CLUB SANDWICH 83

MORE ANGLES ON THE PIE

In the last Sandwich Paul spoke about Flaming Pie. Here, Laura Cross invites Ringo Starr and the two stars of the movie Fathers'Day, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams, to talk about their involvement

RINGO STARR

            Tell me how you came to work with Paul again, this time round.
            He had this song he wanted me to play on. And that's what happened - I went down to his studio and we played on the track. What's it called?
            'Beautiful Night'!
            Yeah, I'm sorry! He invited me to play on 'Beautiful Night' and I said "Sure". I think it's a beautiful track, and while we did that we started jamming. He had a few ideas for a jam, playing his bass. I love to play drums when Paul's playing bass - he's such a fine player, still the most melodic. We were just jamming and he was shouting these words, and it turned into a song. Jeff Lynne was playing a little plunky guitar too - it was just the three of us and it turned out fine, just finding a pattern and playing it - it's organic, it grows. It was a fun day and I like to hang out with Paul and Linda.
            Do you still feel the magic?
            I still feel really comfortable playing with Paul, yes. We have all that history and it comes into play when we work together. You can't just dismiss that. You're never going to lose the closeness of those eight years we spent together. We played some great music and we were brothers; no matter what goes on up and down, we were very close. I don't know of any other band who got that close. And we got that close because we loved each other and the pressure that only the Beatles had. No other band has had that much pressure. So all of those factors come into play when we meet each other. We know what went on. Nobody else knows. Everybody thinks they know, and they have ideas, and they write books about it, but actually only the Beatles know how heavy that was.
            Paul and I used to work very hard. A lot of it fell into place, but the drummer and the bass player have a foundation to set, for everything else to be able to go on. And as I say, he is the most melodic bass player. He plays melodies within the melodies. He's like the sea bed, or I'm the sea bed and he's the bottom water, and everything goes up from there. Like bubbles.
            Paul has drummed on most of the tracks, with the exception of the ones that you're on.
            Yeah, Paul has a style of drumming. And so does George, and so did John. They all had this style. It just happens to be a fact that I'm the drummer! (Laughs.)
            'Really Love You' is the first time you and Paul have been credited as writing together, just the two of you.
            Well, I was surprised when I spoke to Paul, because we did just make it up as we went along. He called me and said I was sharing the credit and I said, "Thank you very much". I wasn't expecting anything. It's like, "you play on my albums through the years, and I'll play on yours". I don't get union rate! You know, we usually have dinner and send each other flowers and that's it.

Special-edition summery posters advertising Flaming Pie were posted beside surfing beaches in Cornwall, England

            You are also singing on 'Beautiful Night'.
            I'm singing on the return at the end, yeah. He said, "You can sing this" and I said "Okay, thanks. What notes are they?" and sang them. When we go and do his song he's in charge. I mean, I can give him everything I've got, but he's written the song and he has a programme for it. If I do something that changes it and he likes it, then we'll do that. But he is Mr McCartney when we do his song. And I'm Mr Ringo when we do mine. We're just musician buddies. In the Beatles and in all sorts of studio creations, it's like, if I write the song, it goes like this. And it's always been the writer's direction. John would direct his, Paul directed his, George directed his, and I directed 'Octopus's Garden' and 'Don't Pass Me By'.

BILLY CRYSTAL

            'Young Boy' and 'The World Tonight' were not written specifically for Fathers' Day. But I've heard it said that they're like a marriage made in heaven.
            Yes. I was there when the 'Young Boy' tape arrived. It's really a good song, and it embraces the picture because the movie is a story about a kid who's gotta find himself and go off and grow up.
            It's so exciting to be in a movie that Paul McCartney is involved in. I'm happening! Paul's a cool guy. I'm the one who told him to take his shoes off for Abbey Road, you know. I said, "Hey, everyone else has got shoes on, it might be really cool. And then we could, like, screw some heads up if you said 'I buried Paul' and we pretend you're dead. It'll be great." He loved it!
            Are you a big Paul McCartney fan?
            Oh yeah. How could you not be? You know, we grew up with him. He and the other guys helped us grow up. They got me arrested three or four times, too. The lyrics, the things that they've said over the 30 years that they've been making music for us - they're our guys.
            If you were going to give Paul a message, what would you say?
            Stay away from my wife, 'cause I'll find you.

ROBIN WILLIAMS

            I think that 'Young Boy' sets up Fathers' Day. The song has kind of a sweetness about it, a gentle quality, and it's perfect because it's about a boy who's going off in search of love.
            And 'The World Tonight' is on the ending credits...

A sandy celebration of the new album, made and photographed on the day of its release by CS reader Nancy Lester of Indianapolis, USA

            I really like that song, too. There's a sweetness, a kind of bittersweetness, to 'Young Boy.' And then 'The World Tonight' just jams, which is great. When the people here first heard it they were saying 'Do you think we should use these songs?' It's like, this is a choice?!? Excuse me, come on - these are Paul McCartney songs!
            Are you a big Paul McCartney fan?
            Yeah. His songs are in my memory banks. I think they're actually in my genetic material now. I was doing a movie in Canada called Good Will Hunting and in the lunch break the sound girl brought her guitar, and she was singing, and one of the grips had a bass, and then there was another guy and another guy, and they were singing old Beatles songs. And my stand in was doing harmony. The moment you start singing those songs, it brings people back, joins people together and brings a mood that just elevates. It's cheaper than Prozac. "Blackbird singing in the dead of night..." - it's like bingo, you're there.