I think at the time of publication, the general idea may have been that the Beatles replaced him (”Eighty million screaming teen girls can’t be wrong”). In under five years, they disbanded, at the hands of Yoko Ono? Is she God? Or maybe she’s the devil. By her fruits you shall know her.
Her “Fruits”, apparently are Sean Lennon and Kyoko Chan Cox.
I’m not sure what (if anything) they tell us about her.