Why Paul McCartney still loves getting on stage with Ringo Starr

www.goldradio.com

Why Paul McCartney still loves getting on stage with Ringo Starr

By Mayer Nissim

Gold Radio

23 January 2025

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr on stage in 2015. Picture: Getty Images

Ringo and Paul have kept their relationship alive since The Beatles split up.

After the tragic deaths of John Lennon and then George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have kept the flame of The Beatles alive as solo performers.

And while there was plenty of bad blood between various factions in the band in the years after the split, Sirs Paul and Ringo have seemingly always been on good terms and happy to collaborate with one another.

That working relationship has continued to this day, and not only did the pair recently finish off "final" Beatles song 'Now and Then', but Ringo has also appeared on stage with Paul during his critically acclaimed live shows.

Quizzed on what it's like playing with Ringo these days, Paul told Mojo: "Yeah, it’s just amazing, actually.

"It's just, yep, it's like wearing a very comfortable pair of shoes, if that's the right metaphor."

Asked about on Ringo's post-Beatles career, Paul said: "Like all of us, he wanted to continue in music. And besides country music, he's a big fan of old standards, so that's why he did Sentimental Journey as his first album."

Of Ringo's "natural genius", he added: "You know, he didn’t have a sort of heavy education, like a lot of people. So anything he knows is self-taught, most of it, he's very clever that way.

"He picks things up and is very witty. And, above all else, he's an amazing drummer who just knows how to do it. Simple as that."

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney in Rome in 1965. Picture: Getty Images

Since The Beatles split, Ringo and Paul worked together on Starr's Ringo album in 1973, as well as his Ringo's Rotogravure, Stop and Smell the Roses, Vertical Man, Y Not, Give More Love and What's My Name albums in the years that followed.

In turn, Ringo appeared on Paul's Tug of War, Pipes of Peace, Give My Regards to Broad Street and Flaming Pie.

They both appeared on George Harrison's 1981 John Lennon tribute 'All Those Years Ago', and of course collaborated on 'Free as a Bird' and 'Real Love' in the 1990s and the more recent 'Now and Then'.

www.mojo4music.com

Paul McCartney: “Ringo for President! He’d do a great job!”

Paul McCartney speaks to MOJO about his former bandmate’s “natural genius” and why he was the perfect drummer for The Beatles.

By MOJO

Updated on22nd January 2025

Barbara Bach, Ringo Starr, Paul and Nancy McCartney, Paris, 2024. Credit: Getty

Released earlier this month Ringo Starr’s new album Look Up finds the former Beatle reconnecting with the country music that started it all for him, way back in a Liverpool cinema in the 1940s. As part of our extended interview with Starr in the latest issue of MOJO, Paul McCartney discussed his old bandmate’s “natural genius”, affinity for country music and why he was the perfect drummer for The Beatles...

MOJO 376 – March 2025

The Jam, Style Council and solo years celebrated, plus exclusive Weller interview, pumping soul CD covermount, Ringo Starr interview and more in new magazine.

Ringo’s new album Look Up is a collection of country songs. What is it about his personality – and singing voice – that is so perfectly suited to country music?

He always loved country from the first minute I met him. He liked the old country singers like George Jones and people like that, and he was a big fan of that. So I think, you know, maybe, it suits his personality. He’s a very sincere, straightforward guy, and I think that’s the sort of theme behind a lot of country music.

Ringo was the perfect drummer for The Beatles. But why?

Impossible to say why – he just was.

When you first hit America, why do you think Ringo was so particularly endearing to the fans? And could you get behind the Ringo For President campaign?

Ringo for President? Yeah, absolutely! He would do a great job. President of what is the question?

When The Beatles split, Ringo immediately launched a solo music career and pursued a parallel film career. Was it clear that he wouldn’t just join another band as a drummer, that he had more strings to his bow?

Like all of us, he wanted to continue in music. And besides country music, he’s a big fan of old standards, so that’s why he did Sentimental Journey as his first album.

On the rare occasions you get together on-stage these days, do you find you both lock back into some long-practised groove?

Yeah, it’s just amazing, actually. It’s just, yep, it’s like wearing a very comfortable pair of shoes, if that’s the right metaphor.

You once described Ringo to MOJO as “a natural genius”. In what ways?

Many ways, actually. You know, he didn’t have a sort of heavy education, like a lot of people. So anything he knows is self-taught, most of it, he’s very clever that way. He picks things up and is very witty. And, above all else, he’s an amazing drummer who just knows how to do it. Simple as that.

“When The Beatles were over, I had to sit around the garden and think, y’know, I’ll just enjoy the sun… or a joint. And then I thought, ‘Nah, come on, you gotta get up...” Get the latest issue of MOJO to read our exclusive interview with Ringo Starr about the demise of The Beatles, solo success, his new album and a life-long affinity with America. More info and to order a copy  HERE !

“Sometimes that’s all you get”: The Beatles songs Paul McCartney called filler

faroutmagazine.co.uk

“Sometimes that’s all you get”: The Beatles songs Paul McCartney called filler

Ben Forrest

FAR OUT Magazine

Tue 21 January 2025

(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)

Beatlemania has never truly subsided in the decades since The Beatles went their separate ways in 1971. During their relatively short time together, the four lads from Liverpool became a global phenomenon, hailed for the universal appeal of their songwriting and the experimental nature of their compositions. The cult of the Fab Four has attached itself to multiple generations of music fans, culminating in a Midas reputation that everything the group touched should be lauded as genius.

