John Lennon Insultingly Said He Looked to Ringo Starr to Remind Himself The Beatles Weren’t Superhuman
John Lennon liked spending time with Ringo Starr. The Beatles’ drummer joined the band two years into their career, but he quickly grew close with his bandmates. He helped them rise to atmospheric success but was never taken as seriously as the other three Beatles. Even his bandmates didn’t take him all that seriously. While Lennon never actually said Starr wasn’t even the best drummer in The Beatles, he did poke fun at him.
John Lennon joked that Ringo Starr reminded him The Beatles were just people
Shortly after Starr joined The Beatles in 1962, they began their rapid rise to success. Beatlemania was fully ablaze in the United Kingdom by 1963, and it spread across the Atlantic to the United States soon after. By 1964, they were the biggest band in the world. Thousands of fans followed them wherever they went and politicians and celebrities clamored to meet them. The rapid success easily could have gone to their heads.
Lennon shared the way he managed to keep his head from overinflating.
“When I feel my head starting to swell,” he told the Saturday Evening Post in 1964 (via The Guardian), “I just look at Ringo and I know perfectly well we’re not supermen.”
He wasn’t clear if he was referring to Starr’s musical abilities or the fact that he was several inches shorter than the other three Beatles.
John Lennon worried about Ringo Starr’s career when The Beatles broke up
When The Beatles broke up, Lennon was the least upset with Starr. He was also the most worried about Starr’s career.
“I remember John talking about Ringo when we were in Tittenhurst Park and he said, ‘I don’t want Ringo to end up poor, having to play the Northern nightclubs,'” journalist Ray Connolly said, per the book Ringo: With a Little Help by Michael Seth Starr. “Because the worst thing in the world for an ex-pop star in England is to end up playing Bradford or Darlington, the northern nightclubs, because they are really awful places … The people eating chips and scampi while you’re trying to be heard.”
Starr didn’t write or sing nearly as much as the other Beatles. He also felt concerned about his career more than his former bandmates did. Lennon’s worry about Starr seemed to hint he doubted in the drummer’s musical abilities, though.
The two Beatles were close friends
Despite this, Lennon and Starr were good friends. While Lennon might not have been as close with Starr as he was with Paul McCartney, they didn’t have the same tense relationship.
“John’s relationship with each of the other Beatles was different,” Lennon’s first wife Cynthia wrote in her book John. “He was at his most relaxed with Ringo, who often had him in stitches with his jokes.”
He also remained close with Starr after The Beatles broke up. Lennon was angry and frustrated with McCartney and George Harrison. He didn’t turn the same anger on Starr, continuing to work and spend time with him.
