- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided by Panonica Foundation, Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation, Ascension Seton, BP America, Laura and John Beckworth, St.

David's Healthcare.

And by... And also by... A complete list of funders is available at APTonline.org and LiveFromLBJ.org.

- Like "Come Together".

It's a well-known fill of mine.

♪ Dum-dum-didily-dum, didily-didily-loo ♪ Anyway, I'd never done it before.

Like one of those crazy moments, John was sitting on the floor there.

We were in this little recording studio in Soho and he was like getting that song ready.

And I don't know what happened.

I just, "Oh, okay."

♪ Bom, bom, didily-doo, didily-didily-doo, bom ♪ And I go... He goes... (both laugh) Okay.

It must be okay.

(inspiring music) (inspiring music fades) (evocative music) - Welcome to the LBJ Presidential Library.

I'm Mark Updegrove.

Since the Library was dedicated by our 36th president, Lyndon Baines Johnson over a half a century ago, it has hosted some of the biggest names and best minds of our day to discuss our nation's rich history and the issues of our times.

Now we bring those conversations straight to you.

Ringo Starr is, well, Ringo Starr.

The legendary Beatles drummer has provided the backbeat for some of the most iconic music in modern history.

Tonight, we take live from the LBJ Library on the road to Los Angeles where I talk to Ringo about his latest album, "Long Long Road", and about the remarkable journey he's had through his life, including his days in Liverpool and those magical storied years in the 1960s when The Beatles reigned supreme.

Ringo Starr, welcome.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Good to be here.

- Congratulations on- - I am.

- "Long Long Road".

- Yeah, I love it.

And you know, T Bone Burnett, we chatted, brought this and "Look Up" together, you know?

And did a great job for me.

- This is your third country album.

Your first was "Beaucoups of Blues".

- Yeah, the first one was 1971.

- Yeah.

(Ringo laughing) So it took you a while, but you came back in 2025 with "Look Up".

- I did.

Yeah.

- And now this.

- You know, I love life and you know, the "Long Long Road" is me looking inside, that I started here and look where from Liverpool to this to that, to things I was ill, things I was happy, kids, you know.

I had all that, and I just thought the long, long road.

But I went to see Olivia Harrison reading from the poem she wrote for George.

There was about 50 people there and T Bone was one who I've known... Well, not really known, but I've met in my house several times.

And I never invited him.

(chuckles) I like to do that one.

(Mark chuckles) And, you know, we were talking and in the conversation I said, "Well, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm doing this."

And, "Well, what are you doing?"

I said, "Well, if you've got a track for me, I'm doing an EP."

I did EPs through the pandemic, you know, and we started with big face cloths in the little room playing.

Then he came to LA.

There's a longer story.

Then he came to LA and he came to visit and we were chatting, talking about songs and talking about this.

And I was thinking, "I should get him to produce an album on me."

And anyway, he said like, "Oh, and songs and that."

Well, I said, "How many songs have you got?"

And he took them out of his pocket and he said, "Nine."

And I said, "Oh, great, and will you produce an album on me?"

You know, it wasn't planned.

That's what I'm trying to get to.

If I just go with life, a lot of goodness works out, you know?

And we've had a lot of fun and he's very good.

And I don't remember us saying, "Let's do another."

We just did one, you know?

It wasn't like a setup.

(chuckles) And it worked really well.

Love it.

- But you've done country songs throughout your career.

When you were at the Beatles, you did "Act Naturally" and "Honey Don't".

- I did.

I did Carl Perkins.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, I love country.

But I love the blues and you don't have me doing any of them.

(laughs) - Where does that love come from, that love of country music?

- Well, it comes from the radio in Liverpool.

And it comes from the... It was a port, and it was a... In the neighborhood I lived in, at least, one of every family was in the merchant navy.

And they would go away and come back and go... You know, you knew which family it was.