Admittedly, The Beatles produced enough earth-shatteringly original songs to justify that reputation. From the timeless teeny-bopper romanticism of their early singles to the profound explorations of life itself on their later records, the group repeatedly exercised their immense songwriting talents. Paul McCartney and John Lennon, as the band’s predominant songwriters, are inarguably among the most important songwriters of all time. Nevertheless, even McCartney himself has admitted to making a few miss-steps within the band.

Looking back, It is often forgotten that The Beatles were only young men when they began to receive unparalleled attention. They were still figuring out their path through the music industry, so, inevitably, some of their earlier efforts did not quite live up to the gold standard they set later on down the line. Before legions of Beatles purists pile on to defend the band’s earlier album-only material, McCartney himself has been less than complimentary about a number of Beatles tracks, so take up any complaints with the man himself.

Speaking in the biography Many Years From Now, McCartney reflected upon the band’s early years, sharing, “When we first started, it was all singles, and we were always trying to write singles.” Ironically, it was The Beatles who spurred on the shift in focus from singles to full albums, with releases like Revolver or Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Prior to those triumphs, however, the group played the game and tried to write singles exclusively.

This practice certainly inspired some of the band’s most enjoyable work but also led them down a lot of dead ends and blind alleys. “That’s why you get lots of these two-minute-30-second songs; they all came out the same length,” McCartney remembered. “‘Hold Me Tight’ was a failed attempt at a single which then became an acceptable album filler.”

Referring to any Beatles track as “filler” seems sacrilegious, but if you go back and listen to WIth The Beatles in full, not every song on there is worthy of unfettered praise. Originally, McCartney wrote ‘Hold Me Tight’ for the band’s debut, Please Please Me, before re-recording it for the follow-up. Ultimately, though, the re-recorded did not make the track stand out as Macca had hoped, allowing it to fall into relative obscurity.

‘Hold Me Tight’ is one of two Beatles songs that McCartney has derisively called “filler”, the other coming from the 1964 record Beatles For Sale. “‘What You’re Doing’ was a bit of filler,” the songwriter once said. “I think it was a little more mine than John’s […] You sometimes start a song and hope the best will arrive by the time you get to the chorus, but sometimes that’s all you get, and I suspect this was one of them.”

McCartney did identify some redeeming features of the 1964 song, saying, “Maybe it’s a better recording than it is a song; some of them are. Sometimes a good recording would enhance a song.” Ultimately, though, it is difficult to argue against the song being a filler track on Beatles for Sale, failing to stand out on its own merit.

All in all, it is quite comforting to realise that even The Beatles made the odd mistake here and there; it makes the otherworldly songwriters seem distinctly more human in their output.

Paul McCartney’s dream duet is with a megastar who makes him nervous 'It won't happen'

www.express.co.uk

Paul McCartney’s dream duet is with a megastar who makes him nervous 'It won't happen'

The Beatles legend Paul McCartney doubts his dream duet with a fellow megastar will ever happen, admitting the musician is one of the only people who still makes him nervous.

By GEORGE SIMPSON

Senior Film and Arts Reporter

EXPRESS

Wed, Jan 15, 2025

Bob and Sara Dylan, Paul and Linda McCartney, Cher and Gregg Allman at the Green House Restaurant.

Los Angeles, 1976

Julian Wasser

Sir Paul McCartney has been world famous for over 60 years, regularly performing concerts to thousands.

And yet, even after all this time, The Beatles legend still feels another living musician makes him nervous, and it’s one he’d love to collaborate with.

Previously answering fan questions on his official website, one asked Macca: “Is there anyone else you would like to sing a duet with?”

The star replied: “Bob Dylan keeps coming up in my mind, but I don’t know if we’ll ever get round to it.”

This isn’t the first time McCartney has said this about Dylan in recent years, having been asked about desired collaborations in a Reddit AMA.

McCartney said then: “I've always had a sneaky feeling to collaborate with Bob Dylan, but it's never happened. It's intriguing, but…”

Paul McCartney performing in London last month (Image: GETTY)

It isn’t too surprising that Macca thinks Dylan, whose biopic A Complete Unknown hits cinemas this week, is unlikely to work with him given the Bard’s lifetime of mystique and aloofness. Perhaps it’s this aspect of Dylan’s character that makes his 60s contemporary nervous of him.

 Speaking previously with The Penguin Podcast, McCartney shared: “There’s one or two people who I would be nervous of. Bob Dylan would actually make me a little bit like, ‘Oh my God what am I going to say…is it going to be okay, is it going to be good.’”

A rare photo of Bob Dylan in recent years (Image: GETTY)

Macca added: “But I did see him. He did a Coachella, but it was like Old-chella, because it's like Stones, us, Neil Young…it was older acts. But I got to talk to Bob there and he was really very nice, so I don’t know why I would have been nervous, but you get that with some people.

“It is a funny thing actually when you think about it. What do you have to do, to get secure in yourself? I mean, I would have thought I’ve done enough now to just [go] ’I’m cool. Y’know I don’t need to be nervous of anyone.’ But it’s a human condition, I think. There’s just something, y’know, where you think, ‘Is it good enough, am I good enough, have I done [enough]?'”