Ringo Starr has admitted he really wants to win a Grammy for Beatles track Now And Then - and confirmed George Harrison was not keen on the track being released originally because it wasn't up to their usual standards.
The song is based on a 1970s demo recording by John Lennon, and was completed in 2022 by Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr, and has been nominated in the Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance Grammy categories.
The band also attempted to record Now And Then during their Anthology project in the Nineties but the session was quickly abandoned - with guitarist George Harrison saying the quality of Lennon's recording was "rubbish".
Ringo, 84, told Music Week: “I’d love to win a Grammy. That’s the business I’m in – and the track is good. The last track ever by the boys. We tried it in the ’90s when we got Free As A Bird [and Real Love as part of The Beatles Anthology collection] out, but we didn’t take much interest because it didn’t sound like John, and George got a bit fed up. He didn’t want to do a third one and so we just put it to bed, but now they’ve got better equipment. They lifted John’s voice off a cassette, for God’s sake – off a cassette! And it was like John was suddenly in town.”
Remembering how it came about, he added: “He(Paul) said, ‘You know that track we did? Well, I’ll put it together. Are you going to play drums on it?’ I said, ‘Sure, send the files over.’ That’s how we do it now – and I put the drums on and sang on the chorus.
"He did a great job. He put the strings on and the lead guitar that gave the track its emotion, I feel. So anyway, it worked out really great and let’s hope for a Grammy. We’ll see; a lot of people are up for Grammys.”
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PA Wire/PA Images)When it comes to the use of artificial intelligence in music, Ringo sees pros and cons. The technology helped improve the John Lennon vocals used from an old cassette for Now And Then.
But speaking to Music Week, Ringo said: “We’re all a bit afraid of it, because it can steal you.
"Anyone who knows how to use it can steal you. If they just play any five of my songs into the computer, AI gets all of it and knows my every vocal move. They can have me sing anything and it will sound like me, because it’s taken from my personality. But the good side is the way we used it on Now And Then. God knows where it’s going to go. We’re all worrying about it, but nobody’s really stolen anything yet.”
Ringo was interviewed as he began to promote upcoming album Look Up. It is Ringo's first country album in 55 years since Beaucoups of Blues in 1970.
The album came after a chance meeting with acclaimed country producer T Bone Burnett. at an event held by Olivia Harrison in Los Angeles in 2022 (the two had first met in the 1970s).
After chatting, Ringo asked T Bone to write a song for an EP he was recording. Taking the task to heart, Burnett returned with nine songs, all in a country vein, and Starr liked them so much it put him on a path to record Look Up, which is his first album in six years.
“I think there’s a resurgence in country music, which is good for me – I’ve got a country record coming out,” added Ringo, who credited Beyoncé’s foray into country on her album Cowboy Carter earlier this year helping create a buzz around the music genre.
“She brought it to the fore,” he said.
“Not only is country very popular right now, I feel the songs. I always say, ‘Country music [is]: the wife’s left, the dog’s dead and I don’t have enough money for the jukebox.’ That was me as a lad, putting it together. And it’s having an uplift right now and it’s great.”
* Ringo's new album Look Up will be released on January 10.
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