When Ringo Starr hits Boston’s Wang Theater on Monday night, he’ll have one guy onstage with a career nearly as long as his.
Graham Gouldman first played bass in an obscure beat combo, the Mockingbirds. But his career took off in 1965 when he sold a song, “For Your Love,” to the Yardbirds; more hits followed for them, the Hollies (“Bus Stop”), and Herman’s Hermits (“Listen People”). In the early ’70s he joined with other British Invasion renegades to form the beloved cult band 10cc, with whom he last toured America back in 1978.
But when it comes to Ringo and the Beatles, Gouldman considers himself more a fan than a peer. “The Beatles were in a different world from me. I did see them play though, in Manchester in 1964, and I was absolutely blown away. The Beatles had everything to do with my becoming a songwriter. They were my greatest influences and still are — so really, I’m playing with Ringo because of him. He’s a very sharp guy, very good company. But when he comes to the front of the stage and he’s standing there next to me, I’m still saying ‘Bloody hell, it’s Ringo Starr’.”
Some of Gouldman’s own classic songs happened by accident. “Heart Full of Soul” (his second hit for the Yardbirds) began when his then-manager gave him the phrase to run with. “It’s a great title, isn’t it? What it meant to me was that the guy is just full of love. He wants the girl to know that he’ll have her back. There have been some great versions of that, and I have to say that Richie Havens did an amazing one. On the other hand, Petula Clark did a disco version. … What can I say, it was the disco era.”
During their ’70s heyday, 10cc combined their obvious Beatles-era roots with a fine-tuned sense of irony, and people still wonder if their big hit “I’m Not in Love” was meant as a sincere love song or a nasty sendup. “I’ve always thought of it as a song about a man who’s in denial about being in love. That’s my take, but Eric [co-writer and bandmate Eric Stewart] had a different one: His wife was asking him why he didn’t tell her he loved her anymore, and he didn’t think it was something he still needed to be saying.”
Gouldman will be doing that song and playing bass Monday in Boston with Ringo’s band. He will also perform another 10cc hit, “Dreadlock Holiday.” That song, he said, came out of a random conversation. “I was talking to a friend about cricket, and the friend said he didn’t like it. I said ‘Really, that’s too bad,’ and he said, ‘… I love it.’ So that gave me the chorus, and the song came together later when the band got together and started talking about our holidays.”
10cc’s profile got a lift recently through a BBC documentary and boxed set, and Gouldman still leads a version of the band that tours Europe. However, relations between the band’s original members (which also included Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, later to become famed music video directors) is one topic Gouldman won’t discuss. Asked if there’s too much water under the bridge for the group to ever reunite, he responds, “You could put it that way.”