Ringo Starr, the drummer for The Beatles, relocated to Memphis, Tennessee in 1987 to begin work on his tenth solo record. With a bit of buzz surrounding the project, Starr recruited a number of high-profile names to collaborate with him on the record, including Bob Dylan, but despite this, the material has never formally surfaced.
From the start of their careers in music, Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr had a very tight bond. They respected and admired one another, and they frequently worked together on artistic endeavors. Starr mapped out his record’s course after meeting producer Chips Moman in the Bahamas. The former Beatle traveled to Memphis in February 1987 to start working on the project, which would have been his first publication in more than four years. The pair diligently worked on the record for the following two months. Additionally, it is said that they welcomed Carl Perkins, Dave Edmunds, and Eric Clapton to Three Alarm Studios.
According to reports, Starr liked to consume beer and spirits, and as his notoriety increased, so did his drinking routine. Starr was thought to have been the life of the party despite his conduct, which was frequently criticized.
Ringo was drinking excessively at the time of the recording, and his way of living was upsetting him. Because he made sobriety his top priority and the record brought back painful memories for him, Starr stopped the album’s release. By releasing the record behind Ringo’s back, Moman attempted to recover his expenses, but this resulted in a contentious legal dispute. Starr and Moman were never able to come to an agreement, and Starr was forced to give Moman $74,354 to take back control of his masters.
He has also always talked about his love for Dylan. Back in 2010, while talking with Celebrity Playlist Podcast, he revealed, “We could do this for the rest of the week just on Bob Dylan. This song (‘When The Deal Goes Down’) is really emotional, ‘Maggie’s Farm’ is another one of my faves too, Because it’s emotional, deep down I’m an emotional person really, and what it says, ‘I’ll be with you when the deal goes down’, is beautiful, and only Bob would say it that way.”
He also added, “I did a track in Memphis with Bob. I was doing an album there, and he came up to sing on it, but the album fell apart, and so did we. One thing was the person who was looking out for Bob at that time said, ‘Bob’s gone’, so I said, ‘Where’s he gone?’, ‘Graceland’. I said, ‘That’s good’, he said, ‘That’s bad’. It depends on which way you look at it.”
