George Harrison named the Beatles bandmate he'd happily form a new group with: “I’d join a band with him any day”
By Phil Weller
Guitar Player
Published November 4 , 2026
Although his solo career was going strong, the Quiet Beatle entertained the possibility of forming a new band with one of his former Fabs
George Harrison photographed in Germany in 1988. (Image credit: Alamy)
George Harrison never had any interest in reuniting the Beatles after the band’s breakup in 1970. While several members collaborated during their solo years — David Bowie even claimed he, John Lennon and Paul McCartney once discussed forming a group — the Fab Four never returned to the studio or stage together.
But Harrison hadn’t completely soured on his former bandmates. As he revealed in a 1974 press conference, he was open to forming a new band with one Beatle in particular.
The Beatles’ breakup came at an unfortunate time for Harrison. After years of being overshadowed by the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership, he was flourishing as both a writer and guitarist. Songs like “Something,” “Here Comes the Sun” and “Old Brown Shoe” proved he could match his bandmates as a songwriter, while his increasingly distinctive guitar work established him as one of rock’s most original stylists.
The Beatles in 1969. (clockwise from left) Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Harrison and John Lennon. (Image credit: Alamy)
The release of All Things Must Pass, his ambitious 1970 solo debut, vindicated years of frustration. Powered by the hits “My Sweet Lord” and “What Is Life,” it became the most commercially successful solo album by any former Beatle in the immediate aftermath of the split.
By 1974, Harrison was preparing to launch the tour behind Dark Horse with a band that included organist Billy Preston, bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Andy Newmark and a young Robben Ford. During a press conference promoting the tour, he made it clear that a Beatles reunion held little appeal — but revealed there was one former bandmate he’d happily work with again.
“It’s all a fantasy, the idea of putting the Beatles back together again,” he said, as recounted in the book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters. “If we ever do that, the reason will be that we are all broke. I’d rather have Willie Weeks on bass than Paul McCartney. That’s the truth, with all respect to Paul.
“Paul is a fine bass player,” he admitted, “but he’s a bit overpowering at times.”
Elsewhere in the press conference, Harrison expressed his fondness for drummer Ringo Starr, calling him a player with “the best backbeat I’ve ever heard.”
Harrison made his comments at a press conference for his 1974 tour. He’s seen here performing at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, November 7, 1974. (Image credit: Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
But in the end, it was Lennon whom he held in the highest regard.
“John’s gone through all of his scene, but he’s like me, he’s come back around,” Harrison said. “To tell the truth, I’d join a band with John Lennon any day, but I couldn’t join a band with Paul McCartney. But it’s nothing personal. It’s from a musical point of view.”
Harrison may also have been remembering Lennon’s generosity during a September 1969 meeting, when he suggested future Beatles albums should feature a more equal distribution of songs among the four members. Lennon also said he regretted not giving Harrison and Starr the lucrative B-sides to Beatles singles so they could gain greater exposure — and make more money. Two weeks later, Lennon privately announced he was leaving the band, rendering the proposal moot.
Harrison had already worked with Lennon on the latter’s 1971 solo album, Imagine, contributing lead and slide guitar to several tracks. He also played Dobro on “Crippled Inside,” demonstrating the musical chemistry the two still shared.
Aside from his work with the Traveling Wilburys, Harrison continued recording and performing as a solo artist until his death in 2001.
Meeting Elvis was ‘my biggest day with the Beatles’, says road manager’s book
Dalya Alberge
The Guardian
Mon 2 Nov 2026
Mal Evans at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1965 with Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Photograph: Malcolm Frederick Evans Archives
Mal Evans’s tale of historic meeting among revelations in forthcoming memoir unpublished before his death in 1976
Meeting Elvis Presley was “the biggest day of all the years I have spent with the famous Beatles”, the band’s loyal road manager wrote.
