Though 1968 was getting near the end, it was also near the beginning. The beginning of the more serious, long-term fights, the beginning of the feeling of being "out-of-place" in the group by each of the Beatles. John got a divorce that year with his wife of six years, Cynthia Lennon, after she caught him with another woman, Yoko Ono. Yoko, who was seven years older than John, met him at an art show in 1966, where she was displaying some of her work. John came to her exhibit, which was a ladder and a magnifying glass, climbed the ladder, and used the magnifying glass to see what was spelled out on the ceiling. The word was "yes". For a long time after that, Yoko almost stalked John, comming to he and Cynthia's house and demanding to see him, or she would wait in the driveway for him all day. She would sometimes sleep in the driveway, waiting for him to step out of the house. But John came to love Yoko because they were two puzzle peices that fit. They LIVED on one another.

1968 was also the year that the Beatles' new film, Yellow Submarine, was released. The animated film was surely popular, though the Beatles THEMSELVES didn't do any of the voices. The soundtrack to the movie had previously released tracks, and was the only #2 album the Beatles had had in the US in a LONG time. In that year, Ringo decided to leave the group. He felt so out of it with the group, and felt like he was no good at drumming anymore. He went to John's house to tell him so, but John said, "I thought it was you three!" This happened with Paul and George as well, with each of them saying "I thought it was you three!" to Ringo. Well, of course, Ringo changed his mind (but after getting flowers and telegrams from John begging him to stay), but all this goes to show how, ever so slowly, the Beatles were drifting apart.

The Beatles' next project was Apple Corp, which wasn't just a record company ("where artists were signed, and then ignored" as George has said), but an entire Beatle business. Paul got very much into the company (as he had for the filming of Magical Mystery Tour) for the first six months or so. Then he got very bored of it and let John take over. John being, well, John, immediately announced Free Day at the Apple Boutique. The doors were opened in the morning, and through the day the place was stormed by customers, who were allowed to take clothes, racks, hangers, the rug.....

Paul began to realize what trouble Apple was in, since NONE of the Beatles had any remote idea whatsoever how to run a business. They were a Rock and Roll band, not businessmen. His girlfriend, Linda Eastman (who was an American photographer whom he had met at the Sgt. Pepper release party back in 1967)'s father and brother were both lawyers, so Paul left up the mess of Apple with them. Though the Beatles used Apple both before and after they broke up, the trouble it caused them all was one step closer to the breakup. The confusion and complications of Apple were soon to lead all of the Beatles in the hands of lawyers....a VERY unsafe place.

While in India at the beginning of 1968, the Beatles wrote, amazingly, over 30 songs. As soon as they got back home, they each wanted to record these songs as soon as possible. But such a great number of songs couldn't fit on a single album....so why not make it a double album? Most of these masterpeices were put on that double album, which was simply titled, The Beatles, or, more commenly known, The White Album. This album was the beginning of the Beatles' next era. They were out of their "crazy, rolly-polly" phase, and were now entering the more serious songwriting. The first Ringo Starr-written song was recorded, "Don't Pass Me By", John wrote a tribute to his mother with the song, "Julia". George wrote one of his greatest and most famous songs, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", with his good friend Eric Clapton doing the guitar solo in the middle of the song. Paul wrote a happy sing-a-long-type song/story, "Rocky Raccoon". But there was, and still is, some dissagreements on whether a double album was a good idea or not. Ringo, as well as George Martin, feels that there could have been two fine albums made out of the songs the Beatles wrote in India, "a lot of information on a double album", Ringo says. But Paul has a somewhat different point of view, "I think it was a fine album. You know, I'm not one for 'maybe it was two, maybe it was...' It was great! It sold! It's the bloody Beatles' White Album, shut up." Either way, whether it should have been a double album or not, it was a sure masterpeice, with different techniques in the writing, a whole new feeling to it all.