Editing John Lennon (section)

===Former Beatles===
{{Further|Collaborations between ex-Beatles}}
[[File:The Beatles arrive at JFK Airport.jpg|thumb|alt=Black-and-white picture of four young men outdoors in front of a staircase, surrounded by a large assembled crowd. All four are waving to the crowd.|Lennon (left) and the rest of the Beatles [[The Beatles#First visit to United States and British Invasion|arriving in New York City in 1964]]]]
While Lennon remained consistently friendly with Starr during the years that followed the Beatles' break-up in 1970, his relationships with McCartney and Harrison varied. He was initially close to Harrison, but the two drifted apart after Lennon moved to the US in 1971. When Harrison was in New York for his December 1974 ''[[Dark Horse (George Harrison album)|Dark Horse]]'' tour, Lennon agreed to join him on stage but failed to appear after an argument over Lennon's refusal to sign an agreement that would finally dissolve the Beatles' legal partnership.{{sfn|Harry|2000b|p=195}}{{refn|group=nb|Lennon eventually signed the papers while he was on holiday in Florida with Pang and Julian.{{sfn|Harry|2000b|p=195}}}} Harrison later said that when he visited Lennon during his five years away from music, he sensed that Lennon was trying to communicate, but his bond with Ono prevented him.{{sfn|Doggett|2010|pp=247–48}}{{sfn|The Editors of ''Rolling Stone''|2002|p=146}} Harrison offended Lennon in 1980 when he published ''[[I, Me, Mine]]'', an autobiography that Lennon felt made little mention of him.{{sfn|Tillery|2011|p=121}} Lennon told ''[[Playboy]]'', "I was hurt by it. By glaring omission{{nbsp}}... my influence on his life is absolutely zilch{{nbsp}}... he remembers every two-bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years. I'm not in the book."{{sfn|Harry|2000b|p=327}}

Lennon's most intense feelings were reserved for McCartney. In addition to attacking him with the lyrics of "[[How Do You Sleep? (John Lennon song)|How Do You Sleep?]]", Lennon argued with him through the press for three years after the group split. The two later began to reestablish something of the close friendship they had once known, and, on one occasion in 1974, even recorded music together (later bootlegged as ''[[A Toot and a Snore in '74]]'') before eventually growing apart once more. During McCartney's final visit in April 1976, Lennon said that they watched the episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' in which [[Lorne Michaels]] made a $3,000 offer to get the Beatles to reunite on the show.{{sfn|Harry|2000b|pp=934–935}} According to Lennon, the pair considered going to the studio to make a joke appearance, attempting to claim their share of the money, but they were too tired.{{sfn|Sheff|2000|pp=81–82}} Lennon summarised his feelings towards McCartney in an interview three days before his death: "Throughout my career, I've selected to work with{{nbsp}}... only two people: Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono{{nbsp}}... That ain't bad picking."{{sfn|Cohn|2010–2011|p=95}}

Along with his estrangement from McCartney, Lennon always felt a musical competitiveness with him and kept an ear on his music. During his career break from 1975 until shortly before his death, according to Fred Seaman, Lennon and Ono's assistant at the time, Lennon was content to sit back as long as McCartney was producing what Lennon saw as mediocre material.{{sfn|Seaman|1991|p=122}} Lennon took notice when McCartney released "[[Coming Up (song)|Coming Up]]" in 1980, which was the year Lennon returned to the studio. "It's driving me crackers!" he jokingly complained, because he could not get the tune out of his head.{{sfn|Seaman|1991|p=122}} That same year, Lennon was asked whether the group were dreaded enemies or the best of friends, and he replied that they were neither, and that he had not seen any of them in a long time. But he also said, "I still love those guys. The Beatles are over, but John, Paul, George and Ringo go on."{{sfn|Sheff|2000|p=82}}