Sir Ringo Starr has revealed the unusual rule The Beatles came up with to make long van trips easier in their early days, saying the answer was simple when one of the band members broke wind: admit it and get on with it.
The drummer shared the story at his annual Peace and Love event late last week, held on his 86th birthday. Looking back on the group’s early years, he said spending hours packed into a van inevitably led to the occasional embarrassing moment, and after too many protests of innocence, the Fab Four settled on a straightforward approach.
“If you’re in the van and you fart – own up to it,” he said in offering a tip to young musicians.
Recalling those journeys, Starr said, “We just occasionally with four guys in a three-hour car journey, one of us would make a noise. And at the beginning, it was like ‘well, it wasn’t me’.”
He explained that the band eventually decided honesty was the quickest way through it. “We realised, well, just to get it out of the way, say I did it. And it worked a treat and it took the pressure off.”
He added: “It wasn’t a thing. We didn’t like go oh, ‘I’m going next’.”
Starr also spoke about his life on the road now, as he continues performing with his All Star Band. He admitted he had planned to stop touring in 2021, but five years later he still has no desire to give up playing live.
“I have been calling it the last tour since 2021 – and my kids are fed up with me now,” he said.
“I say ‘That’s it – I am not going out anymore’; and .they are like ‘oh dad you said that last year’.”
Despite those repeated declarations, he said he keeps returning to the stage. “And I go out again. I am out this year. It is what I do. It is how it is. I have got a great band and it just works. We used to rehearse for two days, now we rehearse for two hours and we are ready to rock.”
Ringo also acknowledged that he has no real explanation for why he remains so popular with younger generations.
“I don’t know (why I appeal to them), but I have got 10 grandkids. I don’t know what it is. It is one of those things,” he said.