It is among recollections in a memoir that Mal Evans had planned to publish, with the band’s permission, before his death in 1976, aged 40, in a shooting by the Los Angeles police. Distraught over the breakup of his marriage, it is believed to have been “suicide by cop” after he repeatedly pointed an air rifle at police.
Now, 50 years later, that memoir is to be published for the first time, having been made available by Evans’s family to Kenneth Womack, one of the world’s foremost Beatles experts and author of numerous books on them.
Mal Evans accompanying Paul McCartney on his arrival at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s transcendental meditation centre in India in February 1968. Photograph: Bettmann Archive
Evans became the Beatles’ roadie from their early days at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, where he had been a bouncer.
He wrote of working with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in diaries and notebooks, while taking thousands of photographs and scooping up discarded lyric sheets, receipts and other ephemera when they were on the road and in the recording studio.
For his memoir, he had hired a stenographer. Womack has all the recordings that Evans dictated into a portable cassette recorder in 1975. The memoir manuscript spans about 95,000 words. Although Womack drew on it for his Evans biography in 2023, the text itself will finally be published in December, titled With the Beatles.
Describing Evans as the Beatles’ first archivist, Womack told the Guardian: “It’s the book Mal was going to publish, taking us into the heart of Beatlemania, reminding us how electrifying it was. He pulls no punches. He shows us the Beatles. It’s very powerful. It’s a treasure trove of new material.”
Mal Evans (top right) and the Beatles descend aircraft steps at Heathrow after flying in from Spain in July 1965. Photograph: Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Its passages include Evans’s first-hand account of the fabled meeting between the Beatles and Elvis – “rock’s greatest heavyweights of all time”, Womack said.
He added: “Mal loved Elvis more than he loved the Beatles, in terms of music. So, for that reason, when they meet Elvis in Bel Air in August 1965, Mal writes page upon page about the experience and what happened.
“There’s been so much debate among writers about that meeting – and now we have this complete record of Mal saying: ‘Here’s exactly what happened.’”
Evans idolised Elvis, writing in one passage: “If there is one day in my life I shall never forget, it is the day when the two biggest phenomena in showbiz met for the one and only time.
“The day the Beatles met Elvis Presley. I was there that day in El’s palatial Hollywood home. And that will always be the biggest day of all the years I have spent with the famous Beatles.”
He recalled that Elvis played them Beatles LPs before finding guitars for each of them. Evans listened in awe as “they began to make the place rock with … improvised beat music”.
Evans’s memoir follows the group from the Help! album through the Magical Mystery Tour EP to the Get Back single sessions and the final studio years.
In one chapter, he wrote of the band’s perilous tour of the Philippines, after they caused unintentional insult in turning down an invitation to an official event with the first lady, Imelda Marcos.
“A large number of the promoter’s staff were wearing automatic pistols in their back pockets … this was brought home to me personally the morning of our departure,” he wrote.
“I had just finished packing when one of the gentlemen entered my room asking for autographed pictures.
“I was in the middle of explaining that I had given away most of the photographs, keeping a few for the plane crew on the way home, when I was cut short by the same gentleman brandishing a gun in my face and repeating the demand. I couldn’t give them to him fast enough.
“This was the prelude to a morning of terror … I waited for the Beatles to arrive, then we proceeded to immigration. We were climbing a stairway inside the airport when suddenly … a dozen men appeared to impede our progress, and started to jostle us.
“It was obvious that they were looking to cause trouble … because of the fiasco the previous evening with the first lady.
“They were standing on our toes, jabbing us with elbows, generally giving us a bad time … I would give my right arm for any of those boys but, under these circumstances, it was most inadvisable to retaliate in any way whatsoever. To stand there and see my beloved Beatles treated so roughly was heartbreaking.”
Womack has pieced together the memoir from material that Evans had stored in “six massive boxes”. It will feature about 400 photographs, including some that have never been seen before.
www.guitarplayer.com
The Beatles’ legendary meeting with Elvis Presley gets a new chapter: “I was there that day”
By Christopher Scapelliti
Guitar Player
Published November 2 2026
Mal Evans documented the 1965 encounter in his unpublished memoir. Now, nearly 50 years after his death, his account is finally coming to light.
