Why Ringo Starr Temporarily Quit The Beatles During the ‘White Album’ Recordings

When talking about The Beatles, it’s always John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Not Ringo, George, John, and Paul. Since the band’s origins, Ringo Starr has always taken a back seat in The Beatles and never received the extensive limelight the other three did. Though that wasn’t just the masses who helped shape that narrative. As a matter of fact, at a certain point during The Beatles’ time together, Starr felt that McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison were neglecting him as a friend and bandmate.

Ringo Starr was, in fact, a later addition to The Beatles. And unlike the other three, he was not a childhood friend of theirs. That being said, it seems John, Paul, and George had a special connection that did not include Ringo Starr, and it became clear when they recorded their White Album in 1968. It was so clear, that Ringo Starr actually temporarily left The Beatles during the recording process.

Ringo Starr Felt Ostracized and Unimportant

Being left out and disconnected from your peers is arguably one of the worst sensations a human being can endure. After all, we are social creatures, and nobody wants to be lonely. Ringo Starr is no different from the rest of us; hence, when he felt this was way in the group, he put his foot down and simply left.

“I only went out because I did feel like we’d done ‘[Sgt.] Pepper’, and that was fine, and we were trying to be a band again, which I loved,” Starr recalled on The Howard Stern Show. “And then I’m there in the studio, and it’s like I don’t feel good. I don’t feel part of it.”

“So I go knock on John’s door and say, ‘Hey, you know I just don’t feel right, I don’t feel, you know, part of this, you three seem so close,’” he continued. “And he goes, ‘I thought it was you three.’”

Starr subsequently asked McCartney the same question, he got the same reply. Consequently, Starr told Stern, “I said, ‘F*ck it, I’m off.’”

Ringo Starr left The Beatles for roughly two weeks. During this time, he took a vacation to Sardinia with his good friend and comedian, Peter Sellers. However, the group convinced Starr to return and finish the infamous White Album. Upon his return, the group agreed to record one of the songs he’d written on his break. That song was the one and only “Octopus’s Garden”.

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