Thinking of all those in Paris during this time of mourning. Stay strong.
The Beatles in The City of Light (La Ville Lumière)
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Tag Archives: Ringo Starr
Ringo’s “Octopus’s Garden” Children’s Book
Seems to be a steadily rising number of Beatle children’s books about. If you have young ones or you just appreciate the child-like qualities of kids books, they’re nice to have.
The latest is a picture book illustrating Ringo Starr’s song ‘Octopus’s Garden’:
Octopus’s Garden is published by Simon and Schuster and beautifully illustrated by British children’s book illustrator Ben Cort. It’s a large-format, hardback book with really nice pictures to accompany the printed lyrics to the song:
There’s also a CD included with four tracks. Track 1 is a short spoken endorsement from Ringo; Track 2 is a new recording of ‘Octopus’s Garden’ (with Ringo providing the vocal); Track 3 has Ringo reading the story (without music); and finally an instrumental version for you or your child to sing along with:
Here’s a little promo video with more of a taste of what you get:
See also Real Love: The Drawings for Sean from 1999.
A Big Pile of Beatle Sheet Music Rediscovered
We were digging around in a cupboard the other day and came across a long-forgotten stash of Beatle sheet music collected from a variety of places over the years. Thought you might like to see the front covers. Most are printed and published for the Australia/New Zealand market. Some are books with numerous songs, others are single titles. As you’ll see, they’re in far from pristine condition, but interesting none-the-less.
Here they are in (roughly) chronological order: 
Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Eight
Quite a few more photos of the Beatles holding or working with records have come in so it is time for a further instalment of our series The Beatles With Records.
The Liverpool Echo news site is reporting that the stereo radiogram shown in this picture of Ringo Starr and wife Maureen is up for auction:
Maureen is shown sitting on the custom-built record player and radio which was built for the couple when they lived at 34 Montagu Square, London in 1965. It was a quality piece for the time with a Garrard turntable, a British Leak valve amplifier, and an Armstrong tuner with twin speakers. Also in the photo are at least four Beatle gold records, plus a shelf stacked with LPs of various kinds.
According to the Echo, Ringo gave the radiogram to his Auntie Everley and Uncle Jim at 59 Madrin Street, Liverpool, which was Ringo`s Grandad`s house. It has been in his Aunt’s possession since 1966 and has just surfaced after almost 50 years:
The radiogram is just one of the lots in the Liverpool Beatles memorabilia Auction to be held in the Paul McCartney Auditorium there on August 29. We first featured the photo of Ringo and Maureen at home back in The Beatles With Records – Part Two.
Speaking of Liverpool, here is a cool photograph taken outside Brian Epstein’s NEMS Music Store:
Lots of records in the front window – and the arrow points to one record cover that may give a hint as to the date. It is Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’, which came out in January, 1964:
Lots of other LPs and EPS there in the window. Anyone else recognise anything? (The image was kindly sent through by Billy Shears at the SgtPepperChannel on YouTube).
Back in The Beatles With Records Part Twenty Five we showed a photograph of George Harrison with the Radha Krsna Temple and an Apple single they’d released (and he produced) called ‘Govinda’.
Here they are together again – this time in 1970 – and one member is holding another single of their Apple singles, ‘Hare Krishna Mantra’:
(Again, thanks to Billy Shears for sending through those images).
The topic of George Harrison brings us to model Patti Boyd, who later became his wife. Before they were married she featured in a number of photo shoots with Beatle records. Here’s another. This time Patti is holding a UK mono copy of With The Beatles, from 1963:
And we’ve just had the anniversary (on August 11) of John Lennon apologising to the American people for his “the Beatles are bigger than Jesus” comment. It led to some very odd and sad scenes of LPs and singles being publicly destroyed, these ones below live on air on radio….
