Ringo and why the Beatles wouldn’t have worked without him

Ringo and why the Beatles wouldn’t have worked without him

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold October 10, 2025 Duration: 37:52

The look, sound, story and dynamic of the Beatles can’t be imagined without him. Nor can their success. Tom Doyle, author and drummer, examines the unexplored depths of the one at the back from 70 different angles, one per chapter, in his new memoir ‘Ringo: A Fab Life’ and talks to us here about ….

 

… how he learnt to read by looking at his Dad’s Beatles singles and the one that first made him notice the drumming

 

... what you learn re-watching him in Peter Jackson’s Get Back

 

… why Ringo gave them universal appeal and his key role in their conquest of America

 

… supernatural brilliance: exceptional moments such as the un-slowed original Rain and “the way he makes the sound of the holes in Blackburn, Lancashire”

 

… the delicious Britishness of comparing Rishikesh to Butlins and the mantra the Maharishi gave him he still uses every day

 

… the pre-Beatles time he applied to emigrate to Texas and what stopped him doing it

 

… the only Beatle who could dance: the proof!

 

… the Lost Years and the day he had his head and eyebrows shaved

 

… the mortifying fate of the first recording of the four Beatles together (in 1960)

 

… how all four spent the rest of their lives in recovery

 

… what Sam Mendes might accentuate in his upcoming portrait of Ringo

 

... and the clip that’ll be all over the news on the day he bows out.

 

Plus our campaign to buy the Sentimental Journey pub starts here!

 

Order Tom Doyle’s ‘Ringo: A Fab Life’ here: https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Ringo/Tom-Doyle/9781917923132


Help us to keep The Longest Conversation In Rock going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Word In Your Ear
Podcast Episodes
Mustn’t grumble! Songs with the essence of Englishness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:29
A milky tea, a jam sponge and this week’s news served on a tin tray with a steam train painted on it points our very English conversation towards the following … … what connects the Monkees and a British Prime Minister?…
Neil Tennant revisits songs he’s written since the age of nine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:35
Neil Tennant co-wrote a musical at Primary School and soon decided that “learning other people’s songs was hard work compared with making up your own”. He’s chosen some from the Pet Shop Boys’ 40-year catalogue, hits and…
Shaun & Bez and other Odd Couples we love [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:14
Pointing the scanner of inquiry at the baggage carousel of news to see what gets the lights flashing, which this week includes … … we know what’s making Morrissey miserable … bands that can get a whole stadium singing ……
How A Hard Day’s Night ripped up the pop movie rulebook [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:15
Author and broadcaster Samira Ahmed used to watch A Hard Day’s Night once a week and she’s just written an enthralling account of the shoot and its impact for the BFI’s Classic Films series. A movie, she points out, that…
Mark Lewisohn and why writing the real Beatles story just got harder [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:12
Mark Lewisohn began his Beatles’ trilogy in 2003, the first volume appearing ten years later. He’s hoping the second, Turn On, which covers 1963 to 1966 and every recording session, might be ready by 2031 and working “ni…