Fab Foundations # 22: “The Collaborate Principle”

(Personal reflections inspired by Beatles songs)

Song: “Yellow Submarine”

Album: Revolver

Release Date: August 1966

Like many of my fellow concert-loving Baby Boomers, I’ve attended hundreds of live music events in my lifetime. The ever-growing list (which is on temporary Covid hiatus) includes The Who (~ 15 times), Neil Young (~ 12 times), the Rolling Stones (~ 12 times), Jonathan Richman (~ 12 times), Bob Dylan (5 times), Van Morrison, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, REM (3), Joe Jackson (3), The Grateful Dead (~ 8 times), Elvis Costello, Rush, Pete Townshend (2), Roger Daltrey (3), John Entwistle (5), Charlie Watts, The Clash, Tom Petty (3), CSN (2), The Band, The Allman Brothers, The Pogues, Rat Dog, The Kinks, The Jerry Garcia Band, John Mellencamp, Elton John (2), Eric Clapton, 10,000 Maniacs, Midnight Oil, Roger Waters (2), World Party, Southside Johnny (4), Iris Dement, Richard Thompson, Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, The Stray Cats, Ronnie Wood, and a host of others.

With all this concert attendance, you would think I’d have seen my share of ex-Beatles shows. However, I can only lay claim to one of these events, which was the first incarnation of Ringo Starr with his All-Starr Band back in 1989. I’ve been shamefully remiss in catching a Paul McCartney concert and I need to correct this at some point. I was excited when George Harrison toured Japan in 1991, hoping he would extend it here in the USA, but alas that was not to be; big-stage events never being his want in life. As for John Lennon, well, no chance there (would he have toured his Double Fantasy LP along with other music he was finally creating again in 1980? We will never know. If so, I would have been there for sure).

The Ringo show was a fun ride more than anything. What else would you expect? Starr is a fun magnet, and it’s obvious his contemporaries know this. Who else could pull together musical talent as diverse as Rick Danko, Paul Shaffer, Todd Rundgren, Dr. John, and Joe Walsh?  I went with my brother, Fred, who did a great imitation of front-man Ringo for years after the fact (note to self: I must have Fred indulge me with that one again next time we hook up).

As mentioned before in this blog series, during the time when the Beatles were slowly breaking up in the late 60s, there would often be strife between George, John and Paul, but not Ringo. He was the short term remedy for his bandmates. Why? Because they all loved him. And so, it is my belief that Starr kept the band together singlehandedly near the end, if only by his sheer presence. And after the Beatles broke up, they all would collaborate with him, but rarely if ever without him (Starr’s album Ringo was the only post-Beatles solo album that all 4 members contributed to).

I liken Ringo Starr to Ronnie Wood in this regard. Wood has the same reputation in the Rolling Stones; another band with powerful personalities at play. This is interesting, because on at least several occasions, Ringo and Ronnie were added to the evening festivities of some of Rocks most historic events including The Last Waltz, and Paul McCartney’s 2018 tour (I know I’m forgetting at least one other big one). They also showed up together to play on Bob Dylan’s “Heart of Mine”, which I wrote about in my Master Blueprints series 2 years ago (#29). It seemed as if they were always there for the big backstage party, where they would loosen things up and generate fun. And so, heck, why not pull them up on stage for the closing numbers. 

What makes Ringo Starr so likeable to those around him? I chalk it up to the Collaborate Principle, which defines any characteristic that makes someone fit in well to a group effort. Ringo is a peace loving guy (which is actually his motto these days) who deflects praise, puts in the requisite effort, and makes people laugh in the process. These are all characteristics of the Collaborate Principle. One fun clip to witness Starr in action in this regard is the “invention of music” scene from the movie Caveman: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYBNoFcvcWI ). Yeah, that just about says it all.

With all that said about Ringo, I figured it was about high time in this blog series I focus on the Beatles penchant for fun. The only other band that rivals them in this way is the Who (specifically Keith Moon and Pete Townshend).  Both bands could step away from the serious stuff on occasion and don the jester hat. Both bands had a knack for composing fun music too. With the Who it was songs like “Pictures of Lily”, “Tattoo”, “Happy Jack”, “Squeeze Box”, and “Magic Bus”. In the case of the Beatles, it was songs like “Octopus’s Garden”, “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)”, “Hey Bulldog”, “All Together Now”, “Birthday”, and of course “Yellow Submarine” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2uTFF_3MaA  ).

The Beatles fun turned out to be our fun too. In the movie Help! we see the origins of The Monkees and Batman. In the Yellow Submarine animated film, we see the origins of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I also came to recognize John Lennon’s sense of humor in several of my most quick-witted friends.  And much like the Beatles with their Christmas tapes, my friends and I made hilarious homemade tapes too (man, I wish I still had those).  And yes, Magical Mystery Tour was a bit out there, but I’d be a hypocrite to think I have not pulled the same shenanigans with my brother Joe. 

I listened a number of times to “Yellow Submarine” this week; a song which, along with the fun angle, has the added touch of appealing to children and the young at heart. This is done through fairytale imagination, and although Ringo did not write the song, he made it work with his dreamy vocals. There is a loose-mood feel from beginning to end, which, again, is the type of rarified atmosphere the Beatles were blessed with generating that made them special. The sound effects and bridge vocals (“Full speed ahead Mr. Parker, full speed ahead”. “Full speed ahead it is, Sergeant”. “Action Station, action station”. “Aye, aye, sir, fire”, “Captain, captain”) crack me up now as much as they did 40 years ago. I also love the line “Many more of them live next door” (“them” being friends).  How do you live next door to a submarine that is adrift in the deep green sea?  Only in a child’s imagination, that’s how.

With each replay of the song this week, I thought of my own Yellow-Submarine-like worlds when I was young.  I thought of the “Mountain” on the edge of the woods, where my brothers, my friends, and I would often go with crowbars, chisels and hammers to create our own Mesa Verde.  I thought of the swamp behind it, where we would hop from tufts of grass to tufts of grass… and where I felt as if we had passed into a hidden world that nobody else knew of. I thought of the dense vegetation in an area on the campus of Dean Junior College, where we could slash out caves in the thicket. I thought of the amazing “Green Beret” fort that we made in the loft of a friend’s garage. I thought of all the old barns we used to explore on properties where the family had no use for them (one time we had to hide when the owner unexpectedly came into the barn for a spell). And I thought of a “green submarine” that we were able to make out of a giant fallen spruce tree across the street from my home (the limbs kept the trunk off the ground just enough so that we could make tunnels in between them). 

As I grew older, that imagination became increasingly difficult to maintain. But on occasion I would be pleasantly surprised to find myself there again. Most often this happened at concerts (as I reflect now, this is likely a big reason why I’ve attended so many). The mind can go to wonderful places at live music shows which has proven to be much more difficult to pull off otherwise (although I must say, on a drive earlier this week, with Revolver blaring out of the speakers, I came awfully close).

Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band performed “Yellow Submarine” as the 3^rd song on their setlist during that joyous Great Woods show in 1989. And as they played, Ringo did his goofy Ringo routine as front man. Fred and I laughed. Yes, we were laughing at him to a degree. But down deeper, we were laughing more with him. Ringo Starr was sprinkling imagination on us that night.  He was taking us on an adventure. He was collaborating with us. All we had to do was listen, and the childhood magic flowed from there.

- Pete