More popular than Jesus the comment, saying "if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it". He explained that he was simply remarking on how other people viewed and popularised the band. The events contributed to the Beatles' lack of interest in public live performances, and the US tour was the last they undertook, after which they became a studio-only band. In 1969, the Beatles released "The Ballad of John and Yoko", a non-album single in which Lennon sings the line "The way things are going, They're gonna crucify me." Lennon's solo career included further references
Fifth Beatle the "fifth Beatle", but over the years he and producer George Martin have clearly been recognised as the inner circle members who most profoundly affected the band's career. In an interview in the 1990s describing Epstein's involvement in the band's rise to fame, Martin declared "He's the fifth Beatle, if there ever was one." McCartney summarized the importance of Epstein to the Beatles when he was interviewed in 1997 for a BBC documentary about Epstein. He stated: "If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian." In 2013 Epstein was the subject of a graphic novel entitled "The Fifth Beatle"