Ringo Starr interview ("I am about peace and love. I am about non-violence.")

Q: It sets the tone for what the album and Ringo Starr are all about, peace, love…

A: …and love, yeah. It's -- you know I am a product of the '60s. And if you've ever seen my live tours, you know, the All-Starr tours, I'm -- every song is peace and love. I've got the peace sign going there and I've still got it going because, you know, it's, it's what I'm about. I am about peace and love. I am about non-violence. And so I've just got to express that every chance I get. Actually, you know, what drives me crazy is that I've been put down for that. You know, who does he think he is? (Laughs). I'm just me, folks, saying (lowers voice), "Ringo Rama", peace and love.

A:. Well, you know, everybody has something to hide. (Laughs). I don't know. I have this incredible dream that one day, one minute, the whole world, at the same time, will decide it's time for peace and love. So I just do my part. And I think that's all you can do. I'm not telling anyone else what to do. I do this and that's the end of my story.

Q: That was Eye to Eye, the first song on Ringo Starr's new album, "Ringo Rama". Welcome back to the "Ringo Rama Radio Hour". Ringo, on the one hand, you say it don't come easy.

Q: On the other, you sing: Peace and love and harmony. Now, tell me how hard can it be? You were born during wartime. Violence has affected your loved ones. The world's in turmoil today. Do you manage to stay optimistic or do you go back and forth?

A: I go back and forth, like everybody else. The good thing is I'm optimistic more than not. You know, I was born -- I mean, my mother had the great line that they started the war 'cause I was born. They had to do something. (Laughs!) God rest her soul.

Contrast Ringo's comments with what Paul told Billboard magazine in an interview in December of 2001:

McCartney has no time for those who object to his use of the word "freedom" on the grounds that the lack of freedom of people in the Gaza Strip -- and America's complicity in it -- is partly responsible for the atrocity.

"The thing is," he reasons, "if you look at any sort of attack like that, you have to then say, what could America have said? 'Okay, guys, fair enough, but just don't do it again?' This was not just a little stone's throw. This was taking out the two most important buildings in New York and attacking the Pentagon. That's an act of war, whichever way you look at it. It's easy to just say, 'Oh, this shouldn't have had a response' but I think that's like not having a response to a Hitler attack. If we'd had no response to that, you and I probably wouldn't be here right now."

"Maybe American policy is not all we would wish it to be but that's not the point," he continues. "So then go to the U.N. or discuss it. There are peace talks. Get in the peace talks. But you just don't do a thing like this and expect no response. You're taking out innocent people."

He was also a great lyricist:

I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we've been
In his octopus's garden in the shade

I'd ask my friends to come and see
An octopus's garden with me
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would be warm below the storm
In our little hideaway beneath the waves
Resting our head on the sea bed
In an octopus's garden near a cave

We would sing and dance around
Because we know we can't be found
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade

We would shout and swim about
The coral that lies beneath the waves
(Lies beneath the ocean waves)
Oh what joy for every girl and boy
Knowing they're happy and they're safe
(Happy and they're safe)

We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden with you
In an octopus's garden with you
In an octopus's garden with you

Composer
Ringo Starr

Q: Perhaps the only English phenomenon as big as the Beatles is the Royal Family. What inspired "Ringo Rama's" psychedelic take on royalty Elizabeth Reigns?

A: The band. The Roundheads were living with me in England. I have a studio there, so we put down 11 tracks. We did five in L.A. and 11 in England. And we had a day off and they all drove into town, to London, to see the city. And they found that pub where the Hanging Tree was. And they came back and it was all exciting because it was the Jubilee year last year. And there was banners everywhere and there was a huge concert in the park -- in the palace, I mean. And Dean came back, Dean Grakal, one of the writers. And he said, "What is this ER?" Because there was a big banner saying, "ER." And I said, "Well, that actually says Elizabeth reigns." So he thought that was a great line for the title of the song. So then we went into the Royal Family with the American's take on it, because they love them, and my take, where I don't feel they're relevant anymore. So my part in it was 600 servants use her detergents… So I'm sort of like, we don't need a King, you know. God save the Queen, if you know what I mean, we don't really need a King. I think it should end with this queen. We started with the Queen Mother, who was well-loved. And I just think it's ended now. If you go to the palace to watch the changing of the guard, which all the tourists do. They don't know if the Queen's in or not or they don't even care. They're just going for the pageant. So I think we can have the pageant without them. I think they should have built a hospital in the name of the Queen Mum, but they didn't. They just decided not to pay taxes and keep the money. Anyway, (raises voice) that's my rant on them. Listen next week for the angry world of Ringo Starr. And so that's what we did. But we let them off the hook because we say, All of our sins are as big as the Windsors, so let's point the finger no more. 'Cause in the end, we don't want to point the finger, we want to just carry on our own lives. End. Play the track.

SONG: ELIZABETH REIGNS

Q: Ringo Starr with Elizabeth Reigns from his new CD "Ringo Rama". At the end of the song, which is a…balanced view of the Queen and company --

A: Yeah.

Q: -- you say, "Well, there goes me knighthood."

A: "There goes me knighthood." Yes. I think it has gone. Well and truly gone now.

Q: Does that bother you at all?

A: No. I don't -- I don't want to be a Sir. I want to be a Duke or a Prince. So if they come through with that, I'll seriously consider it.

The British could get rid of their monarchy if they wanted. So could other countries still ruled by Kings and Queens. Americans showed the world this long ago.

The Czech Republic has no monarchy but had someone from England create a uniform and pagentry for their changing of the guard ceremony at the Castle in Prague because the tourists like it. Personally I think that after you see a few castles, you've seen them all.

The media may like royalty (and try to create American royalty like actor dynasties or the Kennedys) but in America you don't have to have a connected family to be someone. Titles? Old World. Get in the Guild because it's the family profession? Old World.

In America, people routinely change their name and establish their own identity.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.