By the end of 1974, the story of The Beatles reached its final, quiet conclusion—not with a chart-topping single or a public announcement, but with a signature on a legal document. Although the band had effectively ceased functioning years earlier, the dissolution of their business partnership had dragged on through the early 1970s, tangled in disputes over management, royalties, publishing rights, and the complex financial structure that surrounded Apple Corps. Each former Beatle had moved on creatively—issuing solo albums, forming new bands, and carving out distinct identities—but on paper, The Beatles still existed. That lingering connection ended on December 29, 1974, when John Lennon signed the final paperwork formally dissolving The Beatles’ contractual partnership. The moment was striking in its ordinariness. Lennon was not in a London law office or a recording studio steeped in history; he was on vacation at Walt Disney World in Florida, enjoying time away from the pressures that had once defined his life. With that signature, the last legal thread binding John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as a single entity was severed. The significance of this act cannot be overstated. While many fans point to April 1970—when Paul McCartney publicly announced his departure—as the end of The Beatles, the band’s business reality persisted for nearly five more years. The December 1974 settlement marked the true, official end of The Beatles, not just creatively or emotionally, but legally. From that point forward, there was no partnership, no shared obligation, and no mechanism—however theoretical—for the band to function again as a unit. In a way, the understated nature of the moment perfectly reflected the band’s long, painful unraveling. There was no press conference, no farewell performance, and no dramatic confrontation. Instead, The Beatles ended as they had increasingly existed in their final years: fragmented, distant, and resolved through paperwork rather than music. December 29—and by extension, the days immediately following it—stands as the final full stop in Beatles history, the moment when the greatest band of the twentieth century ceased to exist, even on paper.