In a new interview with USA Today, Ringo Starr chats with Melissa Ruggieri about his "brothers" in The Beatles, the band's final song "Now And Then", "hanging out" with Paul McCartney, and more. An excerpt follows...
USA Today: How do you feel about “Now and Then” finally being out?
Ringo Starr: "I did love 'Now and Then', and we did hear it in 1995 and we’d done (the other two vault songs) already, and then it came to a halt. And then I got a call from Paul (in 2022) and he asked, 'Do you want to drum on it?' It’s great for me to have John’s (Lennon) voice coming at me. Thanks to Peter Jackson with the machine that can pull out anything from anything. Paul went in with a string section; he worked really hard on it and I just sang on some of it."
USA Today: Is it sad to think that is the last-ever true Beatles recording?
Starr: "I think I’m past that, really. I miss them, but we’re getting on with our own things now. Paul and I will have dinner together; we’re still buddies. George (Harrison) and John, I certainly miss them. I’m an only child, and suddenly I had three brothers and it was great."
USA Today: It seems like you and Paul are spending more time together lately.
Starr: "If he comes to LA we certainly do something, and when I get to England we’ll do something there. It’s just what we do. We went to Paris together (in March) for Stella McCartney’s clothing line. But really we went there for the lunch. (Laughs.) But no, really, we were hanging out. We went by train and were all sitting in the same carriage. We had a good time."
Read more at USA Today.
“Let It Be,” director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original 1970 film about The Beatles, has launched exclusively on Disney+ . This is the first time the film is available in over 50 years.
First released in May 1970 amidst the swirl of The Beatles’ breakup, “Let It Be” now takes its rightful place in the band’s history. Once viewed through a darker lens, the film is now brought to light through its restoration and in the context of revelations brought forth in Peter Jackson’s multiple Emmy Award®-winning docuseries, “The Beatles: Get Back.” Released on Disney+ in 2021, the docuseries showcases the iconic foursome’s warmth and camaraderie, capturing a pivotal moment in music history.
“Let It Be” contains footage not featured in the “Get Back” docuseries, bringing viewers into the studio and onto Apple Corps’ London rooftop in January 1969 as The Beatles, joined by Billy Preston, write and record their Grammy Award-winning album Let It Be, with its Academy Award-winning title song, and perform live for the final time as a group. With the release of “The Beatles: Get Back,” fan clamour for the original “Let It Be” film reached a fever pitch. With Lindsay-Hogg’s full support, Apple Corps asked Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production to dive into a meticulous restoration of the film from the original 16mm negative, which included lovingly remastering the sound using the same MAL de-mix technology that was applied to the “Get Back” docuseries.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg says, “’Let It Be’ was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see ‘Let It Be’ with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film. But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs. And then you get to the roof and you see their excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with ‘Get Back,’using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, ‘Let It Be,’ has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” says Peter Jackson. "I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for 'Get Back,’ and I’ve always thought that ‘Let It Be’ is needed to complete the ‘Get Back’ story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and ‘Let It Be’ is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: ‘Let It Be’ is the climax of ‘Get Back,’ while ‘Get Back’ provides a vital missing context for ‘Let It Be.’ Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made ‘Get Back,’ and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word...looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
“Let It Be,” directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, stars John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, with a special appearance by Billy Preston. The film was produced by Neil Aspinall with The Beatles acting as executive producers. The director of photography was Anthony B Richmond.
“Let It Be” is available now, exclusively on Disney+.
