Ringo Starr expected The Beatles would continue after “Abbey Road,” and so did The Beatles
By mbrooks on October 13, 2019
The future for The Beatles after “Abbey Road” was not what Ringo Starr thought it would be.
In an interview with BBC 6 Music, Starr described his feelings about the state of the band back in 1969.
“We did do Abbey Road and we was like, ‘Okay that’s pretty good,’” he told the music channel of the BBC.
The band saw that the album was good, and Starr saw more albums coming.
“But none of us said, ‘Okay, that’s the last time we’ll ever play together.’ Nobody said that. I never felt that.”
There was more than just a belief among The Beatles that there would be a follow-up to “Abbey Road.” The members of the band openly discussed it among themselves.
Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn recently unearthed a tape at Apple headquarters on London’s Savile Row. The date of the tape was Sept. 8, 1969.
The tape reveals that John Lennon did not want to break up the band. He had plans for the band.
Lennon intended that the next album would more equally showcase each member’s musical contributions. George Harrison would have the chance to contribute more than ever before.
Harrison would have had four songs. McCartney and Lennon would each have four songs. Starr would have two songs, depending, in the words of Lennon, ‘If he wants them.”
Lewisohn told The Guardian that the uncovered tape was a “revelation.”
“The books have always told us that they knew Abbey Road was their last album, and they wanted to go out on an artistic high. But no – they’re discussing the next album. And you think that John is the one who wanted to break them up but, when you hear this, he isn’t. Doesn’t that rewrite pretty much everything we thought we knew?”
The Beatles minus Starr was gathered together two weeks before “Abbey Road” hit the shelves. Starr was in the hospital for an intestinal issue.
Lennon put a tape recorder on a table and hit Record.
“Ringo – you can’t be here, but this is so you can hear what we’re discussing,” Lennon says.
Lennon mentions the plan to give fair footing to each member.
Paul McCartney responds in a relaxed tone, “I thought until this album that George’s songs weren’t that good.”
This confession may surprise some fans considering that Harrison is the author of “Here Comes the Sun,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and “Taxman.”