The 1965 meeting between Elvis Presley and the Beatles is a highlight of a forthcoming posthumous memoir from former Beatles insider Mal Evans. (Image credit: Presley: Hulton Archive/Getty Images | Beatles: Bettmann/Getty Images)
Mal Evans worked alongside the biggest pop group in the world, but his greatest thrill came when he accompanied the Beatles to meet his musical hero, Elvis Presley.
As the Beatles’ road manager, Evans had a front-row seat as the Liverpool quartet became global superstars. He began working with them as a roadie and bodyguard in August 1963, eventually becoming a trusted insider who accompanied the band on tour and in the studio. He even helped Paul McCartney develop the idea of an alter ego for the group while the two were on holiday in 1966 — a concept that would help give rise to the Beatles’ landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Evans had planned to write a book about his adventures with the group and received permission from all four Beatles to do so. Sadly, he never completed it. He died in 1976, aged 40, after police shot him during a confrontation at his home. Distraught over his impending divorce, Evans had waved an airgun at officers. His death is widely understood as a possible case of suicide by cop.
Now, however, his stories of life with the Beatles are finally being published. Evans’s family made his recordings available to Kenneth Womack, one of the world's foremost Beatles scholars and the author of numerous books about the band. Those include his 2023 biography of Evans, for which he gained access to recordings Evans made on a portable cassette recorder in 1975 while working on his memoir.
“It’s the book Mal was going to publish, taking us into the heart of Beatlemania, reminding us how electrifying it was,” Womack told The Guardian. “He pulls no punches. He shows us the Beatles. It’s very powerful. It’s a treasure trove of new material.”
Among the stories is an account of the Beatles’ August 27, 1965, meeting with Presley at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, during the group’s U.S. tour that year.
“Mal loved Elvis more than he loved the Beatles, in terms of music,” Womack says. “So, for that reason, when they meet Elvis in Bel Air in August 1965, Mal writes page upon page about the experience and what happened.”
“There’s been so much debate among writers about that meeting — and now we have this complete record of Mal saying: ‘Here’s exactly what happened.’”
With McCartney at London Airport following a trip to the U.S., April 11, 1967. (Image credit: Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Evans’s admiration for Presley is unmistakable in his account of the encounter.
“If there is one day in my life I shall never forget, it is the day when the two biggest phenomena in showbiz met for the one and only time,” he wrote. “The day the Beatles met Elvis Presley. I was there that day in El’s palatial Hollywood home. And that will always be the biggest day of all the years I have spent with the famous Beatles.”
He recalled that Presley played Beatles LPs for the group before finding guitars for each of them. Evans listened in awe as “they began to make the place rock with … improvised beat music.”
Evans had actually discussed the encounter years earlier in an anecdote included in the Beatles’ 1996 book Anthology. But his recollection also revealed that the day came with one personal disappointment.
Evans in a recording studio sometime in the 1970s. (Image credit: Estate Of Keith Morris/Redferns)
“It was a thrill, but it was the biggest disappointment of my life in one way. I really am a big Elvis fan at six foot three I'm one of the biggest. So I prepare my outfit to go and meet Elvis — send the suit to the cleaners, nice white shirt and tie — really ponce myself up. But when the suit came back from the cleaners, they'd sewn the pockets up. Now, I always carry plectrums — picks, they call them in the States. It's just a habit. I'm not even working for them now and I've still got a pick in my pocket at the moment.
“So when we get there, Elvis asks, 'Has anybody got a pick?' and Paul turns round and says, 'Yeah, Mal's got a pick. He's always got a pick. He carries them on holiday with him!' I went to go in my pocket for one and there they were, all sewn up.
“I ended up in the kitchen breaking plastic spoons, making picks for Elvis!
