Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr Share Beatles Moment at Record Store Gig

A wild assortment of Hollywood rock and film glitterati turned out for Paul McCartney's gig last night at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles. In the crowd: Rick Rubin; Alanis Morissette, holding hands with Woody Harrelson; George Harrison's widow, Olivia; Michael Eisner; Cybill Shepard; Jeff Lynne; producer John Shanks; former Wings members Denny Seweill and Laurence Juber; and, yes, Stephen Pearcy of Ratt.

But the guest of honor was Ringo Starr, who was singing along and dancing in the CD stacks during the show. McCartney noticed Starr, and when it came to perform "That Was Me" -- a song about Macca's days in the Beatles -- he pointed at Ringo and said, "That was you, too!" McCartney also clearly got choked up singing "Here Today," a tune dedicated to the late John Lennon. Near the end, McCartney tried to say something nice about Ringo to the crowd, but then realized he'd left and announced, "Elvis has left the building." When it was all over, Macca left the building as well, and headed to the after-party at the Velvet Margarita Cantina nearby.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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