Tune In (The Beatles: All These Years, #1)

by Mark Lewisohn

The awful fact that both his mates had lost their mothers terrified George: the penny dropped that his might die any moment too. “He’d watch me carefully all the time. I told him not to be so silly, I wasn’t going to die.”20

Paul lost his mother at 14 in 1956 with literally no warning, John lost his at 17 in 1958, the same way. Not that they spoke of it,

know he was shattered, but at that age you’re not allowed to be devastated, and particularly as young boys,

They weren’t familiar enough to call him Richy, but John, Paul and George formed a bond with Ringo at the Kaiserkeller.

every time Ringo came near the Beatles it was happiness.

I know the three of them discussed changing their drummer while they were in Hamburg, because I heard them. It wasn’t said too explicitly because you don’t just go and steal someone else’s drummer, but they always liked Ringo.

“We met Ringo in Hamburg and we liked his style, but we’d only just got the other drummer so we couldn’t do anything about it.”35

“The Beatles were terrible when they ganged up on you—all of them, Pete Best as well. Their tongues could be savage.”43

More so than John and Paul, it was George who brought Ringo into the Beatles,

“They’d had a succession of drummers through the years and finally now they found one who integrated, someone who fitted. Until this point it was always ‘John, Paul, George and a drummer’—now it was John, Paul, George and Ringo.”64

Just like everyone says, they’re themselves, charismatic and dynamic performers, no faking.

Brian Epstein saw when he dropped into a lunchtime session nine months earlier, and here’s why he was hooked. John sings straight, strong and true, his right hand chopping out the rhythm, the audience but a nearsighted blur. Paul sings with the same total commitment but is more self-aware, mostly looking up at the ceiling, making only occasional eye contact with the audience. George, off to the side, is solidly good on guitar and can’t suppress one wry, shy smile. Ringo is doing his job mostly in shadow, but close-ups catch him laughing and enjoying himself. Looks pass between them, they’re confident with who they are, where they are and what they are, and they’re ready to fly.

He was a risk-taker, hungry for new experiences, forthright, never afraid to stand up for himself; he was funny and courageous and had a Big Time ego, as shown by his first-night row with Neil.

The Beatles’ chemistry with Pete had never been right because they needed boldness, brashness, openness, someone with strengths and vulnerabilities similar to theirs, a tough-minded individual and a team player with personality. It was a heavy load for slender shoulders and Ringo felt his way gradually. “Emotionally,” he’d say, “I had to earn my way in.”22

one essential key to understanding the Beatles’ psychological constitution,

He called it “the Chain.”

John brought in Paul, and Paul brought in George, and George brought in Ringo. John, Paul, George and Ringo doesn’t just trip nicely off the tongue, it was (is) a natural order, and connections ...

It took only a little time for Ringo to revere, respect and love John the same way Paul and George did.

John was the glue, the one each had his best relationship with.

Paul was full of admiration for the kind of man Ringo was and what he’d achieved, and the fact he was 22 (the Beatles had sequential ages when Ringo joined, with John 21, Paul 20 and George 19). Age was an important yardstick for Paul and first impressions were always the ones that stuck: he looked up to John because he was older, and he looked and talked down to George because he was younger. Ringo was even older than John, by three months, and Paul would always see him in this light: “He’s a grown-up, Ringo—always is, always has been. I suspect when he was about three he was a grown-up.”

Three was turning into four, at last. They were on their way to becoming the closest of brothers—and Ringo, the sick only-child who’d stared through the window, longing to go outside and find someone to play with, couldn’t get enough of it.

Ringo would describe the four as being “three-and-one” for some time to come, such is the nature of insecurity and such was the complexity of these relationships.

One of them was thinking with particular wisdom: George brought Ringo into the group but chose not to room with him when they stayed at hotels in order to avoid the possibility of the Beatles falling deeper into two divisions, with them in one and John and Paul the other. He suggested Ringo share with Paul, and then, after a period of doing this, with John.34 They all accepted it and had brilliant times in every combination. Core robust relationships were critical to the Beatles’ strength and durability, every permutation of allegiance binding them tight.

John has no idea he’s standing right where the Lennons settled in Liverpool three generations back, another stricken family fleeing Ireland’s desperate famine.