Rewind Forward, the latest in Ringo Starr’s recent series of EPs, got its release today, and the four-track collection notably features a song called “Feeling the Sunlight,” which was written by none other than his old Beatles bandmate, Paul McCartney.
The legendary drummer told Billboard that he actually asked McCartney to write him a song for the project, and admitted that he was confident that his friend and frequent collaborator wouldn’t let him down.
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“Well, he’d written me a couple of good songs, you know, like ‘Yellow Submarine.’ I thought, ‘He can do this,’” Starr explained with a laugh.
Starr noted that after McCartney agreed to write the tune, he went on to lend his musical talents to the track.
“[H]e’s on bass, he’s singing on it. He’s all over it,” Starr said. “He actually put his drums on it.”
Of course, drumming is Starr’s forte, so McCartney’s beat-keeping didn’t end up on the final mix of the track.
“I wiped him off completely and did it myself,” Starr admitted. “It would be like me sending him a track and I’m on bass.”
Starr and McCartney also appear together on another recent recording, a cover of the Beatles classic “Let It Be” that will be featured on country great Dolly Parton’s forthcoming debut rock album, Rockstar, which is due out November 17.
The track initially was released digitally in August, and debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart. This marked the first time that a non-Beatles release featuring the credited billing of more than one Fab Four member has entered a Billboard songs chart.
“Far out!,” Starr said in response to the milestone. “Well done, Dolly!”
Starr, who told Billboard that he’s known Parton since the mid-’1970s, said, “she was always great to work with, and it was my pleasure to play on [the ‘Let It Be’ cover].”
Back to Starr’s EP series, he decided to start releasing shorter-format recordings, as opposed to full-length albums, during the pandemic, explaining, “It looks like there’s a beginning and an end [to an EP]. When you’re doing an [LP], it’s a lot of tracks, and I just felt like four would be good.”
Prior to Rewind Forward, he released Zoom In and Change the World in 2021, and EP3 in 2022. Rewind Forward also features the title track, which Starr co-wrote with his longtime studio collaborator Bruce Sugar; “Miss Jean,” co-written by Ian Hunter and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers members Mike Campell and Benmont Tench”; and “Shadows on the Wall,” co-written by Toto’s Steve Lukather and Joseph Williams.
Lukather also is a longtime member of Starr’s All Starr Band, which wraps up its North American fall tour tonight in Thackerville, Oklahoma.