Dad, You’ve Said That for 10 Years!” — The Eternal Encore of Ringo Starr
At 84, Ringo Starr is officially on tour, has just launched a critically acclaimed country-tinged album, *Nashville Skyline in My Rearview*, and is selling out theaters with a setlist spanning six decades. He’s also, according to his children, “about to retire.”
**“Here we go again,”** laughs his son, Zak Starkey, in a recent backstage interview. **“Every album cycle, every tour leg, we get the same speech: ‘This might be the last one, you know. Time to put the sticks down.’ And then two days later he’s texting us a new drum fill idea at 3 a.m. He’s the only man who can announce his retirement and a 30-city tour in the same breath.”**
This cheerful contradiction is the beating heart of Ringo’s late-career renaissance. While he has playfully threatened to hang up his drums for over a decade, his actions tell a story of relentless creative momentum. His new album, featuring collaborations with country legends and fresh songwriters, is being hailed as his most authentic work since the 1970s—a warm, twangy reflection on peace, love, and the open road.
**“Retire? What’s that?”** Ringo quipped to a roaring crowd in Austin last week, before launching into a spirited version of his new single, “Boots and Broken Hearts.” **“I tried sitting still once. The stillness didn’t like me very much.”**
For fans and family alike, Ringo’s “retirement” has become his longest-running joke—a catchphrase that underscores not a winding down, but a profound refusal to stop. He isn’t battling age; he’s collaborating with it, trading the thunderous rock anthems for nuanced, story-driven songs, all while his drumming remains the unmistakable, steady heartbeat beneath it all.
**“He’s rewriting his legacy in real time,”** observes music historian Dr. Lila Chen. **“We’re so conditioned to see the Beatles’ story as this frozen myth. But Ringo is actively adding chapters. He’s moved from being the beloved drummer to a genre-crossing artist and elder statesman of joy. Every time he jokes about retiring, he’s actually announcing another rebirth.”**
His tour, *The Never-Ending Peace & Love Show*, is less a nostalgia act and more a living workshop. The setlist seamlessly blends Beatles classics, solo hits, and new country-tinged tracks, presented with the ease of a lifelong musician who has nothing left to prove and everything left to play.
So, will he ever really retire?
**“Ask him tomorrow,”** says his daughter, Lee Starkey, with an affectionate smile. **“His answer will change. But the drum kit in his living room won’t. The notebooks by his bed won’t. He’s not chasing fame; he’s following the fun. And as long as there’s fun to be had, that restless heart will keep beating in 4/4 time.”**
In the end, Ringo Starr’s promised retirement has become the very engine of his enduring appeal. It’s the punchline to a joke that keeps getting funnier, and the prelude to an encore that never seems to end. Because for Ringo, the music wasn’t just a chapter in history—it’s the conversation he’s still having with the world, one beat, one joke, and one “final” tour at a time.