Jumping ahead in time, here’s Lennon at home with what looks like an acetate or test pressing in front of him (on the bed, lower right). Impossible to tell what it might be though: 
And John Lennon again, this time in what looks like a U.S. radio station studio with DJ Scott Muni:
This image looks very much like another photo from the same day, taken at the radio station WNEW-FM in New York. John was on the publicity trail for his album Rock’n’Roll. The two men are wearing the same clothing (Lennon a tee-shirt, and Muni a shirt and light coloured knitted sweater). You can see this photo in The Beatles With Records – Part Three:
And to finish a video of Paul McCartney, performing live at the famous Amoeba Music record store in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 27, 2007. Here Paul is literally surrounded by vinyl and CD’s in the hundreds and thousands:
Just two obvious cover shots from the posters on the wall behind him…..You will no doubt spot a lot more:
And here is the full video:
Check out all the posts in this series here.
Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Seven
Well, it’s been quite a while since we had a Beatles With Records post. In between time quite a number of new photographs have been found and submitted by keen Beatles Blog readers – especially Billy Shears, Lammert, and Andrey.
It’s going to be a reasonably big one. So, where to begin? Probably roughly chronologically would be best, starting with Dick Rowe, the Decca A&R man credited (wrongly as it turns out) with rejecting the Beatles at their audition for Decca Records in January, 1962:
Some of the albums on his wall include A Taste of Tijuana by The Mexicans:
Lulu’s Something to Shout About:
The Fortunes:
And Marianne Faithful’s North Country Maid:
But here’s the band that Decca missed out on:
It is a very youthful looking group on the front cover of the pop magazine Teen Screen. Notice the big “scoop”: WHY THE BEATLES ARE BREAKING UP!…..
There’s a bunch of records on the wall behind them, but they’re holding up with pride a copy of their then-new LP Please Please Me:
You can see a slightly larger and clearer image of that front cover photo in The Beatles with Records Part Two.
And here is the band out promoting that same album:
The Beatles were soon to star in their first full-length movie A Hard Day’s Night, and from that film comes these screenshots of one of their co-stars, Wilfrid Bramble. Bramble played Paul McCartney’s grandfather, “a clean old man” who none-the-less is taking a rather keen interest in this very sexy record cover:
George Shearing’s White Satin LP came out in 1960….
In previous posts we’ve had photographs of various members of the band actually playing records. Here’s another, this time George with an unidentified stack of 45’s:
The Beatles were big in France, and there were unique covers produced in that country for their LPs, EPs and singles. Here they are stuck in a lift and signing a copy of the French EP Eight Days a Week:
The Eight Days a Week EP (from 1965) above also featured in The Beatles With Records Part Five.
Onto the Beatles solo now and another interesting photo. These two were taken at John and Yoko’s historic “Bed-In For Peace” in Amsterdam on 30 March, 1969. Clearly the album on the bed is an early pressing of Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions, which was to be released just two months later in May, 1969:
Sticking with John Lennon and his album Rock ‘n’ Roll from 1975. It has a brilliant cover image taken way back in the Beatles Hamburg days by this man, photographer Jürgen Vollmer:
Jumping ahead now to the year 1990, and a charity album called Nobody’s Child: Romanian Angel Appeal. This compilation contained two Beatle-related tracks. One is by the Traveling Wilburys (“Nobody’s Child”), and the other a duet by Paul Simon and George Harrison of the Simon composition “Homeward Bound”. It was recorded during a performance on Saturday Night Live in 1976. George and his wife Olivia got behind publicising the release and here are two different photographs of them holding copies of the vinyl edition: 
Next a 1992 launch party for Ringo Starr’s Time Takes Time CD. Ringo does’t look all that pleased about the lady thrusting a Russian pressing of the Beatles LP Help! into his hands for him to sign….
(Turns out that lady is the famous TV sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Quite a few readers have contacted us and identified her – so thanks).
You can read all about the many variations for the Russia-only LP Dr Ruth has here.
And lastly here’s Paul McCartney holding a copy of the CD booklet for his 2006 classical music release, Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) [see also The Beatles With Records Part Seventeen]:
If you are interested in seeing more of the Beatles With Records check out the past twenty six instalments. More soon!
