RINGO STARR SAT DOWN AT GEORGE HARRISON’S SITAR BACKSTAGE IN 2023. HE COULDN’T PLAY IT. HE JUST WANTED TO TOUCH IT ONE MORE TIME.The sitar had been in storage since 2001. George’s wife Olivia had it sent to the studio where Ringo was finishing “Now and Then” — the last Beatles song, built around John Lennon’s 1977 demo tape.Ringo is 83. He’s the last drummer who ever sat behind John and Paul and George. The only one left who remembers what the room sounded like.He ran his fingers along the strings. Didn’t press down. Didn’t try to make a sound.Paul walked in. Saw him sitting there. Didn’t say anything.They stood together for maybe a minute. Two old men and an instrument neither of them could play.Then Paul said something quiet. Ringo nodded. They went back to work.What Paul said in that studio — the thing that made Ringo put the sitar down and walk straight to the vocal booth — has never been repeated in any interview since.Ringo chose to finish the song instead of grieving out loud. Was that strength — or was that just what John and George would have wanted him to do?
Ringo Starr, George Harrison’s Sitar, and the Quiet Weight of “Now and Then” Backstage in 2023, while the world was…