“That was a disappointment: I'd have loved to have given Elvis a pick, have him play it, then got it back and had it framed.”
1968, George Harrison visited Bob Dylan at his home in Woodstock.
parade.com
In 1966, Bob Dylan stayed up all night writing a song; two years later, George Harrison turned the chords into a Beatles classic
Dylan and Harrison were later bandmates in the Traveling Wilburys.
By Jacqueline Burt Cote
News Writer
Parade Magazine
Oct 29, 2026
George Harrison, Bob Dylan
New York Daily News Archive / Getty Images
Just like the Beatles influenced countless musical contemporaries, the Fab Four drew inspiration from many of the other talented artists of the era. One of those legendary peers was Bob Dylan, particularly in the case of George Harrison‘s songwriting (which makes sense, considering the pair would later become bandmates in the Traveling Wilburys).
In fact, a song Dylan stayed up all night writing during the recording of his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde inspired Harrison to write a classic track which appeared on the so-called White Album.
The Dylan song in question? “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.”
Sean Wilentz (author of Bob Dylan in America) shared firsthand accounts of the night “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” was written in a 2007 essay for the Oxford American.
“I saw Dylan sitting out in the studio at the piano, writing all night long by himself. Dark glasses on,” recalled Kris Kristofferson (who was working as a studio janitor at the time).
With the aid of Coca-Cola and chocolate bars, Dylan stayed up until four o’clock in the morning working on the lyrics, which have been said to be about his first wife, Sara Lownds.
It wasn’t the lyrics of “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” that Harrison took his cue from while writing “Long, Long, Long,” however…it was the chords themselves.
“I can’t recall much about it [‘Long, Long, Long’] except the chords, which I think were coming from ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ – D to E minor, A, and D – those three chords and the way they moved,” Harrison explained in an interview shared by uDiscoverMusic.
As for Harrison’s lyrics, they weren’t about a woman.
“The ‘you’ in ‘Long, Long, Long’ is God,” he wrote in his 1980 book, I, Me, Mine.
The recording of “Long, Long, Long” was reportedly a laborious, if cheerful affair, taking 67 takes to complete.
“I don’t mind how long it takes at the moment,” Paul McCartney said after the 29th take.
Paul Mccartney, George Martin, Phil McDonald and John Lennon , 1969
www.theglassonionbeatlesjournal.com
Beatles Recording Engineer Phil McDonald Dies
Published by John Firehammer
The Glass Onion Beatles Journal
on October 28, 2026
Phil McDonald, who shared a Grammy Award for his recording engineer work on the Beatles' Abbey Road LP died this week. He was born in 1945 but his age at death (79 or 80) was not immediately available.
Abbey Road Studios posted a tribute detailing McDonald's career at the facility, which started at age 18 when he started work in the studio's tape library, later advancing to a job as tape-op, balance engineer and full-fledged recording engineer.
According to the tribute, McDonald's first session with the Beatles "is documented as 17 June 1965 for 'Yesterday.' The following years working on Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and 'The White Album,' he would’ve been trained up by the likes of Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott before taking a central role in the recording of Abbey Road. Phil’s philosophy was always to get as close as possible to recording the true sound he heard in the studio."
McDonald worked with all four Beatles on their solo recordings along with many other artists, including Eric Clapton, Harry Nilsson, Deep Purple, Squeeze and Roy Orbison. He moved from Abbey Road to Apple Studios in 1971
www.abbeyroad.com
Remembering Phil McDonald
Abbey Road Studios
27th October 2026
We’re saddened to announce the passing of the wonderful Phil McDonald.
“It was when I first walked round the studios that I realised recording was the career for me.” – Phil in Beat Instrumental 1974
Phil was a highly skilled, deeply trusted, and much-loved engineer who started working here in 1964 at the age of eighteen. A man who went on to become one of the few credited on the back cover of Abbey Road, he started out in our tape library and worked in the cutting rooms before making the transition to tape op, and soon, balance engineer.
