Ringo Starr discussed his part in The Beatles in a recent interview with AARP The Magazine. He was questioned in the interview if he could serve as the group’s unifying factor. He responded,
“No, I was the glue. That’ll be in big letters: ‘I was the glue, says Ringo.’ George was the first one to make a solo album [Wonderwall Music], and I was the drummer. John started the Plastic Ono Band, and I was the drummer. Paul likes to play drums himself, or I would’ve been on his albums too.”
Unlike the occasional feuds, he was able to maintain cordial relationships with every member of the band because of his special status in the group.
The Beatles Feuds
The Beatles have a lengthy dispute history. As we already stated, Ringo’s name is rarely brought up in these arguments. After The Beatles formally declared their split in 1970, years of animosity quickly ensued. Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s friendship was shattered when the split became official. They were not hesitant to declare that they were on the verge of a bitter conflict that would endure for years. Lennon declared to Rolling Stone in 1971 that he found McCartney’s self-titled album to be “rubbish.”
Additionally, the two independently issued a number of “diss tracks” with purposefully explicit lyrics. One such song was McCartney’s “Too Many People,” to which Lennon retorted with “How Do You Sleep?”
Following that, McCartney discussed their conflict in his autobiography, which was released in 2021: “Lyrics: From 1956 to Today.” Regarding Too Many People, his “diss song,” McCartney wrote:
“This song was written a year or so after the Beatles breakup, at a time when John was firing missiles at me with his songs, and one or two of them were quite cruel. [That] was me saying basically, ‘You’ve made this break, so good luck with it.’ But it was pretty mild.It was all a bit weird and a bit nasty, and I was basically saying, ‘Let’s be sensible.”
While John Lennon said that he composed “How Do You Sleep” with Paul McCartney in mind, he would thereafter adopt a different strategy. John Lennon would say this later, in the 1972 movie “Imagine.” He declared:
“It’s not about Paul, it’s about me. I’m really attacking myself. But I regret the association, well, what’s to regret? He lived through it. The only thing that matters is how he and I feel about these things and not what the writer or commentator thinks about it. Him and me are okay.”
Before he died, Paul McCartney was able to mend his relationship with John Lennon.