They always had a camel saddle in the corner, 'cause the kids, the lads had been away and they came back for mom, you know?

But they had records when they'd come from America.

And then they'd start selling the records.

But that's how we got to hear it, through these guys.

And so, you know, a guy would go away.

I knew his brother was a little younger and we'd go to his house and say, "Oh yeah, wow."

And he played country music and I just loved the attitude of it.

There's a lot of... You know, one thing I'd say... I would say, "Well, what is country music?"

Well, it's the wife's left, the dog's dead, and you got no money for the jukebox.

And that's what it was like in the '50s.

You know, there seemed to me, that was the amount of people singing songs, it was about the wife, about the dog, and about the jukebox.

- How did growing up in Liverpool shape you?

- Well, there I am.

You know, it shaped me because, you know, I lived there.

And, you know, my mom worked her heart off, trying to pay the rent.

And I was lucky that we lived in Madryn Street, and then we moved across the road to Admiral Grove, like a hundred footsteps 'cause it was small and we could deal with it.

And that was it.

You're just there.

You grow up and there's a gang.

There's always little ganger lads.

And, you know, to go to like a park somewhere, we'd have to follow the bus 'cause we didn't know how you got there, but we knew the 82 took us to Speke.

You know, that's an area.

And, so that's how we did it then, you know?

- You were with a very successful band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

- Oh, that's later, yeah.

Well, I started in the... Then I got a job in the factory and they were gonna make me an apprentice, you know?

And the good news about being an apprentice is you were second on the list to be called up into the army, so it helped.

And, so we did that.

And the guy who lived next door to me, Eddie Miles, he played guitar and my best friend in the factory, Rory, who's still my best friend, but he made a tea chest bass and I had a snare drum.

That's all we could take out.

♪ I mean, old Maggie Maggie Mae ♪ (Ringo mimics drum fill) ♪ They've taken her away ♪ (Ringo mimics drum fill) But Eddie was such a great player.

And that's how my real musical career started.

You know, with the guys and we did it in the basement for the men.

I don't know if you ever worked in a factory, but they've all got something to shout at you.

(both laugh) "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

So that's how my career started and I loved it.

You know, I loved it from a hospital visit I was paying, though I was sitting there for a year.

And to keep us busy, besides teaching us all to knit, another woman brought in like percussive bongo.

It wasn't even a bongo, just one head, one little drum and maracas and tambourines.

And so, they gave me this drum and I went... (hand slaps) And I knew from that minute that's all I wanted to do.

- How?

How did you know- - I don't know.

It was magic.

- Huh.

- That's the long road, you know, that's another... People always say, "How did you know?"

How did you... I didn't know anything.

I knew I just wanted to play drums.

And never wanted guitar or piano.

And, you know, that's how it started.

- Did you know when you struck that drum that it changed your life?

Or did you just feel- - Well, no, no.

- A connection to the instrument?

- But it could have gone anywhere.

You know, I have to watch I don't get hooked on... Oh, and then you end up in The Beatles.

I mean, a couple of times I was trying to go somewhere else anyway, like Texas for... What's his name?

Lightnin' Hopkins?

I wanted to live where he lived 'cause he's a blues player.

And we filled in all the forms at the embassy and me and this other guy called John.

And, then we took, we filled them in and we took them back and they gave us more forms.

It's no good giving teenagers forms or me as a teenager.

(Ringo growls) And, so I didn't go.

But, you know, I could have gone and you wouldn't have been talking to me.

- Mm.

(Ringo laughs) Nor if you had stayed in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and yet they're were more a successful band in Liverpool than The Beatles.

And yet you throw them over for John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

- I do.

- What gave you the confidence to take that chance?

- Well, we played... They were like, you know, a new band.

It doesn't mean that Rory and the Hurricanes were the biggest band.

But anyway, they went to Germany.

A guy called Koschmider came and booked bands to play at his club.

And they put them in this, like, really down club.

They were living in the toilet.

