Peace and Love

As most of you know, I'm a pretty big Beatles fan.  To some of you that probably makes me a sad old fart, and perhaps my devotion to them denotes me as some sort of crazy fan girl.  I guess the saddest thing is that I give too much of a shit what people think of me, and therefore, I often worry about admitting my undying love for a band founded more than 50 years ago (In fact, their beginnings were before my own mother was even born!)

But what I what to have a quick little rant about today is a certain person named Richard Starkey.  Or Ringo Starr to give him his stage name.  And why do I want to talk about Ringo?  Well, mostly I want to tell you of my immense dislike for him.

Y'see, Ringo isn't a proper Beatle.  That is to say, he doesn't go back as far as the others.  Did you know that?  Their original drummer was a fella named Pete Best.  Now, let's be clear on this, Pete wasn't a very good drummer, and so I have to relent on that point, Ringo is an okay drummer (although, he will never be remember as one of the greats).  The problem with Pete Best was that no one really liked him.  The girls liked him, but mostly, he was crap a drummer and dull as dishwater and so they dispensed with him shortly after their first recording session and was replaced by Starr just a few months before the release of their first single, Love Me Do.  But still, I will continue to confirm that Ringo isn't a proper Beatle....

So other than his heritage, why else do I feel less than warmly towards 1/4 of my favourite band?  Well, mostly it's this:

Peace and Love my foot Ringo mate.  Too busy?  Too busy doing what exactly?  Sorry, are you still recording and releasing albums?  Oh, you are?  Okay, what was your latest chart position?  What?  181 in the UK?  You sold just 752 copies of said album?  Oh, oh right, no, I agree, you really are too busy to sign autographs!

Seriously dude, you're a quarter of one of the most ground breaking, earth shattering, musically talented bands that has ever graced this planet, and you can't even spend a little time each week corresponding with fans?!  Fans who continue to buy the Beatles music and merchandise and continue to line your pockets.

This video has just really wound me up since I first saw it.  Because it was just so gratingly condescending and contradictory in it's message.  Peace and love, peace and love, but don't you dare fucking send me anything!  And so, aside from not being a proper Beatle, it's this that makes me dislike Mr Starr.

Also, never trust someone who wears tinted glasses day and night.....

What I will also say, and this leads me onto a slightly random point that I'd like to explore in detail another time - is that I don't like his songs.  Not his solo stuff, for as we've already seen, only 752 people in the UK liked his last solo album, but the songs he sung lead vocals on with the Beatles.  Again, little known fact, the only songs he wrote, on his own, were "Octopus's Garden" and "Don't Pass Me By".  I'm going to say it straight, I hate, with a passion, "Octopus's Garden".  What a load of bloody nonsense that is, and it's just a rubbish song.  As for the ones where he tunelessly warbles, I'm thinking "With a Little Help From my Friends" and "Yellow Submarine" in particular.  Urgh!  The one that I have to admit defeat on is "I Wanna Be Your Man," which was a relatively recent discovery for me, and I utterly love it.  So maybe I'm being self-defeatist on this point, but I still maybe my anti-Ringo stance.

This led to me thinking about the songs I do like, and invariably they tend to be those written by George Harrison.  Ah, George.  But, I'll save the George love for another time.

What, if any, are your favourite Beatles tracks?  I bet you've never given much thought to who they were penned or sung by (just me, being a saddo!)