The Pantheon: Ringo Starr

The Beatles, Thomas The Tank Engine, The Magic Christian, You're Sixteen - why hasn't this man been knighted?

By Richard Luck, 1 Feburary 2012

Sir Richard Starkey - it's got a certain ring to it, yes? But despite being part of the greatest, most important beat combo of all time, Ringo Starr as we've come to know and love him has never been afforded as much respect as bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison nor the same accolades as Sir Paul McCartney.

'But of course, he hasn't,' the cynics scoff. 'He's Ringo, for crying out loud!' Of course, Ringo - the guy who can't drum, can't sing, can't act, can't do much of anything, really. At least, that's how it seems until you put the lazy journalism to one side and see things the way they really were. So Ringo couldn't drum? Well, tell that to Sir George Martin who considered his work on Rain a "tour de force" or to the three other Beatles who begged him to rejoin them when he quit the band mid-way through recording The White Album.

And even if he didn't give Ginger Baker or Buddy Guy sleepless nights, only the willfully ignorant would claim Ringo didn't bring something very special to The Beatles. From singing the greatest children's song of all time, Yellow Submarine, to getting blisters on his fingers after pounding his way through umpteen recordings of Helter Skelter, Our Man had - two - hands in any number of great moments. And as Foo Fighter-in-chief Dave Grohl, explains, "Ringo Starr matters because he was a Beatle. How many people can say that? And if you don't think he was crucial to the group, just listen to some of the rubbish those guys made on their own, Ringo included." Or to put it another way, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison are all giants, but they were never bigger than when they were playing with Ringo.

As for "the rubbish" Mr Grohl mentions, people tend to forget that, after the Fab Four went their separate ways, it was Ringo who chalked up the first solo number ones (You're Sixteen and Photograph - co-written by Harrison - both topped the Billboard Chart). And while not all of his tunes have been belters, the great man's played on some awesome albums including George's All Things Must Pass and contributed to two truly legendary live LPs, The Concert For Bangladesh and Concert For George.

And then, of course, there's the acting career, which unlike Paul's and John's felt like a bona fide attempt to accept a new challenge. And very idiosyncratic it was too, what with Ringo sharing screentime with Frank Zappa in the howling mad 200 Hotels, Marlon Brando in the trippy Candy and Roger Daltrey in Ken Russell's typically excessive Lisztomania. There was also the adaptation of Terry Southern's The Magic Christian (Paul Merton's favourite film, fact fans), in which Ringo was very good as Peter Sellers' adopted son, and That'll Be The Day in which Mrs Starkey's lad looked like Richard Burton next to teak-like fellow rock star David Essex.

Elsewhere on the moving pictures front, Ringo directed the T. Rex documentary Born To Boogie and had the romantic good sense to marry sturnning ex-Bond girl Barbara Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me). And as every child on either side of the Atlantic knows only too well, Our Ringo was the original narrator of Thomas The Tank Engine.

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But the accomplishments don't end there. For there have been books - the charming Postcards From The Boys - a Best Song Oscar for Let It Be, plus an utterly adorable appearance on The Simpsons, the first by one of the Fabs . Starr also debatedly had the funniest line in any of the Beatles movies (from Help: "I like operations. They give you a sense of outlook, don't they?"). And then there was the mercy dash that saw Ringo - himself a recovering alcoholic - rush stand-up Richard Pryor to rehab. ("What are you gonna do when you've got a Beatle at your door?" the comedian later said by way of a thank you.)

The truth of the matter is that, while he might never have been the very best at anything he did, Ringo Starr has always been the best possible Ringo Starr. And as this year sees the release of his seventeenth album, Ringo 2012, wouldn't it be nice if it also saw him receive the recognition he's long overdue? So, c'mon, Your Madge - a knighthood for Mr Starr. And make it sharpish. We welcome him to the hallowed halls of The Pantheon.

Ringo also has a new album out...