 21st. Paul would later appear on the cover of LIFE magazine (November 7), subject of an interview entitled: "The Case of the MissingBeatle: Paul is still with us".

Here are some of the "hidden clues":

• On the cover of "Yesterday...and Today", Paul sits in a trunk. Turn it sideways and he seems to be in a coffin.
• On the "Revolver" cover, he's turned to the side.
• "Revolver" contains numerous death references.
• On the "Sgt. Pepper" cover, a hand's held directly over Paul's head. This is a symbol of death (It is?).
• Also on "Sgt. Pepper", Paul's bass is laid on flowers atop a coffin.
• "Sgt. Pepper"-Paul is also holding a black musical instrument.
• On the cover's inside, Paul wears a black arm band with the letters OPD, a Canadian acronym for Officially Pronounced Dead.
• On the back cover, Paul's back is turned to the camera.
• The lyrics "Without You" bloom from Paul's head.
• "A Day In The Life" contains the line "He blew his mind out in a car"; this is supposedly the manner in which Paul died.
• On the White Album track, "Revolution 9", there's a voice that repeats "number nine, number nine". If you play this segment backward, it becomes "turn me on, dead man" (Or so it seems).
• On Lennon's song, "Glass Onion" a line goes "And here's another clue for you/The Walrus was Paul". In some societies the walrus is a death image.
• Between the end of "I'm So Tired" and the beginning of "Black Bird", Lenon utters some nonsense syllables. Played backward, they're supposed to say: "Paul is dead, miss him, miss him ."
• At the end of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" George says "Paul, Paul."
• "Don't Pass Me By" has the line "You were in a car crash".
• The White Album contains many references to Paul's death. Foe example, there's a picture of his head lying back in a bath; this resembles what he may have looked like after "the car crash".
• The pictures also show a scar on Paul's lip, which supposedly had never been there before.
• At the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever", John can be heard saying what sounds like "I buried Paul." (Lennon claimed that the group would often say wild and crazy things while in the studio, and that what he was REALLY saying was "cranberry sauce".
• On the cover of "Magical Mystery Tour" the title's words are written in stars. Turning the album upside down, the letters will reveal a phone number that some say you could call to find out details of Paul's death.
• Inside the "Magical Mystery Tour" booklet, there's a picture of Paul sitting at a desk on which there is a sign that reads "I was you".
• In the "Your Mother Should Know" segment of the Magical Mystery Tour movie, Paul wears a black carnation; the others wear white ones (Paul said they ran out of white ones).
• At the end of the MMT photo book, there's a picture of the group interspersed with shots of many other people. There's a hand directly over Paul's head.
• On the "Abbey Road" cover, Paul's barefoot (the dead are often buried without shoes) and out of step with the other Beatles. His eyes appear to be closed. The other Beatles wear clothes contributing to the theme (or motif): John, all in white, is the preacher; Ringo, all in black, is the pallbearer; George, all in demin, is the gravedigger. There's also a Volkswagen with the license number "28 IF", symbolizing that McCartney would have been twenty-eight years old if he had lived.
• On the back cover, immediately after the words Abbey Road, a skull-like drawing can be discerned.
• In "Come Together" John sings, "One and one and one is three". Three Beatles. What about Paul?
• And there was supposed to be a lookalike imposter who "replaced" him (Billy Shears?).

On the 20th, John Lennon announced to the others that he's leaving the band, but he never said it publicly because of contract negotiations taking place with EMI. (The break up was not made public until Paul's first solo album release (April 1970).
26th-The Beatles' last studio album, "Abbey Road" is released in the U.K., where it tops the charts.

October 1st-Abbey Road is released in the U.S. and hits no. 1 there as well. The group's differences were put aside for this one. This album featured more complicated production than the White Album and also featured the introduction of the synthesizer to the group's sound. It was sparingly used, but was utilized as a source of white noise at the end of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

November 25th or 26th (Accounts vary)-John returned his M.B.E. (Member of the British Empire) medal to the Queen as an anti-war protest against Britain's involvement in Biafra and also in protest against his single "Cold Turkey" slipping down the charts.

December 16th-The Lennons arrive in Canada for their third visit and upcoming peace campaign.
22nd-John and Yoko arrive by train to Montreal "just to say hello". A press conference was held at the Chateau Champlain Hotel in which it was revealed that John spent $72,000 on anti-war billboards; he was going to send the bill to President Nixon!
But most likely the real reason for John and Yoko's Montreal arrival was to hold talks with two representatives from the Le Dain Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (The commission was the Canadian government's response to the concern and need to obtain more information over illicit drug use, including prescription drugs).
23rd-John and Yoko met with the Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. John also spoke to the Canadian press about his pro-active peace movement.
The Lennons also flew back to Toronto; while on board the plane, they accidentally met former Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lester B. Pearson; his diplomatic achievement was the proposal of sending United Nations peacekeeping forces (ironic play of words there!) to the Suez Canal area.
Shortly after arriving in Toronto, the couple headed back to England by plane.

By the end of this year, The Beatles had effectively broken up and the only piece of unfinished business was the as-yet unreleased "Get Back" project (the "Let It Be" film and album). The group wasn't happy with the results-even John thought the music was the worst of their careers-and for some time it looked as if the material would be scrapped.
After a delay of over a year, producer Phil Spector (Yes, THAT one) was brought in by Lennon and Harrison to edit, remix, and overdub the tapes. Spector put his "Wall Of Sound" style on the eventual "Let It Be" album. Paul was particularly angered by this action (If you've ever heard the ORIGINAL versions of "The Long and Winding Road" and "Let It Be", you'll understand why; these songs-among others-are far more poignant and powerful without the "frills").

Here are the singles for the year:

"Get Back" (May 10th chart entry) was a no. 1 smash (for five weeks!) backed by/ "Don't Let Me Down" (also May 10th), which peaked at no. 35. Both these sides also had the credit: "withBilly Preston".

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" was a no. 8 smash (June 21st entry).

"Come Together" was another no. 1 smash (Oct. 18th chart entry) backed by/ "Something", a no. 3 smash (also Oct. 18th).

And here are the albums:

Yellow Submarine (released January 17, 1969)

Side 1

Yellow SubmarineOnly A Northern Song
All Together Now
Hey Bulldog
It's All Too Much
All You Need Is Love

Side 2

This consisted of continuous incidental music by George Martin and Orchestra as played in the film.

Abbey Road (released October 1st, 1969)

Side 1
Come Together
Something
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Oh! Darling
Octopus's Garden
I Want You (She's So Heavy)

Side 2
Here Comes The Sun
Because
You Never Give Me Your Money
Sun King
Mean Mr. Mustard
Polythene Pam
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End
Her Majesty

I've decided to add:

Let It Be (released May 18, 1970-This was actually recorded in January 1969; hence its inclusion)

Side 1
Two Of Us
Dig A Pony
Across The Universe
I Me Mine
Dig It
Let It Be
Maggie Mae

Side 2
I've Got A Feeling
One After 909
The Long And Winding Road
For You Blue
Get Back

There have been many compilations of Beatle albums following their break up and for years and decades after. I personally would go for just the regular classic albums and The Beatles Anthology1, 2, and 3. You will have everything you need: the singles, the album cuts, and the history!