RINGO STARR
Backwoods Blog;
in the woods and on the road
Ringo Starr circa 1964
In 1975 I was 15 years old and a freshman in high school (that was 50 years ago if you’re doing the math). Two of my favorite songs on the radio that year were George Harrison’s single “You” from his Extra Texture album, and Paul McCartney’s single “Listen to What the Man Said” from Venus and Mars Are Alright Tonight. Both songs were on the American Top 40 at the same time, I had purchased the 45’s (that’s how we did it in those days), and believe it or not, as I was reading more about George and Paul, that’s when I suddenly realized, they used to be in the same band together!
When you talk to Beatles fans, one of the typical questions is “Who is your favorite Beatle?” In my case, it’s been more of a “Beatle rotation.” I started out with Paul McCartney as my number one Beatle, listening to his Beatle and post-Beatle work, then I entered my John Lennon phase reading about his bio, politics and music, followed by George Harrison, interested in his philosophy, connections to Yogananda and the sounds of his sitar. You may have noticed the one Beatle absent from my list is the affable drummer and off-beat philosopher, Ringo Starr. On July 7th, Ringo celebrated his 85th birthday; he has a new hit record out, he’s been on tour again with his All-Starr Band, still has his sense of humor even with all the craziness happening right now, and by the looks of things, Ringo is still going strong. So I may have to rethink my favorite Beatle list. It may have taken 50 years, but due to his longevity, irrepressible positive attitude, cool style and some pretty decent new songs, Ringo is, for now, my new favorite Beatle.
Each year on his birthday, since 2008, Ringo invites people everywhere to pause at 12 noon local time to say, think, or post “Peace and Love” as a collective moment of global unity. This heartfelt tradition is now recognized worldwide as a simple yet powerful gesture of kindness and hope. Last week, on Monday July 7th, Ringo held a party in Beverly Hills Garden Park celebrating his 85th birthday with guests, including, T Bone Burnett, Jackson Browne, Joe Walsh (who is his brother in law) and Molly Tuttle while streaming the event to the other living-Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney on his phone. While all this talk of peace and love can sound a bit cliche like “Summer of Love” leftovers from the sixties, I am still a believer. A recent article in the May issue of The Atlantic, features an interview with Ringo Starr by Mark Leibovich as he asks about the enduring vibe of the peace and love message. I’ve included a short excerpt from the article titled “When I’m 84; The World Still Needs Ringo.”
I spent much of 2024 covering the bleak spectacle of the U.S. presidential campaign. Nothing was making sense, and everywhere I went, people seemed stuck in rival camps of resentment. If “peace and love” had been on the ballot, it would have lost in a landslide. But here was Ringo, still banging around. It felt like a small but significant win for humankind, and one to be celebrated as often as possible.
Starr’s personal mantra, greeting, and aloha, for most of his post-Beatle decades has been “Peace and love.” “I can’t force you to be peaceful and loving; I can only say, ‘Peace and love,’” Starr told me. I asked Ringo – who was wearing camp-rint pants and a necklace adorned with, what else, a peace sign – how he has been able to maintain that vitality into his mid-80s. “Well, I love what I’m doing,” he’s said in an isn’t it obvious tone.
As Starr has made the media rounds for his new country album Look Up, I’ve watched him get hit a couple of times with the requisite questions about our parlous political moment. He seemingly has no interest in playing the role of pundit, or sounding a note of protest.
“Are you worried at all?” Jimmy Kimmel asked him.
“Why would I be worried?” Starr replied. “You can only do what you do and people are going to do what they’re going to do, so I send them peace and love anyway…”
I asked Starr to explain what that mantra means to him, if there was a specific incident to which it could be traced. “The ’60s — that was the incident,” he answered. For him, “peace and love” is not only a wish for a world with less violence and anger, but an expression of nostalgia for a simpler time of optimistic idealism. “There was a peace and love movement in the beginning, and in my eyes and in my head, it stayed peace and love, and always will…”
When I took my own shot at asking him about the state of the world, Starr flashed me another double peace sign, which is him doing what he does. Maybe it will start something. Maybe others will follow. Who can say? As a wise man once put it, tomorrow never knows.
In the Woods (with my vinyl),
Dave
Cover photo from his new country album “Look Up”
Photo from The Atlantic interview (2025)
Loved, loved, loved this! The first article I read on my phone this morning and I am now starting my day with a big smile on my face (doesn’t happen all that often anymore) and you made me nostalgic for my 45’s… I still have a lot and have a turntable that will play them! I just may haul them out this afternoon, and walk myself down memory lane and recapture that sense of Ringo’s peace and love.
posted by Susan Mc
You are about 13 years younger than I am, so when I was the age at which you began to follow the individual former Beatles, I was watching the Beatles arrival on the Ed Sullivan show and getting goosebumps. By 1975, I was married, had our first child, and really had no idea what was going on with contemporary music. I only cared about the music of the ’60’s. I had a vague awareness that McCartney had his own group and was doing his own thing, but I didn’t care. I do have a contemporary admiration of Ringo. Back in the ’60’s it seemed to me that he was the least talented, least creative of the Beatles, a likeable chap who kept the beat going, but maybe not even a “real” musician. I guess durability counts for something. I just hope his mantra, “Peace and Love,” is more effective than my 40 years of doing Tonglen meditations in an effort to save the world and all of those in it. Martha suggests that maybe I’m making things worse. Bruce recently educated me that the real purpose of that meditation is to develop ones own empathy, not to actually have any effect on the bad things themselves. “Peace and Love.”