June 19, 2005
Postcards From The Beatles
Ringo Starr Tells Stories About Old Postcards From His Bandmates
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Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr performs with his All Starr Band (AP)
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Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon. (AP)
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Those times and places were captured in of all things, postcards. Ordinary postcards.
Ringo Starr always loved postcards, and asked his fellow Beatles to send him one whenever they got a chance.
They did, from wherever they were, even long after they were the Beatles. The cards were read, then put away and then, like some memories, forgotten.
Five or six years ago, Starr found a huge trunk that had more than a 100 postcards from John, Paul and George to Ringo.
Starr has turned the postcards, and his memories about them, into a book, "Postcards From the Boys," with his royalties going to charity.
"Some memories come flashing back," Starr tells Lagattuta, "but if you look at the book, there are some cards I have no idea what it means. I mean, you know it was 40 years or whatever, but at the time, it must have been really important."
Some were addressed to his real name, Richard Starkey, others just to Ringo. There were silly cards, drawings, and words of affection.
Paul McCartney wrote him one that said, "You are the greatest drummer in the world."
Starr explains, "I had left the Beatles. I just felt it wasn't working, just felt, sort of on the sidelines. And I thought those three were really close. So I went over to John's and I said, 'You know, I really feel you three are really close and I'm not part of it anymore.' He says, 'I thought it was you three.' So I went over to Paul's and I said, 'You know, I've got to get out of here because you three are really close and I feel on the sideline.' He said, 'I thought it was you three.' So I thought, 'Wow, it's too crazy, I'm getting out of town.' "
"Well, they wanted me to come back. And you know, John sent telegrams and Paul wrote this. And when I got back, George had the whole studio decorated in flowers. So it was really beautiful day."
The cards aren't so much the history of the Beatles as historical fragments. John from Japan meeting Yoko's parents. Paul from India and a visit to the Maharishi, triggering memories from Ringo of the first time they met the guru.
"He wasn't sure who the Beatles were," Starr recalls.
The Maharishi may have been the only one. So great was their fame, it's remarkable these postcards ever got delivered.
"Just a postcard sent through the mail, from John Lennon to Ringo, and it arrives. I don't know if it would arrive today, you know what I mean? Because everybody's collecting everything," reflects Starr.
The Beatles traveled the globe together. And they traveled apart. But the bond remained.
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