Sir Ringo Starr says The Beatles kept long van journeys bearable by admitting who let one rip.
The drummer told the story at his annual Peace and Love event on his 86th birthday, laughing that in the early Beatles days, hours crammed in a van meant the occasional fart – and after too many denials, the Fab Four adopted a simple rule: confess it and move on.
Offering the tip to young musicians starting out, he said: “If you’re in the van and you fart – own up to it.
“We just occasionally with four guys in a three-hour car journey, one of us would make a noise. And at the beginning, it was like ‘well, it wasn’t me.
“And we realised, well, just to get it out of the way, say I did it. And it worked a treat and it took the pressure off.”
He added: “It wasn’t a thing. We didn’t like go oh, ‘I’m going next’.”
Elsewhere, Ringo – who continues to hit the road with his All Star Band – confessed that he intended to quit touring in 2021, but five years on, he cannot get enough of playing live.
He said: “I have been calling it the last tour since 2021 – and my kids are fed up with me now. I say ‘ That’s it – I am not going out anymore’; and .they are like ‘oh dad you said that last year’.
“And I out again. I am out this year. It is what I do. It is how it is. I have got a great band and it just works. We used to rehearse for two days, now we rehearse for two hours and we are ready to rock.”
Ringo also admitted he’s clueless about why he connects so strongly with younger generations.
He said: “I don’t know (why I appeal to them), but I have got 10 grandkids. I don’t know what it is. It is one of those things.”