1980 Paul McCartney Demo Tape For Ringo Starr Set For Auction

A 1980 Paul McCartney demo for Ringo Starr is set for auction later this month, according to The Independent. The cassette features McCartney on a vocal and piano run-through of the song “Attention,” which the two former-Beatles recorded together that July in France for Ringo's 1981 Stop And Smell The Roses album.

The Maxell C-60 audio cassette lists “Attention,” and two possible cover tunes pitched to Ringo for McCartney to produce — Chuck Berry's version of “Route 66” and Carl Perkins' “Sure To Fall” — which McCartney and Ringo went on to record.

The tape comes from the collection of Wings touring saxophonist and Liverpool and Hamburg intimate Howie Casey, who performed on the tracks. The cassette is expected to fetch over $13,000 when it goes under the hammer on April 26th via Omega Auctions.

Back in 2020, McCartney's 1991 demo for a song Ringo rejected, titled, “Angel In Disguise,” sold below expectations, taking in less than $10,000.

Paul McCartney explained that the Beatles came into their own due to the perfect combination of talent, time, and sweat: “The thing, I think, made us what we were was doin' it a lot. 'Never had a day off. Hamburg — we just work, work, work, worked. Y'know, and that's what I think made us so tight as a band. I mean, the bottom line for me is that we were a great little band. If I went (sings) 'Well, one for the money (claps)'; They'd never got (adapts think Liverpudlian accent) — 'What's that?' (laughter, McCartney makes drum noises), Everybody would just be in, like, bang! We just knew each other that well, y'know.”