Ringo Starr is profiled in a new article in the New York Times, and his Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney discusses the importance of their more than six decades of friendship.
With their bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison gone, McCartney says they understand “nothing lasts forever.”
“So we grasp onto what we have now because we realize that it’s very special. It’s something hardly anyone else has,” he says. “In fact, in our case, it’s something no one else has. There’s only me and Ringo, and we’re the only people who can share those memories.”
In the article, McCartney recalls his December reunion with Ringo onstage at McCartney’s show at the O2 Arena in London, where they played “Helter Skelter” together. McCartney shares that while the song was “an out-and-out rocker” he got “a little bit emotional” during the performance.
McCartney also had nothing but praise for Ringo’s abilities, telling the paper, “Even though I’ve played with other drummers, he’s the best. Ringo has got a certain feel that is very difficult for other drummers to capture.”
He adds, “He’s Ringo. And nobody else is.”
But one area where Ringo wasn’t so confident, at least in the beginning, was in his writing songs.
“It’s hard to come to the front when you’ve got John and Paul,” he says. “I’d say, ‘I’ve got this song.’ And halfway through they’d all be laying on the floor laughing, because I wasn’t writing new songs. I was writing new words to old songs.”
McCartney adds, “We’d say, ‘Yeah, that’s a great one. That’s a great Bob Dylan song.'”
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