His first session with The Beatles is documented as 17 June 1965 for Yesterday. The following years working on Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album, he would’ve been trained up by the likes of Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott before taking a central role in the recording of Abbey Road. Phil’s philosophy was always to get as close as possible to recording the true sound he heard in the studio.
Transitioning to Apple Records around 1971 and through 1974, Phil worked with all four Beatles on their first solo projects, before lending his talents to some of the world’s biggest artists including EricClapton, Harry Nilsson, Deep Purple, Squeeze and Roy Orbison. Across his career Phil contributed to some of the most influential albums of all time: All Things Must Pass, Imagine, McCartney I, TheMadcap Laughs, Plastic Ono Band, Deep Purple In Rock, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Living In The Material World, A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night, Traveling Wilburys Vol.1, Mystery Girl and so many more.
We were lucky to welcome him back to the studios last year for a look around his old home, a moment we all treasured - now even more. Phil had a fantastic sense of humour, a quiet calm and a clear passion for recording and music.
He is remembered by his wife Sandra, his past colleagues and friends, and so fondly by all of us here at Abbey Road.
Bruce Blakeman in 2006 with his then-wife Nancy Blakeman
Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
www.irishstar.com
Republican candidate says it's 'surreal' his ex-wife went on to marry a member of The Beatles
The politician spoke about his connection with a Beatle during a recent appearance on the official podcast hosted by NY1 political anchor Errol Louis, You Decide with Errol Louis
By Hannah Furnell
Irish Star
18 Oct 2026
Bruce Blakeman's ex wife is married to Paul McCartney
(Image: Getty Images)
A Republican candidate has an unexpected connection with a Beatle.
During a recent appearance on NY1 political anchor Errol Louis' podcast, You Decide with Errol Louis, Bruce Blakeman, 71, said it's "surreal" that his ex-wife, Nancy Shevell, 66, went on to marry Paul McCartney. The 84-year-old former Beatle married the transportation executive in 2011 at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London, three years after she finalized her divorce from Blakeman following 23 years of marriage.
The GOP gubernatorial candidate, who is challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul for governor of New York and has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, had nothing but praise for McCartney, calling him a "nice guy" and good stepfather to his and Shevell's son, Arlen Blakeman. However, he admitted that they steer clear of politics whenever they meet.
"It's a little surrealistic that your ex-wife is married to a Beatle. I'm not going to lie," Blakeman told Louis. "Well, he's my son's stepfather, and he treats my son very nicely. He's a nice guy. Our politics are probably not the same. But we don't talk about politics."
Blakeman, who had an amicable divorce from Shevell, a former Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member, remarried to Nassau County Family Court Judge Segal Blakeman, whom he called a "great woman" and described as smart and beautiful.
"Look, I wish my wife well. We were married for 23 years. We had a wonderful child together," he added on the podcast.
Speaking about his current wife, Blakeman, whom the president has endorsed and dubbed "100% MAGA," said, "And she's given me an additional two kids. I have two stepchildren now and three grandchildren. So, life goes on."
McCartney is a climate change activist and founder of Meat Free Monday, a not-for-profit campaign he launched in June 2009 with his daughters Mary and Stella McCartney. The movement encourages people to skip meat and fish at least one day a week for environmental and health reasons.
Bruce Blakeman said it's surreal that his ex-wife, Nancy Shevell, went on to marry The Beatles' Paul McCartney
(Image: (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP))
While the initiative aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions, combat deforestation, and save water by reducing global animal agriculture, it also promotes plant-based eating as a simple, approachable way to improve personal health.
McCartney is a frequent critic of Trump. On March 28, he mocked the president's dance moves during a performance before a star-studded audience at the iconic Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. Earlier that day, protesters had flooded the streets as part of the No Kings movement opposing Trump.
