The Beatles always tried to give the world the impression they were a tight four-man unit that got along famously well. And they often were. But disagreements and infighting inevitably rose up time and again, including one infamous occasion when Ringo Starr briefly left the band and Paul McCartney served as his replacement on two White Album songs.
Starr returned quickly, but not before getting a song out of the incident. Here’s the story of The Beatles’ brief stint as a trio.
Regarding Ringo
Ringo Starr was always viewed as the most amiable Beatle, the one who rolled with the punches better than anyone and served as the glue when the others started to splinter. But even Starr had his limits, and he reached one on an August day in 1968 during the making of the White Album.
This was the album where tensions within the group started to boil over like never before. The presence of Yoko Ono in the studio as John Lennon’s constant companion rankled the other three Beatles. Their attempts to start up their own company (Apple) added to the stress. As for Starr, he had been less than enthusiastic about the band’s trip to India earlier in 1968 to study meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; he left the retreat weeks before the other three.
Starr has stated the reason for his sudden decision to leave the group on that August day stemmed from feeling a bit like the odd man out in the group. (When he confronted the other members about it individually, they allegedly all felt the same way.) A row with McCartney over a drum part has also been reported as the cause of his departure. Whatever the case, he quit the sessions and went on a holiday with his family.
The Threetles … the Early Years
It’s not clear how seriously the other three members of the group took Starr’s leaving. What we do know is they carried on with their business, which included the recording of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and “Dear Prudence,” which, as it turned out, would be the first two songs on the White Album. And they did so with Paul McCartney taking over on drums.
McCartney acquitted himself well enough on the two songs, albeit in a more maximalist style than Starr might have used. This was especially true on “Dear Prudence,” where he goes off in the song’s final verse with all manner of wild fills. Even though they had soldiered on and produced two wonderful tracks, it’s likely the three men were hoping Starr would relent and return as soon as possible.
To that end, they sent him a telegram begging him to rejoin the band, assuring him how essential he was to their chemistry. Starr was sufficiently moved, and he returned two weeks after he departed. When he entered the studio, he found flowers, ordered by George Harrison, bedecking his drum kit. \
What Ringo Did on His Summer Vacation
So where was Ringo while his bandmates were enduring a few hot August nights in the studio? He took the occasion to hang out on the yacht of Peter Sellers, the actor/comedian who was also a close friend of the group’s. But it turns out it wasn’t all lazing in the Sardinian sunshine for Starr. He was inspired to do a little work.
Speaking to the boat’s captain one day, Starr learned that octopi tend to move rocks and stones around on the ocean floor to create a kind of aquatic garden. Still somewhat depressed about what had transpired, Starr thought the idea of hanging out at the bottom of the ocean where no one could find him was quite fetching. Grabbing an acoustic guitar and playing the few chords that he knew, he started writing “Octopus’s Garden.” The song would eventually appear on Abbey Road in 1969, and is generally regarded as the best of his Beatles compositions.
That wouldn’t be the only occasion where a Beatle bolted. George Harrison’s own frustrations with Paul McCartney led to his brief departure from the band during the making of Let It Be in early 1969. Maybe The Beatles weren’t always the happiest of working units. But they sure were a successful one.
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