Ringo Starr – Postcards From Paradise
Our CD copy of Ringo’s Postcards From Paradise has finally arrived. Apparently Australia Post has recently installed new automated machines which sort packages – and they are not going well…..
It has cost A$500 million to install the new system, but since then over 20% of parcels are being delivered to the wrong address! I’m blaming this on the length of time it took this little CD to get from Canada to my front door…..
It’s actually a pretty good listen with some really catchy hooks, clever lyrics and musical ideas. Here’s Ringo himself with a YouTube update:
Here’s the link to that cover story in Rolling Stone magazine that he mentions. And here Ringo is interviewed about the recording of the album:
And finally an album review from the April edition of Rolling Stone which gives Postcards three stars:
It’s been more than 50 years since Ringo Starr declared himself a fan of Beethoven — “especially his poems.” But all that time, he’s reigned as one of rock & roll’s most beloved sages. Postcards From Paradise, his 18th solo effort, is a masterful summary of Ringo-ness: his cheer, his cheek, his wisdom. He gets a little help from old friends like Joe Walsh and Todd Rundgren — no Kanye or Rihanna on this track list — and builds the title tune out of Beat-les quips: “It’s like I said the night before/I’ll love you when I’m 64.” Best of all is “Rory and the Hurricanes,” celebrating his pre-Beatles band — the one that made Ringo a star in Liverpool when the other three Fabs were nobodies. ♦♦♦
And you can read an interview with Postcards From Paradise recording engineer Bruce Sugar at Beatles Examiner.
Four Recent Ebay Purchases
We got an email from PayPal the other day saying we’d earned a $10.00 credit that could be used on any Ebay purchase, and so we delved into the collection to uncover some items that were missing.
Turns out we’re drastically under-represented when it comes to early Ringo Starr Apple singles. For some reason or other these were a blind spot in the collection and so these three items have now been added:
These 7″ 45 rpm singles are all Australian Apple Records releases.
“Beaucoups of Blues” is taken from the 1970 album of the same name.
“It Don’t Come Easy” is a 1971 non-album single produced by George Harrison, and “Back Off Boogalooo” (also produced by Harrison) came out in March, 1972.
The same seller also had a Wings single we didn’t have and hadn’t previously been aware of:
“Arrow Through Me” is b/w “Old Siam, Sir”, and both songs come from the 1979 album Back to the Egg.
Ringo’s “Postcards From Paradise” Lyric Video
Lots of Beatle song references here…..
Of course it’s not the first time Ringo has featured the Beatles and postcards.
Ringo Starr’s new album Postcards From Paradise will be released March 31. Sounding good!
The Beatles in the News
Stumbled across a blog site that takes an interesting approach to Beatle history.
The Beatles in the News is just that – a site where multiple, random articles from across the decades and from all over the world are aggregated and re-published daily.
There are newspaper and magazine articles, concert reviews, TV news, and advertisements. It’s not only about the Beatles as a group but also as solo artists. Around 500 items from the past are uploaded every month.
One of the posts from January 23 this year caught our attention. It features – in full – a special colour supplement produced by the iconic Australian Women’s Weekly magazine in March, 1964 at the very height of Beatlemania:
Of course, being a “women’s magazine” from the day meant you had to have a section dedicated to what to cook for that special Beatles party:
Just love those mop-top muffins with the chocolate hairdo’s! And also how to dress in Beatle fashion:
Fantastic stuff.
With this site you never know from day-to-day just what gems might pop up.
For anyone interested in the Beatles The Beatles in the News is well worth visiting regularly. You never know what you might find.
Happy Christmas To Beatle People Everywhere
This mashup is a massive Christmas Beatle medley put together by Tom Teeley. It features bits from their annual Christmas fanclub messages, combined with backing tracks and out-takes to create a unique Beatle listening experience:
Thanks to Robert and Richard for reminding us about this one. Make sure you check out their terrific Something About the Beatles Holiday Show.
See also A Guide to the Beatles Christmas Recordings.
And here’s wishing a very happy Christmas to Beatle people everywhere!
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