In May, the singer-songwriter appeared on The Rest Is Entertainment, where he discussed fame and The Beatles' enduring legacy in the run-up to the May 29 release of his latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
The record draws heavily on nostalgic memories of his Liverpool childhood and pays tribute to beloved figures he has lost. Yet, while discussing the unifying power of tracks like Hey Jude on the podcast, McCartney found time to deliver some pointed remarks about Trump.
During the appearance, co-hosts Richard Osman and Marina Hyde posed audience questions to the music icon, among them how Beatles classics like Hey Jude continue to bring audiences together.
McCartney responded that the 1968 White Album track has the rare ability to unite even those on opposing sides of the political divide. He said, "And particularly these days - you do something like Hey Jude, and you see the whole audience singing together. In Trump's America, where Republicans and Democrats are at each other's throats - when we do that song, they're not."
Paul McCartney was a member of the British rock band The Beatles
(Image: Roger Viollet via Getty Images)
He added, "They're all loving it. And it's like, wow. Suddenly this room has forgotten all of that. We're not going to argue; we're just going to sing together. Those kinds of things, I think, are valuable."
His 2018 song Despite Repeated Warnings from the album Egypt Station drew inspiration from what he perceived as the president's dismissal of climate change concerns.
The music icon wrote in his 2021 book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, "We're faced with the political situation, particularly in the U.S., where a braggart has been in charge and seems quite unstable to say the least. He's shouting the loudest, but he's not necessarily the smartest."
He continued, "I often think, 'How can a person get away with some of the things he says?' But then, two days later, the news cycle will have brought us something else he's said, and then the thing we thought the person would never get away with has gone, and it's difficult to bring it back."
Paul and Nancy married in 2011
(Image: Getty Images for Robin Hood Foun)
In a 2018 BBC interview, McCartney elaborated, "[The song] basically says, 'Occasionally, we've got a mad captain sailing this boat we're all on, and he is just going to take us to the iceberg [despite] being warned it's not a cool idea.'"
When pressed to identify the song's inspiration, he responded candidly, "Well, I mean, obviously it's Trump. But I don't get too involved because there's plenty of them about. He's not the only one."
In 2017, he described the president's denial of human-driven climate change as "madness." Discussing the connection between food consumption and global warming at the time, McCartney stated, "[Vegetarianism] not the total solution, but it's part of the solution. A lot of people have been saying this for a long time but there's resistance."
He continued, "Particularly when you've got someone like Trump who says that [climate change] is just a hoax. A lot of people like myself think that's just madness, so it's maybe a good time now to try and focus people's attention and say, 'Look, forget about him. We can do something.'"
The 1969 Beatles song Ringo Starr wants played at his funeral: “Everyone singing along”
Jamie Kahn
Far Out Magazine
October 23rd, 2026
Credit: Far Out / Alamy
At some point, in each and every music fan’s life, they have considered the songs they want to be played at their funeral, which likely involves something by The Beatles.
Their ageless catalogue has something for every occasion of life, whether this be walking down the aisle to ‘Here Comes The Sun’, or on a more sombre note, having ‘In My Life’ ring out as your loved ones come together to celebrate your life following the end of the final chapter.
Ringo Starr is no different, and even his choice for a song to be played at his own funeral comes from the Fab Four’s back catalogue.
Everyone has a favourite Beatle, and for some people, the answer isn’t the caustic genius of John Lennon, the songwriting mastery of Paul McCartney or the spiritual softness of George Harrison, but the jovial, affable and all-around saintly Starr. While he may have been unfairly derided for decades, his role within the band was undeniably crucial.
However, despite the significant criticism, Starr never let his spirit be defeated and succeeded in having the last laugh, shooting to the top of the charts upon going solo in the 1970s.
Credit: Far Out / Bradford Timeline
Aside from his musical ability, perhaps a key reason Starr has remained so beloved is his undeniably welcoming nature. Radiating a warmth only matched by the sun itself, it was only in recent years that Starr stopped signing autographs for his fans, after having previously promised to respond to every piece of fan mail personally. This approachability has endeared him to generations of fans.
