‘The End’: The Beatles’ bittersweet farewell to the world

Posted On October 18, 2024October 18, 2024

Most bands aren’t thinking about how they will send themselves off at the end of their career. For all of the fans who believe that their favourite acts will go on for all eternity, no one is prepared when everything abruptly stops because of someone dying or a massive row that ends up tearing everything apart. While iconic bands like the Eagles and Led Zeppelin may have stopped with a firm halt in their prime, The Beatles actually got to send things off on their own terms on ‘The End’.

Then again, it’s hard to talk about the iconic ending of Abbey Road without bringing up the fact that Let It Be needed to be put out afterwards. Although none of the Fab Four wanted to release it, their actual final album of odds and ends feels less like a proper LP and more like a sad postscript of their final days, with some of their best songs sprinkled into the mix like the title track and ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’.

If we judge everything on what the group wanted to release, Abbey Road was where they truly wanted to end things. With the Get Back sessions now on the shelf, this was their way of sending themselves off with one special record for the fans, done the same way they did in the old days.

However, while their songwriting had only grown stronger since the days of Sgt Pepper, the second side of the record was something no one had envisioned. After finishing up perfect standalone tracks like ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘Because’, the final medley of tunes is still one of the most impressive vignettes that the group had ever made, but it’s the final movement that practically puts tears in every fan’s eyes for them.

As we emerge from the iconic chant of ‘Carry That Weight’, ‘The End’ is the kind of final band showcase that no one realised they needed. Outside of being a bite-sized snippet of a song, it’s a musical extravaganza for any musicians in the audience, featuring Ringo Starr’s first and only drum solo and the rest of The Beatles trading guitar licks before everything crashes at the end.

It’s even easy to tell their distinctive styles based on how they’re playing. While Paul McCartney starts everything extremely precise, George Harrison had clearly taken some cues from Eric Clapton in terms of being lyrical with every lick he played. And despite not being the most proficient guitarist, John Lennon has some of the most iconic licks on his overdriven guitar, especially towards the end when he tries bending the life out of the strings before McCartney’s piano figure starts.

Although there are a handful of lyrics before the solos start, the summation of both the medley and the band’s entire career can be summed up in only one line: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” The Fab Four had already given the world its fair share of love songs, but this was a reminder to take all of that love and pay it forward to help make that better world that they had talked about in ‘All You Need is Love’.

But as the band’s harmonies soar in the final seconds of the tune, that’s when everything starts to dawn on you. For all of their immaculate music, The Beatles are over after this song, and much like their entire career was for millions of people, ‘The End’ was full of brilliance from start to finish but almost too good to stick around for too long.

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