Wonderful Tonight

Eric Clapton : Wonderful Tonight

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On May 19, 1979 Eric Clapton married Patti Boyd, the inspiration for her ex husband George Harrison's "Something", "I Need You" and her new husband's "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight". Eric and George remained the best of friends despite what happened. At the reception, three of the Beatles reunited on stage for what were reportedly drunken and very loose versions of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Get Back" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". Only John Lennon was absent. 

Enjoy the wedding album below:

There's Paul and Linda McCartney ( dragging on a cigarette unfortunately) at :42 in. Apple Publishing manager and longtime Beatles associate Terry Doran, George Harrison and his wife Olivia appear at :44.  And there's Paul, George and Ringo together with the King of Skiffle, Lonnie Donegan at :51.

40 Year Itch : The Dream is Over

    On December 19, 1974 George Harrison and Paul McCartney met in a Plaza Hotel suite in New York City to sign documents formally ending The Beatles. Ringo had already signed the papers in England. Watch below as Harrison chants "krishna krishna krishna" as he gives his signature. 

             


 So, let's see. Who's missing? John of course. Lennon told May Pang "the stars were not right" to attend the meeting. That pissed George off so much he cancelled Lennon's appearance on stage that night. Julian went to the concert though, and even got to go backstage where George sent him home with a message : "All's forgiven, George loves you and he wants you to come to his party tonight."

  After the concert John, Paul and George met at the Hippopotamus Club and "hugged it out".

On December 29, Lennon finally filled out his paperwork, seated inside the Polynesian Village Hotel at Disney World where he had taken Julian.

40 Year Itch : Pigs Will Fly And The Earth Will Fry

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On November 11, 1974, four days before the UK release of his new album Goodnight Vienna, Ringo Starr releases the Top 10 single "Only You", a Platters cover with John Lennon playing guitar ( and providing guide vocals) and Harry Nilsson singing those smooth multi-tracked harmony lines.

   

   The album pretty much follows the formula that made Ringo such a huge success. Richard Perry is again producing. The album opens with a John Lennon tune, the title track which means "We're getting out of here!" No other Beatles contribute this time around though. The other hits were Hoyt Axton's "No No Song" and its B-side "Snookeroo", written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and featuring Elton John on piano.

 

  The album cover's reference to The Day the Earth Stood Still and the presence of the robot Klaatu would inspire a Beatlesque Canadian band to call itself Klaatu in 1976, fueling rumors they were actually the Beatles. A million albums would sell before the truth was known.

40 Year Itch : Feeling Like a Bohunk

Ringo ( on far right in shadows) and John in 1974

     On June 17, 1974 Ringo Starr called John Lennon to ask his Beatle buddy for a new song for the follow-up to the platinum best-seller Ringo. The result is the title track "Goodnight Vienna", English slang for "It's All Over". 

    At the time Lennon was wrapping up production on Harry Nilsson's Pussy Cats. Lennon recorded a demo and vocal guide of the tune with Ringo on drums and tambourine. Jesse Ed Davis plays guitar on the demo which can be found on the John Lennon Anthology. Ringo's version,  "It's All Down to Goodnight Vienna", begins with Lennon's countdown and features Billy Preston on clavinet. It  reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975. Lennon was the only Beatle to contribute to the Goodnight Vienna album.

40 Year Itch : All I Wanna Do Is Boogaloo!

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With more than a little help from his friends, Ringo Starr released the best of his solo albums, simply titled Ringo,  on November 2, 1973. Anticipation for the album was maxed out not only because the first single, "Photograph" (written with George Harrison) was climbing the chart on its way to #1 ( It was #11 with a bullet that week) but because this was the first album to feature contributions from all four Beatles ( and Billy Preston). 

Melody Maker broke the news in this way in March of '73:

"Rumours flashed through Los Angeles this week that three of the Beatles have teamed up for recording purposes. John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are all in Los Angeles with Klaus Voormann, the bassist rumoured to replace Paul McCartney after his departure from the group."

It's true that Lennon wrote the lead track, "I'm The Greatest" ( after watching A Hard Day's Night on TV), and plays keyboards along with Preston while Harrison chimes in on guitar. And yes,  Beatle friend Voorman plays bass.  But that was the extent of Lennon's involvement with the album.

    Never to be outdone, McCartney contributed the song "Six O'Clock". He also plays piano and sings backing vocals with Linda. McCartney also sings on "You're Sixteen" harmonizing with Harry Nilsson. No other single member of The Beatles could ever have brought the band this close together. They can all be found at the center of Sgt Pepper-reminiscent album cover.

Klaus Voorman etching from "Ringo"

There were other friends as well : Marc Bolan ( T.Rex) plays guitar on the Randy Newman written "Have You Seen My Baby (Hold On)". Most of The Band is playing on the Harrison-penned "Sunshine Life For Me ( Sail Away Raymond)". There's Martha Reeves and Merry Clayton singing on"Oh My My"

Somehow this huge cast contributes to an album that has a light, sunny, goofy feel: the way we most fondly think of Ringo himself. It is not one of the most important albums to be released in 1973 but it is certainly one of the most enjoyable. 

   The latest version on CD is amended with three additional tracks including the 1971 Top 5 hit "It Don't Come Easy" and Ringo's "open letter to The Beatles" "Early 1970.

40 Year Itch: Every Time I See Your Face

On September 24, 1973 Ringo Starr released the future #1 single "Photograph" which he wrote with George Harrison, setting high expectations for the Ringo album that would follow six weeks later. After all, the word was out that all the Beatles played on the album...if not at the same time. The single debuted on the charts at #74 and needed just seven weeks to go Number One. 

