The beautiful heartfelt message that The Beatles gave to Ringo Starr
The Beatles‘ breakup in 1970 was widely publicised. However, tensions in the band had already taken root before that time. In 1968, when the Beatles were recording The Beatles (The White Album), Ringo Starr put down his sticks and walked out of the sessions.
Evidently, things were becoming strained in the Fab Four camp, and Ringo had felt that his playing wasn’t up to standard. It was just over six years to the day that he played his first gig with the band at Hulme Hall in Birkenhead.
Ringo revealed: “I felt I wasn’t playing great, and I also felt that the other three were really happy and I was an outsider. I went to see John, who had been living in my apartment in Montagu Square with Yoko since he moved out of Kenwood. I said, ‘I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well, and I feel unloved and out of it, and you three are really close.’ And John said, ‘I thought it was you three!'”
He added, “So then I went over to Paul’s and knocked on his door. I said the same thing: ‘I’m leaving the band. I feel you three guys are really close, and I’m out of it.’ And Paul said, ‘I thought it was you three!'”
Ringo may have felt that he was the problem because of the growing palpable tensions in the air between Lennon and McCartney. He took off to Sardinia on Peter Sellers‘ yacht while the rest of the band pressed on with recording The White Album.
McCartney had jumped on the drumkit in Ringo’s absence but was not half the drummer that Ringo was. McCartney once revealed his thoughts on Ringo’s lack of belief in himself. “I think Ringo was always paranoid that he wasn’t a great drummer because he never used to solo. You go through life and never stop and tell your favourite drummer that he’s your favourite. Ringo felt insecure, and he left, so we told him, ‘Look, man, you are the best drummer in the world for us.’ I still think that.”
The band sent a telegram out to Sardinia, saying that they deeply missed him and needed him back behind the kit, where he belonged. Ringo made a triumphant return on September 4th, 1968, just as the Beatles were starting to produce the music videos for ‘Revolution’ and ‘Hey Jude’. When Ringo returned to Abbey Road, he arrived to find his drumkit adorned with flowers that spelt out “Welcome Back, Ringo”.
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