And then when Rory and the Hurricanes, we came, and they showed us this back room the bands had been living in and I said, "Well, we're not gonna sleep on that bed.

You know, we're not gonna do that."

And, so we went and stayed in the German Seamen's Mission.

There was a room there with five beds and a sink.

And so, it was really so much cleaner and nicer that that's where we lived as Rory and the Hurricanes.

But, you know, Koschmider then put The Beatles on the same club as we were playing.

So it was competition.

It was like a fight of the night, you know?

Trying to get the audience.

(Mark chuckles) And that's how it started.

And then I would, you know... I mean, the weekend we did eight hours between us so you know, you learn how to play.

And I just loved the front line.

I just loved those guys.

And then Rory and the Hurricanes, we have a three month gig.

You know how big that was?

It was great.

But you know, we played and we loved it.

And I got a phone call from Brian Epstein saying not would I play with them, would I join them?

And I said, "Sure."

And this was a Wednesday and I said, "Well, when do you want me?"

And he said, "Oh, tonight."

I said, "No, I can't do tonight."

I can't just leave the band.

I said, "I'll see you Saturday."

And that's when I joined.

We were in the Cavern and that was it.

- You have called The Beatles creative chemistry telepathy.

What was behind the magic of The Beatles?

- I think we, you know, we loved playing with each other.

And the band was so diverse.

You know, with John's songs and at the beginning it was very just puppy songs, "Love Me Do", and that.

Yeah, but you know, we were making a record.

That was far out.

And the saddest thing was with George Martin, when he got me in the band and we'd gone to EMI, he had a session drummer.

Oh my God, that was a... I made him apologize every day from that day.

(Mark laughs) That he was sorry.

But anyway, it was like harsh.

And he didn't know they'd changed drummers.

So anyway, he knows now.

And so the session guy did the album, I think, and I did the single.

You know, because it wasn't difficult really what he played.

And that's how it started.

And after that, I was on every record bar a couple Paul played on.

- But you were intensely close.

- We were very close and every time we went on tour and we got to the hotel, there was only ever two rooms.

We slept with one another.

Not in the same bed, of course, but we were in the same vicinity, you know?

And in the car, we were always together.

No one had their own car and, "I'm coming later."

You know, we really stuck together and we learned a great thing in EMI because, you know, we like to get a bit happy some nights.

And then, the guy would make us a tape to take home and every time we'd get home and we'd play it and it was just the worst.

And the next morning, you know, we'd come back to EMI and, well, we'd all smile.

We gotta do it again.

(laughs) 'Cause it just didn't work.

And it was a great lesson because we mainly played for the gig.

I played to play the best I could.

John was the... Paul, you know, George.

It was just magic.

I mean, it was just great.

I mean, I only speak... Well, some of George's solos are as important to the song... I mean, to the record as the song is.

You know, they give you that space.

And, you know, I don't know.

I just loved playing with the boys.

And it didn't matter we were having a row or, you know, a fight or whatever.

Two, three, four, everybody was on.

It wasn't, "I'm busy having a cigarette," or you know.

We played and we realized it's better we play and do it than like do our heads in.

- As you look, I'm sure those years are a blur to a certain extent, but is there a memory that sort of, that you think of that epitomizes what it was to be in that band, Ringo?

- Well, I think for me, it was the, you know, the songs were great and the band was great.

I loved playing with them.

And you know, when we were in the studio on that, you know, a lot of stuff just arrived.

Like "Come Together".

It's a well-known fill of mine.

♪ Dum-dum-didily-dum, didily-didily-loo ♪ Anyway, I'd never done it before.

And we went in the studio in Soho and we wanted to get out of that big room at EMI.

You know, Savile Row.

And it was just like one of those crazy moments.

John was sitting on the floor there.

We were in this little recording studio in Soho.

And he was like getting that song ready.

And I don't know what happened.

I just, "Oh, okay."

