Liverpudlians Criticise Favourite Son Ringo Starr!
Well okay, fourth favourite son after John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, but still, it’s news.
Ringo Starr was born and brought up in Liverpool before joining The Beatles and seeing his whole world turned upside down. Obviously with money, came the opportunity to leave Liverpool, and head off in to the sunset, which of course, all four of them did.
But wait, what’s this I see? Ringo has a new album to promote and so all of a sudden starts playing on his Liverpool roots again, and even turns up to perform at the city’s Capital of Culture launch.
The whole of Liverpool, glad to see the return of one of their local heroes, obviously unfurled the red carpet for him, and gave him the kind of welcome Liverpool is renowned for, although I gather Ringo got to keep his wheels, and his teeth, intact.
While playing the gig at St. Georges Hall, he even went as far as telling the crowd that he was close to returning to live in the city, and wanted to return to his home town. Which went down great, except that he was lying though his teeth.
He gave the lie away when he appeared on the Jonathan Ross chat show at the end of last week by telling the funnyman:
“Look I love Liverpool. I was a child in Liverpool. I grew up in Liverpool. My family members are in Liverpool. But you know…”
“I had to tell the audience, as it was so excited, that I was this close to coming back. But I had a great time up there at the weekend [during the opening ceremony]. I did.”
This has obviously not gone down very well with the residents of the city, who feel cheated and lied to by someone they looked up. They have also accused him of cashing in on the Capital of Culture label currently afforded to the city.
One member of the public told The Liverpool Echo:
“I am disgusted by the way he mocked Liverpool after having the red carpet rolled out for him by the city only last week.”
“He is happy enough to turn up here after 40 years to blatantly cash in on the city of culture tag but then slags the place off when he is safely back in London schmoozing with Jonathan Ross.”
Ringo, never bite the hand that feeds you. All you’ve done with this blatant show of disregard for the city which made you, and all in the name of promoting you crappy new album, is make yourself look cheap. I’ve got to tell you, it’s not a good look.
Liverpool, Liverpudlians, The Beatles, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, British, UK
January 31st, 2008 at 7:09 am
“close to returning to live in the city, and wanted to return to his home town.”
I know nothing about Liverpool and little about Ringo. I’m from across the pond. But still, I worked in marketing for enough years to know what catchphrases sell, and it’s obvious that’s what he was (is) going for.