The lost collaboration between Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr that “fell apart”
In 1987, The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr decamped to Memphis, Tennessee, to work on his tenth solo album. With a bit of buzz surrounding the project, Starr recruited a number of high-profile names to work with him on the record, including Bob Dylan, but despite this, the material has never officially surfaced.
After meeting producer Chips Moman in the Bahamas, Starr plotted the pathway of his record. In February 1987, the former Beatle headed down to Memphis to begin work on the project, which would have been his first release in over four years. Over the next two months, the duo worked solidly on the record. They also reportedly welcomed Eric Clapton, Dave Edmunds, and Carl Perkins to Three Alarm Studios.
At the time of recording, Ringo was drinking heavily, and his lifestyle was sending him into turmoil. Sobriety became his priority, and the album reminded him of the painful times, which is why Starr prevented the album from being released. Moman attempted to recoup his costs by issuing the record behind Ringo’s back, which led to a bitter court case.
In his testimony, Ringo opened up about the extremities of his alcohol dependency and claimed he was drinking up to 16 bottles of wine daily during the album’s recording process. However, Moman disputed this suggestion and said no liquor was allowed in the studio.
Ultimately, Starr was ordered to pay $74,354 to regain control of his masters from Moman, and they never resolved their differences.
While Starr’s personal issues somewhat explain why he never wanted the Memphis album to be released, he hasn’t been able to stop leaks from surfacing. One of the songs that was subsequently bootlegged is the Dylan collaboration ‘Wish I Knew Now What I Knew Then’. However, only Ringo is audible on this version, and Dylan’s contribution sadly doesn’t feature.
When Starr appeared on the Celebrity Playlist Podcast in 2010, he discussed his love of Dylan. In addition to naming his favourite song by the legendary musician, Ringo recalled his only experience working with him in the studio. “We could do this for the rest of the week just on Bob Dylan. This song (‘When The Deal Goes Down’) is really emotional, ‘Maggie’s Farm’ is another one of my faves too,” Starr said. “Because it’s emotional, deep down I’m an emotional person really, and what it says, ‘I’ll be with you when the deal goes down’, is beautiful, and only Bob would say it that way.”
He continued: “I did a track in Memphis with Bob. I was doing an album there, and he came up to sing on it, but the album fell apart, and so did we. One thing was the person who was looking out for Bob at that time said, ‘Bob’s gone’, so I said, ‘Where’s he gone?’, ‘Graceland’. I said, ‘That’s good’, he said, ‘That’s bad’. It depends on which way you look at it.”
The version of ‘Wish I Knew Now What I Knew Then’ with Dylan will likely never surface, but the bootleg can be heard below.
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