“Do You Want To See Me Cry?”: Ringo Starr Reflects on Life After Beatles Breakup

The Beatles’ breakup during the transition from 1969 to 1970 was a massive cultural shift for the entire world, but even that pales in comparison to the personal effects it had on each of the Fab Four’s lives. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr’s tenure as a commercial band might have been relatively short, but that seven-year stint was like an artistic lifetime.

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For most of the members of the band, their next moves post-Beatles were a little more obvious. McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison were all individually talented songwriters, which made their career transition to solo artists or members of other bands a bit easier. But Starr was the drummer. His path forward wasn’t so clear-cut.

Ringo Starr Reflects On What It Was Like After Beatles Breakup

Depending on which conflict or walk-out you consider to be the final straw in the Beatles breakup, the band’s dissolution started between 1969 and 1970. Logistical issues like collecting contract signatures made the process even muddier. Regardless of the official date, the Fab Four were no more by 1971. Paul McCartney was writing his own music. John Lennon was busy with The Plastic Ono Band with his wife, Yoko Ono. George Harrison was embarking on a highly successful solo career.

Ringo Starr was sitting in his garden. Speaking in a television interview, Starr said the breakup was “horrendous” before jokingly asking the show host, “You want to see me cry?” He continued more seriously, “As I remember it, you see, because I wasn’t a songwriter or, you know, I was the drummer. I’d written a couple of songs, but it wasn’t like my forté was writing songs. “Octopus’s Garden.” I sat in the garden for a year. We’d all decided it was the end. But when it actually came to the break, I went and just sat around for a year saying, [whistles while bobbing his head around]. What’ll I do now?”

“I said, ‘Well, you got to get out of the garden, first,’” Starr continued. Technically, Starr had already made his path out of the garden with the release of his solo debut, Sentimental Journey, and the follow-up, Beaucoups of Blues. Neither took off commercially the same way his bandmates’ solo music did. Starr began pursuing an acting career and sat in on studio sessions with Lennon and Ono. Eventually, his solo career began picking up steam, and Starr finished his exit out of the metaphorical garden.

In The End, The Drummer Said It Was A Natural Conclusion

For Beatles fans around the world, hearing the news of their band’s breakup was a devastating blow. The Fab Four had already receded from the public eye with their decision to stop touring, but this was a complete and total departure that was difficult to reconcile. In hindsight, however, Ringo Starr said it was a natural conclusion to what was starting to brew between the bandmates. He confirmed the rumors that the band didn’t get along in an interview with Dan Rather. But he added that he didn’t think that was surprising.

“We didn’t get along,” Starr confirmed. “We were four guys; we had rows. It never got in the way of the music, no matter how bad the row was. Once the count-in [starts], we gave our best. That was a little later, too, which I think is a natural thing. Suddenly, we’ve got lives, and I’ve got children, and the effort that we put in—because we worked really hard—was starting to pale a little bit.”

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