♪ Bom, bom, didily-doo, didily-didily-doo, bom ♪ And I go... He goes... (both laugh) Okay.

It must be okay.

So, you know, that's how it came.

There was no like planning or writing.

It just, when it came.

And, you know, the other... Another story with Peter Jackson when he did that documentary.

You know, the 16 hour documentary.

- "Get Back".

- And I wanted to know how I got... When we got to the roof, I was playing "Get Back".

(hands drumming) Because, he found footage and there I am just tapping the time.

That's what I used to do a lot, just while we were getting it together.

And then I was playing like just regular.

Then I was playing fours, bom, "Get Back".

And then, the next time you see me, I'm on film going.

(Ringo mimics drum beating) It was like, I don't know where it came from.

- Huh.

- He said, "How, how did you get to that?"

I don't know.

I was trying to find the actual footage that would show you how I went to it.

But they didn't go... No, there was footage up to doing it fours.

And then, I don't know.

But my point was that, you know, if I found something and kept it, you know, it was cool.

You know, it wasn't like one of John or Paul's songs and they said, "Well, no, I want it on that way."

No, I never did do that.

- "Get Back" told a very different story than "Let It Be" - Yeah.

- Which is what the footage was was filmed for.

It was filmed for the original, the documentary "Let It Be", and then it became... The raw footage became "Get Back" by Peter Jackson.

- Yeah, yeah.

56 hours of unused video.

- And it surprised a lot of- - Of film, actually.

- But it told a very different story than "Let It Be" did.

- Did it surprise you?

- Yeah, I was always a little disappointed with the first one because John and Paul had a row, so what?

And the main aim of this TV show was like on the downer.

It was all like a downer to me.

Like we never had any fun or whatever.

It's always a, "Well, you know, you know."

So I loved how it ended up.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- You know?

- Has The Beatles enduring mystique and appeal surprised you?

- Well, yeah.

(chuckles) You know, we've been just players.

When we were out playing clubs and we were playing... We'd, you know, play anywhere really.

And yeah, then we made a record.

I mean, that was the biggest thing we ever did.

And we were all in the same car and we know 'cause it only played on the BBC.

It would be on at 11 minutes past 2:00.

And so wherever we were, driving to a gig or whatever, we'd pull over to hear it on the radio, "Wow."

That was so thrilling, you know?

But like a lot of things, we made a lot more records and we just loved to hear them.

But that like, "Wow," had gone.

- I talked about "Beaucoups of Blues", which was your second solo album.

But it's gotta be a hard act to follow.

You leave The Beatles.

What were you thinking after you left The Beatles?

- Well, I was thinking, "What am I gonna do?"

I sat in the garden for months, just lost.

And then I said, "You know, I'm gonna talk to George Martin.

I'm gonna do a record of standards that my family sang."

We had a lot of parties and we went to a lot of parties, family parties as a kid.

And you know, they sang standard songs.

And so, you know, I made that record with George and we had a lot of great people, you know, helped us out.

And so then, I was on my way.

And, you know, the thing with the "Long Long Road" where Harry Nilsson and I were in Nashville (chuckles) doing the Grammys.

And Richard Perry produced Harry Nilsson.

And I said to Richard, "Why don't we make a record, man?

Do you wanna produce a record?"

You know, I was thinking, "In Nashville, let's do it here."

He said, "Uh, let's do it in LA."

Okay, we went to LA and it was great, the "Ringo" album.

It was so great.

And it was a bit like the all-star band I've got, you know, 'cause a lot... Dr.

John was on it.

The band was on it.

A lot of different musicians were on it.

- John, Paul, and George- - Well, they were on one track each.

(laughs) - Yeah.

- But that wasn't planned.

I just was in LA.

They were in LA.

We didn't call each other to say, "Hey, we're going to LA," you know?

We just, "Oh, great.

Have you got a song?"

And, "John, I've get this for you," you know?

