Break-up of the Beatles Lennon was in a fragile state of mind after returning from the band's sojourn in India in early 1968 and was disillusioned and resentful that their Transcendental Meditation guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, had not fulfilled Lennon's expectations. Lennon became discontented over his personal identity and his artistic role within the Beatles and entered another period of drug use, which coincided with a deterioration in his marriage and family life. He began to develop an intense interest in the work of Yoko Ono, a Japanese-American conceptual artist whom he had first met at one of her exhibitions in 1966. The pair
The Beatles Taped copies of the song soon circulated among other radio stations throughout the US. This caused an increase in demand, leading Capitol to bring forward the release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by three weeks. Issued on 26 December, with the band's previously scheduled debut there just weeks away, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold a million copies, becoming a number-one hit in the US by mid-January. In its wake, Vee-Jay released "Introducing... The Beatles" to go along with Capitol's debut album, "Meet the Beatles!", while Swan reactivated production of "She Loves You". On 7 February 1964,