Ringo Starr Refused to Play Beatles Songs in Paul McCartney’s Film ‘Give My Regards to Broad Street’
In 1984, Paul McCartney recruited Ringo Starr for his film Give My Regards to Broad Street. The movie was largely unsuccessful with both critics and audiences, but most viewers enjoyed the soundtrack. McCartney wanted to mix new songs in with old ones, including some music from his days with The Beatles. He asked Starr to join him on the songs, but he refused.
Paul McCartney decided to write a movie
Give My Regards to Broad Street was a comedy, but McCartney’s original vision looked quite different from the final product.
“What he described was a cinematic version of the Tug of War album,” director Peter Webb said, per the book Paul McCartney: A Life by Peter Ames Carlin. “The broad sweep of English history would then segue seamlessly into a downbeat scene in a contemporary Liverpool, where the hero, a young man in his late teens, was sweeping the floor as a lowly paid janitor. We would then discover he wanted to escape from this no-hope life into signing on as a mercenary in some foreign war.”
After writing more of the script, McCartney decided to shift the focus of the movie to a rock star, played by himself. In it, he attempted to find his master tapes.
Ringo Starr refused to perform Beatles songs with Paul McCartney for the film
Shortly before filming started, McCartney told Webb that Starr, his wife Barbara Bach, and McCartney’s wife Linda would be joining the cast.
“He didn’t make any suggestions about what their dramatic function would be,” Webb said.
According to McCartney, Starr was excited about the project.
“Ringo and I are good friends,” McCartney said, per the book Ringo: With a Little Help by Michael Seth Starr. “After all The Beatles’ years, and all the troubles of the break-up, we find it easy to get along. I saw him one night socially and I was very excited. I said, ‘I’m gonna do this film and I’m gonna get you involved. Will you do it with me?’ For some reason, he got the idea it was like a Beatles film. Well, we’d had a few drinks.”
Starr was not as eager to get involved with the soundtrack, however. He outright refused to record Beatles songs with McCartney.
“So we scrapped the idea of doing them,” McCartney explained. “Peter Webb, the director, really wanted to do, ‘Hey Jude,’ and I was quite up for it, but Ringo said, ‘No, I’ve already done that one.’ He felt the records we’d made of some songs were the definitive performances of those songs.”
Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney have since performed Beatles songs together
Though Starr didn’t want to record Beatles songs with McCartney for the movie, the former bandmates have performed them together over the years. They’ve both brought each other out on stage during concerts. Starr said that he always enjoys playing with McCartney.
“I love that, getting up with him,” Starr told the Irish News. “We did it at the O2 in England [in 2018]. And then he called me and he said, ‘I’m doing Dodger Stadium, if you want to do a few numbers.’ Sure. So he picked three numbers, and I got up and went down there. And it’s magic for the audience as well as us. I love playing with him. The audience is like, ‘Oh, there’s two of them! Wow’. It lifts everything, in a joyous way. So, yeah, I had a great time.”
