In the latest installment of a collaboration spanning six decades, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr team up for their first official duet on “Home to Us,” a bouncy, nostalgic reflection on Liverpool childhoods, rough streets, and the long and winding road from home, from McCartney’s twentieth solo album, ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane.’

“Home to Us” – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

At a dinner in the mid-2010s, Paul McCartney leaned over to his wife Nancy Shevell and gestured at a seatmate.

In all earnestness, Sir Paul mused, “Me and this guy, we go way back.” “This guy” was Ringo. Nancy took a beat and flatly answered, “No kidding!”

McCartney and Starr’s relationship predates the Beatles, as the two met while Ringo was drumming for Rory and the Hurricanes in the Liverpool ballroom circuit. Starr replaced Pete Best once the band was signed and became ensconced in 20^th Century legend. For McCartney’s latest project, however, he draws from the well of Pre-Fab reminisces as he hitchhiked and dreamed with The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Following up on the lead single “Days We Left Behind,” Macca teams with Sir Ringo on the bouncy, rollicking “Home to Us.”

Headlines have touted “Home to Us” as the first duet between Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. That’s not strictly true; the duo share vocals on Ringo’s “Walk With You,” the Lennon-penned “Grow Old With Me” and the coda to McCartney’s “Beautiful Night.” McCartney has made a side career of penning “Ringo Songs,” from Lennon co-writes “Yellow Submarine” and “With a Little Help From My Friends” to Starr’s “Six O’Clock” and “Private Property.” Paul takes a kazoo solo on Ringo’s #1 hit “You’re Sixteen (You’re Beautiful And You’re Mine),” and The Threetles – Paul, George, and Ringo – all appear on “All Those Years Ago” (1981), “Free As a Bird” (1994), “Real Love” (1995), and most recently, “Now And Then” (2023).

Nonetheless, “Home to Us” was written especially with Ringo in mind, and the duo trade verses about their Liverpool childhoods. In the familiar vein of Starr’s “it wasn’t much, but it was home” sentiment in his solo work, they reminisce:

(Paul)
The place we used to live in,
you could say it wasn’t much
But it was home to us
(Ringo)
And you could be forgiven
if you thought that it was rough
But it was home to us

(Paul)
The roses in the yard began to wilt,
and then they turned to dust
(In Unison)
But it was home to us

The ex-Beatles are buoyed on the bridge by backing vocals from The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and Texas’ Sharleen Spliteri. Hynde has a long-standing relationship with both McCartney and Starr. She duetted with Ringo on the charming “Don’t Hang Up,” and formed a close friendship with Paul through Linda McCartney in the early ‘80s (bonding over their mutual animal rights activism). Hynde and Paul shared the stage at the 1999 Linda McCartney tribute and 2023 Taylor Hawkins tribute concert.

In culling anecdotes from their last few years of collaborations, there seems to be some slight awkwardness about the mechanics of Paul and Ringo directly working together. Ringo had to be persuaded to revisit “Now and Then,” a track that the Threetles spent one day on in 1995. The music video for the finished 2023 track showcases Paul and Ringo recording independently in their home studios. For “Home to Us,” the track was hodgepodged from several back-and-forth sessions with some slight miscommunication. McCartney discusses how the track began as a drum demo for producer Andrew Watt:

“He sent me back a version where he just added some lines to the chorus, so I thought, maybe he doesn’t like it,” McCartney recalls. “I rang him and he said he thought I only wanted him to sing one or two lines, and I said I’d love to hear him sing the whole thing. So, we took my first line, Ringo’s second line, and then we had a duet.”

Awkwardness aside, the end result is a charming look at the hard knocks that paved their way to fame.

Ringo hails from The Dingle, an infamously rough-and-tumble sector of Liverpool where he feared being mugged on his walks home. The McCartneys, bouncing between homes as matriarch Mary was stationed as a midwife, fared only slightly better. Nevertheless, they kept their heads on straight:

We didn’t worry where the
road was going to lead us to
There wasn’t time to make a fuss
‘cause that was all we knew
The world around us wasn’t safe,
the place was falling down
But that was my
And it was all I knew
‘Cause it was home to us

Despite swirlings that the duo might perform “Home to Us” on the Saturday Night Live stage this weekend, McCartney instead teamed with his regular live band and a few ringers, drummer Chad Smith (Chili Peppers) and backup vocalist Ingrid Michaelson. Sir Paul performed “Days We Left Behind,” “Band On the Run,” and an impromptu “Coming Up” over the end credits; off-air, he was joined by Will Ferrell on cowbell and treated studio 8H to “Drive My Car” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” Lorne Michaels’ 1976 offer for the ex-Beatles to reunite for $3,000 remains unclaimed.

“Home To Us” is streaming now, preceding The Boys of Dungeon Lane on May 29.

— —

:: stream/purchase Home to Us here ::

:: connect with Paul McCartney here ::

:: connect with Ringo Starr here ::

:: stream/purchase The Boys of Dungeon Lane here ::

— —

“Home to Us” – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

— — — —

Connect to Paul McCartney on
Facebook, 𝕏, TikTok, Instagram

Connect to Ringo Starr on
Facebook, 𝕏, TikTok, Instagram

Discover new music on Atwood Magazine

 © Aidan Moyer

:: Stream Paul McCartney ::