the fool on the hill

The lyrics of "Hey Ringo" written somewhere in the 70s or 80s by George Harrison.

This song was found by Olivia. This was hidden in a piano stool, when she showed it to Ringo, he said he had no idea it existed. I would probably record it later. Although that as we know never happened.

"Olivia, 69, found typed lyrics to Hey, Ringo forgotten in a piano bench.George is thought to have written it as a plea for the band to stay together around the time of their 1970 split. She told of Ringo’s shock — and said she hopes the star, 76, and fellow surviving Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, 74, put it to music."

She said: “He’d never seen this song before. He was so surprised. There was a folder in George’s piano bench. Inside I found a typed lyric for Hey, Ringo. It dates from around 1970. He would put down a notebook and forget where he left it. A piano bench was the obvious place to stash the night’s debris. I need to dig a little. It would be great if George put it down on tape.”

He is so cute. It's like a dialogue between them ...

And here's the "Lyrics":

"Hey Ringo, now I want you to know, that without you my guitar plays far too slow.

And Ringo let me say this to you, Ive heard no drummer who can play it quite like you.

Wait a minute Mr G, stop flattering me. My drums sound bare when your guitar's not there.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, let me hear you playing.

Hey Ringo, there's one thing I've not said, I'll play my guitar with you till I drop dead.

— Yoko Ono, Revolution Tape, June 4th 1968. [x]

“. . . I mean, I think really what it was, really all that happened was that John fell in love. With Yoko. And so, with such a powerful alliance like that, it was difficult for him to still be seeing me. It was as if I was another girlfriend, almost. Our relationship was a strong relationship. And if he was to start a new relationship, he had to put this other one away. And I understood that. I mean, I couldn’t stand in the way of someone who’d fallen in love. You can’t say, “Who’s this?” You can’t really do that. If I was a girl, maybe I could go out and… But you know I mean in this case I just sort of said, right – I mean, I didn’t say anything, but I could see that was the way it was going to go, and that Yoko would be very sort of powerful for him. So um, we all had to get out the way.”

— Paul McCartney, interview with German tv program Exclusiv, April 1985. [x]

“It’s just handy to fuck your best friend… and once I resolved the fact that it was a woman as well, it’s all right. I liked her cause she was like a bloke in drag… like a mate.”

— John Lennon talking about Yoko Ono - Powers of Two by Joshua Wolf Shenk. [x]

“I still think at the back of John’s mind was this fascination of wanting to get back with the first girlfriend, if you like, and that was to get back with Paul, who he had so much history with.”

— Tony Barrow, The Beatles’ press officer, on the Lennon/McCartney reunion that was never to be. [x]

“My “simplest, most logical” reason that Yoko treated Paul as her main rival for John’s affections was… he was the main rival for John’s affections… How many books have been written about Lennon and McCartney, and on that period specifically, and not one of them has seriously suggested that John might be a bisexual man in love with his songwriting partner and closest adult companion? Now, we have writers timidly peeking out and saying, “Gee, it’s almost as if John was in love with Paul.” Has the evidence changed? Not much. Have we as a society become more educated and tolerant? Yes.”

From Brian May’s Twitter (the bottom image was photographed at the annual Water Rats Ball, Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London, 29 November 1992).

“I hold George in such reverence and I think he’s so underrated by the guitar community; everyone raves about people who play fast, but if you look at the catalogue of stuff he’s produced, it’s colossal.” - Brian May, imdb dot com

This happened exactly 50 years ago: in late March- early April 1974, Yoko Ono lost total control over John Lennon, putting him in care Mei Pang.

Yes, John would later call this period of drug and alcohol delirium “A lost weekend”, but considering that the last one took place at that time - in fact, the only one after the Beatles! - jam session with participation Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon, and their last photos together were taken, then this is just a godsend for history and Beatlemans!

29.03.1974. Mae Pang, John Lennon, Paul and Linda McCartney, Harry Nilsson. Photo: MEL Evans (MALCOLM FREDERICK EVANS ARCHIVES)

On Thursday, March 28, 1974, Paul and Linda McCartney drops by Burbank Studios in California to see how the album is being recorded Harry Nilsson's Pussycats, produced by John, and Paul joins a jam session with John and other musicians on the track ‘Midnight Special‘, which is their first joint performance in the musical environment after the split of the Beatles, which happened about four years before. At the end of the day, John invites Paula at her music session at the beach house in Santa Monica.

01.04.1974. John and Paul by the pool. Photo: Dougal Butler. Perhaps the MOST RECENT photo of them together!

“Don't be too serious, we don't get paid. We don't do anything, we just sit here together, and if someone gets bored with me, take the lead!”

- John Lennon

Ringo and Paul

These days, the last known photos of John and Paul together were taken. The photographers were John's mistress, Mae Pang, as well as the former roadie Beatles and at that time Lennon's bodyguard, Mel Evans. Several polaroids belong to Linda McCartney, as well as a friend and assistant Keith Moon to Dougal Butler. Dougal takes pictures on April 1, 1974, in which Paul performs a medley of Beatles songs on the piano, as well as those where John and Paul are together by the pool. (This polaroid photo will be the last ever joint photo of John and Paul...)

With no plans to record at Burbank Studios, John spends Sunday, March 31 relaxing by the pool, and later that evening holds the second of his Sunday music jam sessions at his beach house. Paul was among those present.

John. Linda's polaroid

“Just turn up the fucking microphone... McCartney plays harmony on drums,

” says John Lennon

during the evening-long session, which is recorded for posterity on equipment borrowed from Burbank Studios 

Along with two former Beatles (John on guitar, Paul on drums behind the drum kit of Ringo, who was absent at the time - and both often on vocals), there are Linda (Hammond organ), Stevie Wonder (electric piano), Jesse Ed Davis and others. Cecilia is recording, and among them are melodies that they completely do not understand, you never believed, like: "Never trust a Bastard with Your Mother", "Little Beauty", "I Left Home And Wandered around", "Lucille", "Nightmares", "Be on your Guard I", "Cupid", "Chain Gang" and "Take This Hammer".

At the end of the session, in the early morning of April 1, Paul, Linda and their family go to the nearest hotel. And to the beach house Jonah is coming to Ringo... and he finds out that Paul had been here shortly before and played his drum kit.

Closer to lunch, they return to the beach house Paul and Linda, however John hadn't gotten up yet. Paul immediately heads to the piano and, along with Moon and Nilsson, performs a medley of Beatles songs, which all three musicians are happy to join. After that, Nilsson suggests Semi is a bit of a dangerous drug known as ‘angel dust‘, from which Paul refuses. John wakes up around 3 p.m. and joins other musicians and friends who are relaxing by the pool.

During his 1975 interview on BBC2 Old Grey Whistle Test John briefly recalled that session:

“I really played with Paul. We did a lot of things in Los Angeles. But there were fifty other people playing, and they were all just watching me and Paul!”

By the way, in April 1974, after many refusals following his drug conviction in England in 1973, Paul finally received an American visa. And on April 13, 1974, the album Band On The Run ascended to the top of the American album charts. It would go on to sell over 6,000,000 copies worldwide and spend over two years on the US and UK charts. Meanwhile, it is reported that on the same day, Paul's ex-girlfriend, an actress Jane Asher, gave birth to a baby girl in England.

George and Ringo

George and Pattie on their honeymoon.