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A surprising turn of events in the late 1970s marked the end of the close friendship between Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. Their collaboration began in 1978 when McCartney wrote “Girlfriend” for Jackson’s 1979 album, Off the Wall. The duo officially joined forces in 1982 with the hit duet “The Girl is Mine” on Jackson’s iconic Thriller album, followed by another collaboration, “Say Say Say,” on McCartney’s 1983 album Pipes of Peace.
Despite their creative synergy, tensions reportedly emerged during the recording of “Say Say Say.” McCartney had advised Jackson on investing in music publishing-a move McCartney saw as a smart financial strategy.
However, Jackson’s response was a startling promise: “One day, I’ll own your songs.” McCartney initially took this as a joke, never imagining it would come true.
In 1985, Jackson shocked the music world by purchasing the publishing rights to much of The Beatles’ catalog from ATV for $47 million, a move that devastated McCartney. Since 1969, McCartney had struggled to receive his fair share of royalties due to complications with Northern Songs, the publishing company co-owned by him and John Lennon.
McCartney expressed his disappointment, saying, “I think it’s dodgy to do something like that. To be someone’s friend, and then buy the rug they’re standing on.”
George Harrison, another Beatles member, shared similar sentiments, telling CNN in 1988 that he found Jackson’s acquisition “very strange” given the friendship with McCartney. Harrison also hoped to regain control of his own songs from the catalog.
Jackson remained largely silent on the controversy. However, he reportedly remarked, “You can’t put a price on a Picasso… you can’t put a price on these songs, there’s no value on them,” suggesting a different perspective on the ownership of music.
McCartney made several attempts to buy back the catalog, but the high costs proved prohibitive. He revealed on The Howard Stern Show, “The trouble is I wrote those songs for nothing and buying them back at these phenomenal sums, I just can’t do it.”
Eventually, Jackson encountered financial difficulties and sold half of the ATV catalog to Sony for $95 million. After Jackson’s death in 2009, Sony gained full control of The Beatles’ music rights.
That same year, McCartney told David Letterman that while he tried to negotiate with Jackson for a fair deal, the conversations stalled, and their relationship gradually faded: “He kept saying, ‘That’s just business, Paul.’ So, I thought, ‘Yeah, it is,’ and waited for a reply, but we never kind of got to it…
We kind of drifted apart after that.”
A confidential settlement was eventually reached, allowing McCartney to regain ownership of The Beatles’ catalog, putting an end to one of the most surprising rifts in music history.