The bittersweet lyrics ( Every time I see your face /It reminds me of the places we used to go /But all I've got is a photograph /And I realize you're not coming back anymore) had deeper meaning for Ringo and fans when he performed "Photograph" at the Concert for George in 2002.

"What a night. I loved George and George loved me," he told the crowd. 

40 Year Itch: Ringo Buys John's House

On September 18, 1973 Ringo Starr bought the 16 room Georgian mansion, Tittenhurst Park, from his former Beatle band mate John Lennon and Yoko Ono. 

This has been John and Yoko's home for more than four years. It was also the location of the last Beatles photo session together on August 22, 1969. These shots were used for the Hey Jude album cover

Both John and Yoko had recorded albums at Tittenhurst ( Imagine and Fly respectively) 

But by 1973 John and Yoko were planning to stay in the US. Ringo bought the estate and eventually moved there with his new bride Barbara Bach.

Ringo added a 70 foot tall T-Rex to the grounds. Keith Moon gave Ringo a giant plastic rhino.

Ringo shot a scene for his T Rex documentary "Born To Boogie" on the estate.

Ringo also built a Startling Studios there. 

Among the artists who recorded on the estate: Def Lepperd, Brand X, Judas Priest and Split Enz.

 Ringo would live at Tittenhurst on and off for the next 15 years before selling the estate to HRH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhab in 1988. The sheikh remodeled the entire property and gutted the studio.

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40 Year Itch: That'll Be The Day

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Months before American audiences would be seduced by the 1950's nostalgia of American Graffiti, UK audiences got their 1950's fix with That'll Be The Day which made its premiere on April 12, 1973.
The movie, starring David Essex,  was shot on location at Warners Holiday Camp and tells the story of a rock obsessed teen growing up in 1950's Britain.

Two of rock's greatest drummers have roles in the movie: Ringo Starr ( in his best performance on film) and Keith Moon. For Ringo, it was a chance to revisit the camps where he and Rory Storm played. Keith would appear in the sequel Stardust. The soundtrack went #1 in the UK.





THE ENTIRE FILM:

The Busiest Beatle : 40 Years Ago This Week

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This week, 40 years ago,  Ringo released  "Back Off Boogaloo". The George Harrison produced single would be a Top Ten Hit in both the US and UK. Ringo says he wrote the song after having dinner with Marc Bolan of T. Rex. Apparently Bolan used the word "boogaloo" over and over again. The promotional video featured Ringo befriending Frankenstein.



On March 18th, Ringo was at London's Wembley Empire Pool filming the T.Rex concert for his documentary Born To Boogie. The playful film intercuts sketches and poetry from Marc Bolan with concert footage and jam sessions including a version of "Children Of The Revolution" with Elton John on piano and Ringo on drums. You can see Ringo and Marc's friendship at work in this series of outtakes.




Here's a recent clip of  Ringo talking about his friendship with Marc and how they made the movie.



Here's a few clips from the movie. Some people compared it to Magical Mystery Tour. The mouse was Ringo. Born To Boogie hit theatres in December of '72. You can see the entire film on YouTube. In 1972, T.Rex was selling 100,000 records a day if you can believe Wikipedia.

Six Degrees of Separation: James Booker to Rod Stewart

1. Legendary New Orleans pianist James Booker performs at a live show in West Germany sometime in 1976, around the time his Joe Boyd-produced debut album Junco Partner is released.

2. Three years earlier, Booker plays piano on the Randy Newman penned "Have You Seen My Baby" aka "Hold On" on Ringo Starr's 1973 album, Ringo The guitar player is Marc Bolan of T. Rex.

3. One year earlier, T. Rex scores its fourth and final #1 UK hit with "Metal Guru". Backing vocals are provided by Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan ( Flo & Eddie), formerly of The Turtles.

4.In 1969 The Turtles record "Love in the City" as a single for their album Turtle Soup , produced by Ray Davies of The Kinks.

5. In 1971 The Kinks contribute "All God's Children" to the soundtrack for Percy.Among the stars of the film: Britt Eckland.

6. We're back in 1976. Britt Eckland provides sensual whispers and appears in the video of  US #1  hit "Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright)" with then-flame Rod Stewart.

6 Songs with Alan White #4 "My Sweet Lord" 1970

Though it's only been 40 years, there's a lot of confusion about who played what instrument on what track of George Harrison's epic triple album ALL THINGS MUST PASS. The album lists 5 drummers/percussionists for instance... and it's quite the all-star cast: Ringo Starr, Ginger Baker, Phil Collins, Jim Gordon and Alan White. Alan says he played on the title track, the hit "My Sweet Lord, "Isn't It a Pity" and "Wah Wah" (among others) but he understands the confusion,

ALAN: About twenty people turned up every day, and we decided who was going to play what, and which song and what you do and if you weren't needed, you weren't needed.

George would play the songs and we'd all get into it. And then we'd all organize it a bit more and a bit more until we finally had a take.

From a drummer's point of view Harrison's #1 hit ( and the first #1 hit by any ex-Beatle), "My Sweet Lord", doesn't offer much to talk about. It's a pretty basic beat but you don't hear the drums until 1:45 into the song.

ALAN: The drums actually come in earlier than that and on the record they faded them in very slowly. It actually worked but it was all (producer)Phil Spector's idea at that time.

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