The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr recently called out the ‘bastard’ who shot John Lennon, Mark David Chapman, in a new Rolling Stone interview. Ringo Starr recently made a painful Yoko Ono remark.
“When John went, I was in the Bahamas. I was getting a phone call from my stepkids in L.A. saying, ‘Something’s happened to John.’ And then they called and said, ‘John’s dead.’ And I didn’t know what to do. And I still well up that some bastard shot him. But I just said, ‘We’ve got to get a plane.’ We got a plane to New York, and you don’t know what you can do. We went to the apartment. ‘Anything we can do?’ And Yoko just said, ‘Well, you just play with Sean. Keep Sean busy.’ And that’s what we did. That’s what you think: ‘What do you do now?’
The interesting thing is this guy Jack Douglas, the producer, brought this track of John’s to me [‘Grow Old With Me,’ from Lennon’s 1980 ‘Bermuda Tapes’ demos] just this year; I’d never heard it. So he’s still in my life. And so it’s on the new album. But why he gave me this CD is [because] at the beginning, John says, ‘Oh, that would be great for Richard Starkey.'”
Ringo Starr revealed a few days ago why he quit The Beatles before they split, and if he was replaced. The Beatles fans on the Paul McCartney forum recently discussed “Grow Old With Me.” Nancy R wrote, “It is my understanding that Ringo and Paul started from scratch to record a brand new ‘Grow Old With Me.’ They aren’t using John’s demo.”
Beatles4Ever&Ever responded, “That’s true. It’s not John’s demo. Jack Douglas, John’s prdoucer, on “Double Fanstasy” wrote a string part for the song and they wove in a bit of a guitar line from George’s Here Comes The Sun. So it’s John’s song, Paul and Ringo….and a little George. Ringo’s first single…..What’s My Name ….”Ringo” shout out.. is out now. Good blues/rocker sounding nice and punchy, but somewhat reminiscent of another of his songs…more than just one?? Can’t quite put my finger on it. Or maybe because Ringo just sounds like Ringo! The voice stays the same. Great guitar and drumming.”
You can read the full interview at Rolling Stone.
