It’s a good time to be Ringo Starr. At 74, he’s in great health,
deeply in love with his wife Barbara Bach after 35 years together, and
is still touring the globe with his All-Starr Band, getting a little
help from his friends to spread his message of peace and love.
Earlier this week,Ringo released his 18th solo album, Postcards from Paradise.
While the bulk of the album’s lyrics resolutely look forward, the title
track cleverly looks back at his former life in the world’s most
popular band, stringing together Beatles’ song titles to form a love
story.
On April 18, Ringo joins his former Beatles mates as the last of the
Fab Four to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo
artist. Paul McCartney will do the honors.
Ringo talked about the new album, the possibility of a Nashville
album, and gave his best financial advice.
What struck me about this album is it’s almost The Philosophy of Ringo in terms of a roadmap for life.
It is. How can it not be
because it is my record and though there’s a lot of other writers on
this, one of the things we do is I’ll sort of point it in a peace and
love direction, so that always comes across. We’re trying to get more in
the light.
There are a few
songs where you look back, but in the vast majority of the songs, you’re
looking forward, especially in “Not Looking Back,” which is about
moving ahead with your partner.
Richard Marx started that one and he was looking back at first and
his emotion was looking back and I was like, “No, no, let’s look
forward,” because I’m there in room and it’s going to be on my piece of
plastic, but they’re not plastic any more (laughs). You’re right. I do
try and live in the light and positive. I spent a lot of days in
darkness and I don’t want to do that again.
There’s a lot of joy on this record
It’s also [because] I’m playing as well. That’s always a joy. I love
making the records because I’m hanging out with great friends, great
musicians, writers, and so it’s really, really a win-win situation for
me. And I do it at home—in the guest house— so I can pet the dog if I
want to.
You’ve produced your last three albums. What’s the hardest part about producing you?
There’s nothing hard about producing me. You can ask all those other
producers. For most every record, there was a new producer and, even,
was it on [1992’s] “Time Takes Time,” we had four producers. It’s
another way to go. I like this. It’s casual. It’s relaxed and we still
know what to do.
The
opening track, “Rory and the Hurricanes,” is such a fond look back at
your pre-Beatles band. Is there anything about those days that you miss
when the world was still nothing but possibilities?
It is. These are
autobiographical records of a moment in time with Rory and in Liverpool.
Rory’s been mentioned, but this is the first homage to him. This is
Rory and the Hurricanes, of which I was one of. You don’t know where
[the song] comes from. I sitting at home. I’ve got a piece of paper and
I’m remembering all those incidents actually happened. Bread and jam,
that’s all we had because we had no money. We went down in the van 200
miles to London. We hadn’t been to London, it’s like people in the
countryside here going to LA. So it was a huge thing for us, but London,
even then, was expensive. We all slept on the floor. Since we were
lads, that was OK. And we went to this dance in London and no one would
dance with us. And we had fun with it because we’d all line up and I’d
say, “Excuse me love. Do you want to dance?” and she’d say no. Rory or
Johnny Guitar would come up, we were lining up on people, and then the
shock was I asked this girl to dance and she said, “Oui.” She was
French. So I do that and then Dave Stewart makes it more like a song
because he’s done all the, we call them, the Liverpool songs. He’s done
all of them with me so far.
Why? He’s not from Liverpool.
No, but he might as well be. We’re from the same country. We’re from
different cities, but it’s the same sort of atmosphere. And so we get
on really well and you can’t doubt his credentials. We got to know each
other, we became pals. It’s easy to hang out.
What really stands out here are the deeply romantic love songs, like “Not Looking Back” and “Touch and Go.”
“Touch and Go” is a great thing, you see. All I had when [co-writer]
Gary Burr came over was this track. I’d put drums on and I just had the
line, “touch and go,” and that’s where we start, as a teenager because
we’ve all been teenagers and there’s a lot of touch and go. Yeah! Whoo!
And you know as you grow up, it becomes not so much touch and go. You
settle down. For me, [first wife] Maureen and me had three kids. That
finished, but it was 10 years of my life, and then I have five years of
touch and go again and then I met Barbara and I touched and she won’t
let go. (laughs). It’s been 35 years. Who knew. I was just touch and go, baby. And here we still are.
You have a number of Nashville writers on here— Gary Burr, Gary Nicholson. What makes Nashville special?
I think there’s a lot of players in Nashville, really good players.
Gary Nicholson keeps talking to me about doing a record in Nashville.
Are you going to?
We’ll see. I can’t say yes
because then it will be all over the news and I haven’t made a
decision. We’ll just see. He said, “you’ve got to come out” and I’m like
“I’m doing this one right now,” and so we’ll see and we’ll see if I
even do it with him (laughs).
You have talked about how much you still love playing…
I do.
You’ve said touring isn’t fun, but the playing is always great.
No, no the touring is hard. You’re on a plane, you’re on a bus,
whatever you are. The payoff is 8 ‘o clock that night. For me, pure joy.
Has there ever been a time when it wasn’t pure joy for you?
No. Playing? No. And even when I was in a band before Rory, and then
with Rory, my mom would come to the odd gig and say, “You know son,
you’re always at your happiest when you’re playing your drums.” (laughs).
Don Was told me that when he co-produced one of your albums
years ago, you weren’t really sure about how much of the Beatles’ past
you should reference in songs.
Sure
And clearly with “Postcards from Paradise…”
I don’t give a damn anymore, that’s how it is (laughs). But that was
really interesting. I’ve got the track, maybe find a melody. And on the
top line, it’s another love song with the girl: “We can twist and shout
and whatever we do, we can do it under Mister Moonlight.” I was so
desperate to get Mister Moonlight in there from that song John [Lennon]
covered and then I just found myself [writing] “Love Me Do.” it’s an
expression, it doesn’t have to relate to the Beatles, but, of course, it
does. And then “Eight Days A Week.”
Anyway, I had the track, and we were touring in the summer so we had
to have a break from the record and I had it in my bag. We played the
last gig. We’re on the plane and I thought, “I’m going to give it to
Todd [Rundgren].” He [added] a couple of titles, including “When I’m
64”…ah… a long time ago. I gave it all to him as a jumble, really, and
he sorted it out, put a great melody on it, and sent it back two weeks
later and it was just beautiful. I absolutely loved it.
So you got over whatever Don was talking about a while ago.
Oh yeah.
Following in the footsteps of Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, you are now a model for Skechers. How did that come about?
It was great fun. It was a good deal for both of us, let’s just say.
Since this is for Forbes, what’s the best piece of financial advice that you ever got?
I
don’t know if it was advice or intuitive, but I always bought the
house. I always felt good about that. I mean it took a long time till we
made enough money that I could buy a house. I have a business
acquaintance who keeps saying “Cash is king,” and just because of where I
come from, I like to have some cash. That’s all. Those are the two sort
of rules I have.
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