I came to the "Beatles Party" VERY late in my life. Thanks to my sister, La Mae, I was aware of them in the periphery of the 1960s (I was actually more into Star Trek and Flash Gordon at that time if truth be told) And I was fully aware in 1968 when a friend of mine in elementary school said: "Man! You need to hear this new song by the Beatles! It's the LONGEST song to ever be played on the radio!"😳 He was referring to Sir Paul's classic "Hey Jude" with its long Nah-Nah section of course. What a strange comment! 😂
But one I will always remember.
When I went through my "jazz" period from around 1975-1990, I had SO much foundational things to learn that I simply bought into the "jazzbo" notion of "The Beatles:
"Those cats can't play Man! Their songs only have two chords!"
WOW did I have a lot to learn!🙄
When I went into academia and began raising my two families (another story for another time!) I started to at last learn about the "Lads from Liverpool" and their oeuvre. (Oeuvre is the newest word that I'm trying to use...so you will no doubt see it around) And what a body of work it is! I've been in love ever since.
And one of the guys that I dig the most is Ringo. Mr. Starkey has always been the older "voice of reason" in the group I believe. My friend Gregg Bissonette has become close with Ringo over the years as he is the "utility therapy dog" drummer with the All-Starr Band, so that Ringo can go out front and sing and also so Gregg can play some of the more complex non-Ringo-esque tunes that the All-Starr band performs such as "Rosanna" and "Frankenstein."
But at the very heart of it all, Mr Peace and Love himself is still right here delighting us all with the wit and working class charm that we all need to be VERY grateful is still with us these days .
Here he is on a wonderful interview with my man Dan Rather.
Enjoy!
Very cool!