While some people know him primarily as a drummer, Starr has earned his stripes as a singer too, even if his vocal contributions to Beatles albums in the early years were largely viewed as novelty efforts.
Admittedly, Ringo’s songs weren’t of the same emotional nature of ‘Something’ or ‘Yesterday’, but they consistently provided a smile to listeners, who just want to sing-along when they hear ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ or ‘Yellow Submarine’ on the radio.
For Starr, ‘Octopus’s Garden’, is a personal favourite of his contributions on vocals for The Beatles, so much so that he believes it would make for a befitting soundtrack when his funeral eventually comes.
In response to the question, Ringo Starr said to NME, “I don’t know what we’d have playing, so I’ll say this one because it’d be nice to have everyone singing along” in regards to ‘Octopus’s Garden’.
An extremely sweet and sentimental pick, especially given that the song in question is such a fun and carefree composition. Although some people might find it slightly egotistical in other circumstances for an artist to choose a song that they wrote themselves, Starr’s choice is a wholesome one on reflection, especially considering the criticism he has received over the years.
The song is one of the few from the band’s canon which was written by Starr. “‘Octopus’s Garden’ is Ringo’s song,” George Harrison once said. “It’s only the second song Ringo has ever written, mind you, and it’s lovely.”
When explaining why the song is so loved by Beatles fans, Harrison added: “Because it’s so peaceful. I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realising it.” That’s hard to argue with. The “peace and love” man is the archetypal Zen master of drums, and the music explored in the track has a way of nestling beneath your skin without so much as a hair out of place.
It was the mark of a band starting to fully explore their creativity in the face of growing tensions. In fact, the song was composed during a tough time for Ringo as he felt pushed out of the band and took himself on holiday with actor Peter Sellers.
Having ordered fish and chips on board, Starr was presented with squid and found the whole meal a little peculiar. Having never eaten the animal prior, Starr was taken aback by his surprise meal, which kick-started a conversation with the boat’s captain. The captain would tell a story about how “octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build a garden.” It delighted Starr, stirring his creative juices, and the song was born. With the Beatles’ thrust of musical creativity, it was given the space it desired.
While The Beatles, accidentally, curated a catalogue that is full of picks for funeral music, ‘Octopus’s Garden’ feels perfect for Starr and represents the positive outlook on life that he’s relentlessly spread. He wouldn’t want everyone to be crying and ruining their makeup to the sounds of ‘In My Life’, preferring to opt for the peace and love approach for one last time.
You didn’t expect the MPL team to leave the forthcoming The Boys of Dungeon Lane – Special Edition vinyl at just one variant did you?
Yes, a second version has been announced. It will come from Bad World, an offshoot of Blood Records which specialises in stylish splatter vinyl. Blood Records already did a spectacular “Ripples in a Pond” splatter LP for the standard edition of the album using a crystal clear and blue/white effect.
The Bad World part of the company handles “liquid-filled and dry-filled vinyl records that are a little out of the ordinary. From swirling colours to unexpected materials….”, so for The Boys of Dungeon Lane – Special Edition they’ve created a red, orange and blue splatter disc that’s filled with blue liquid. It is accompanied by a second standard splatter record in red, orange and blue.
Like the coloured vinyl release and the CD already announced, the Bad World record features those same four additional songs: the new version of ‘Home To Us’, McCartney’s duet with Ringo Starr, plus three previously unreleased tracks – ‘City Fox’, ‘One Night Stand’ and ‘Chelsea Boots’, offering fans an opportunity to hear more of the music created during the Dungeon Lane sessions.
There’s no world on how many of this liquid disc version are being pressed, but you only have two and a half more days to get a pre-order in. The Bad World disc ships on 29 January, 2027.
This of course means we’ve had to update our chart detailing all the variants of TBODL so far:
