Starr described his old Beatles bandmate and “Home to Us” co-vocalist as a “wonderful lad.”

Ringo Starr dishes on first ever ‘couple’ song with Paul McCartney: ‘It’s not like we don’t know each other’

Starr described his old Beatles bandmate and “Home to Us” co-vocalist as a “wonderful lad.”

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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July 12, 2026 5:30 p.m. ET

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Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr at Paris Fashion Week in 2024. Credit:

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty

- Ringo Starr is opening up about recording his first-ever duet with fellow Beatle Paul McCartney.

- McCartney recruited Starr to play drums on the song “Home to Us,” from his new album *The Boys of Dungeon Lane*, eventually upping his participation to full duet.

- “It’s the first time we’ve ever done it like a couple — we’re both singing it,” he told PEOPLE on Saturday, joking, “It’s not like we don’t know each other.”

Hey Paul, don’t make it bad. Take a solo song, and make it a duet!

Ringo Starr is detailing his first-ever duet with fellow Beatle Paul McCartney — you read that right — since the pair launched their respective solo careers over 50 years ago. McCartney and Starr have collaborated numerous times in the past on each other’s releases, but until “Home to Us,” the only duet on McCartney’s new album, *The Boys of Dungeon Lane*, they’d never shared vocal credits on a song.

“Well, it’s the first time we’ve ever done it like a couple — we’re both singing it. I’ve sang a few choruses on his tracks. He’s played on my tracks. He’s come over with the bass,” Starr told PEOPLE at his 86th birthday event in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Tuesday, joking, “It’s not like we don’t know each other.”

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in 1963.

Starr spoke enthusiastically of his musical reunion with McCartney, who turned 84 last month.

“I loved it because we were in this band together, and it’s just the best band ever. And Paul, his bass playing is incredible, and he’s a songwriter,” he said. “I mean, I can go on forever. He’s just a wonderful lad.”

The Beatles had already formed with McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and another drummer, Pete Best, began playing gigs, and had signed a recording contract by the time they met Starr. The Liverpool born-and-bred drummer joined in 1962, just in time to record their first studio album, 1963’s *Please Please Me*. The band released 12 studio albums by 1970, at which point they broke up and all released solo albums (McCartney and Starr were the only two to debut that year).

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“Home to Us” is the second single released from *Boys of Dungeon Lane*, McCartney’s 20th solo effort, which released on May 29 from Capitol Records.

The song begins with McCartney and Starr’s voices in unison, singing fondly of “the place we used to live” and all the unimaginable places “the road was going to take us.” It follows lead single “Days We Left Behind,” which he performed on the 51st season finale of *Saturday Night Live *in May.

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“In writing the song I’m talking about where we came from. In common with a lot of people, you come from nothing and you build yourself up... Ringo was from the Dingle, and that was well hard,” McCartney said of “Home to Us” in a statement shared with Pitchfork in May.

Dingle, or “The Dingle,” is a segment of southern Liverpool that had a rough reputation during McCartney and Starr’s upbringings. McCartney, meanwhile, grew up in the suburbs of Speke and Allerton. He continued that Starr “used to get mugged coming home, because he worked. Even though it was crazy, it was home to us.”

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