And we actually went to England after we did... And George was in LA.

And we did George's and John's song.

So we though, "We gotta fly to London and tell Paul he's gotta, you know, give me a song here."

Which he did!

You know?

But that one was in England.

- Yeah.

- So, you know, just people talk to me like I could explain it day by day.

Maybe Paul could.

He's really good at this, you know?

But to me, we just did what we did and we loved what we did.

And that was great.

And then we split, and we went our own ways.

And, you know, the four of us were making records, you know, and Paul was putting another band together.

On his first album, he's the only one.

But, you know, that's changed.

- So much of your life has been serendipity.

- Yes.

That's a good word.

- Yeah.

I wanna go back to the "Long Long Road" for a moment.

- Yeah.

- You've had this incredible odyssey, this remarkable life.

I'm gonna quote you from the title track, "Long Long Road".

"I look in the mirror and wonder where I've been."

- Yeah.

- When you look in the mirror of your life, Ringo, what do you want your legacy to be?

- Oh, I'm not big on legacies, you know?

A lot of people like the drum and that's enough.

(both laugh) - Well, that's been enough for your career.

It's been a remarkable career.

- Yeah.

- Paul McCartney says of you as a drummer... You're synonymous with drumming.

Paul McCartney said, "He's Ringo and nobody else is."

- Yeah.

- What makes you unique as a drummer?

What characterizes you as a drummer?

- Well, something that happened to me as a child.

I was born left-handed.

My grandmother didn't like that and she made me write my name at least right-handed as a kid growing up.

So, I'm a left-handed... And when I went into a music store in Liverpool and they had this kit, very cheap, but it didn't matter.

Ajax, woo, 20.

(Mark laughs) And I just sat on it like this is where you sit.

It was weird because, you know, I'm left-handed playing this right-handed kit.

And so the fills are a bit weird that, you know, people try to do, 'cause I have to give myself seconds, you know... (mimics drum beating) To come, it starts with this hand, the left hand.

Oh no, it doesn't start with the right way.

You know, I can't go around the drums like that.

I can do this real easy, but this one is like I have to miss a beat.

It's weird.

Are you a drummer?

- I'm not a drummer.

- Well then why am I talking about it?

(both laugh) - I'm a great admirer of the drummer sitting across from me.

You will be 86 in July- - Well, now you gotta blow it down now, you know?

They all say, "Wow, what a great record."

"And he's 86."

Yeah, okay, I am 86 in July the 7th.

Peace and love.

Whatever you are, peace and love.

- But you've devoted your birthdays- - Yeah.

- To the peace and love movement.

- Yeah.

- How did that start?

- It started in New York.

I was on tour with an all-star band and we were being interviewed.

And one of the interviewers said, "Well, what would you like the fans to give you?"

I don't know where it came from.

"You know what I'd like?

I'd like them at noon on the 7th of the 7th, wherever they are, on a bus, down a mine.

You know, it doesn't matter where it was.

At noon, go peace and love.

That's all I ask."

And the tour went on, and then we got to Chicago when it was my birthday.

And that was when we threw the first get together.

We had like 80 people and we were giving little cakes away.

Who made the cakes?

- [Assistant] Hard Rock.

- Hard Rock.

Thank you, Hard Rock.

And then, you know, computers were becoming big in those days.

And I looked on a computer and people were selling those little cakes we gave them free for like $30.

(laughs) So, you know, it's a good lesson in life.

- What a long, long road you've had.

- Well, it is.

It's a long road.

But, you know, this is it.

- Ringo Starr, thank you very much.

And thank you for what you've given to the world.

- Okay, peace and love.

(inspiring music) (inspiring music continues) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided by Panonica Foundation, Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation, Ascension Seton, BP America, Laura and John Beckworth, St.

David's Healthcare.

And by... And also by... A complete list of funders is available at APTonline.org and LiveFromLBJ.org.

(cheerful music) (motivational music)