After plagiarizing a rock icon and giving life to a fictional band,
Ringo Starr stormed out of a Beatles recording session and came back with a hit. These are
the stories behind every Beatles song featuring RIngo Starr on lead vocals.
Ringo Starr's first lead vocal performance was on the band's 1963 debut album,
"Please Please Me." According to biographer Alan Clayson, the entire album was recorded
in a single day to capitalize on the group's rapid explosion in popularity.
"Boys" is a cover of a song by the popular girl group, The Shirelles, which was written by Luther
Dixon and Wes Ferrell. A fixture of early live performances by The Beatles, "Boys" was initially
sung by former Beatles drummer, Pete Best. According to Beatles historian Ian MacDonald,
Ringo's studio version required only one take to record, indicating the pressure that both
the band and producer George Martin were under to get the album tracked so quickly.
Though he was the last of the Fab Four to join the group, Ringo also knew "Boys" well,
having performed it with his band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes before
joining The Beatles. According to Clayson's biography on Ringo,
George Martin was unimpressed by both Ringo's voice and his skill as a drummer at this early
stage in his career. Despite the producer's misgivings, Starr's performance on "Boys"
successfully produced a glimpse into the band's energetic stage act in a studio recording.
According to "The Beatles Anthology," when it came time to write and record their sophomore
U.K. album, "With The Beatles," John Lennon and Paul McCartney made a concerted effort to
pen a new song for Ringo that could replace "Boys." That song was "I Wanna Be Your Man."
However, as John Lennon recalled in "The Beatles Anthology," shortly after writing
"I Wanna Be Your Man," The Beatles made the acquaintance of up-and-coming rockers
The Rolling Stones. As Lennon and McCartney were the world's hottest songwriting duo at the time,
the Stones' manager Andrew Oldham asked the pair if they had a song
they would be willing to let the Rolling Stones record.
Lennon and McCartney decided that, though Ringo was soon due to record his version
of "I Wanna Be Your Man" for the upcoming Beatles album, the song would be a good fit
for Mick Jagger's group. Their intuition was correct, and it became the Rolling Stone's
first major hit a few weeks before Ringo’s version was released on "With The Beatles."
In 2018, Starr told Howard Stern that, since he was so loved by fans,
it was generally more important for the Beatles to feature Ringo singing a song
on the record, even if that song wasn't exceptionally unique or groundbreaking.
"How do you know that 'I Wanna be Your Man' is a Ringo song? Who decides that?"
"If I do it, it's a Ringo song.”
“Right!”
“Because it's the way I do it."
Cementing Ringo Starr's reputation as a reliable voice for stomping rockabilly numbers,
the next Beatles track the drummer took lead vocal duties on was "Matchbox," a
cover version of a 1957 song by rock pioneer Carl Perkins.
Perkins was a major touchstone for The Beatles. In his book "Revolution in the Head:
The Beatles' Records and the Sixties," Ian MacDonald said that the Fab Four performed 12
of Perkin's songs in their live shows before the release of their debut studio album.
Nevertheless, John Lennon openly admits that assigning Ringo another cover song
wasn't exactly a celebration of the drummer's vocal ability. In his biography on Starr,
Alan Clayson quoted Lennon as saying,
"We weren't going to give him anything great."
Perkins happened to be visiting the U.K. at the time the song was recorded,
and dropped by during the session to watch Ringo record it. Two decades later,
Ringo performed "Matchbox" alongside Perkins, George Harrison, and Eric Clapton on the 1985
television broadcast, "Carl Perkins and Friends: A Rockabilly Session".
By the mid-sixties, Ringo's bandmates had essentially cemented him as their
vocal interpreter for a certain variety of rockabilly songs. Starr didn't seem to
have a problem with this at the time, as he mentions in "The Beatles Anthology" that he
loved that style of music, and that he would regularly sing country songs when performing
with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. For this reason, the next Beatles recording
that Ringo sang lead on was "Honey Don't" from the 1964 record, "Beatles for Sale."
Like "Matchbox," "Honey Don't" was a cover of a Carl Perkins number, and like "Boys," Ringo
was already familiar with the song before he joined the Beatles. According to "The Beatles
Anthology," Ringo claimed that, quote, "every band in Liverpool" performed the tune, so it
made for an easy and straightforward recording session when it came time to track the album.
After a few years of making Beatles records, it seemed standard procedure that Starr would
be assigned rock 'n' roll covers to sing when it came time for his once-per-album
vocal feature. However, by the time recording sessions began for The Beatles' 1965 album,
"Help!," Ringo wanted more of a say in which songs he would provide his voice for.
As he recalled in "The Beatles Anthology," Ringo discovered "Act Naturally" on a record
by country music star Buck Owens. He then brought the song to his bandmates,
telling them that he believed it was the perfect song for his spot on the new album. They agreed.
According to "Revolution in the Head," the song was the first
cover that The Beatles recorded without perfecting it live in concert first.
Ringo and Buck Owens also recorded a duet performance of the song together in 1989.
The story of how power struggles within The Beatles' eventually contributed to
their 1970 break-up has been well documented in rock history. As early as the mid-sixties,
tensions were already surfacing between the band members, and,
surprisingly, Ringo was at the heart of these budding conflicts.
"I don't remember any squabbles."
"You don't remember anything, do you?"
According to "Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker?," in the period leading up to the
recording of 1965's "Rubber Soul," Ringo felt that he was being sidelined from the group.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney effectively had creative control over all their music at the time,
and Lennon, McCartney, and George Harrison were all collaborating with
other musicians and beginning to compose music that made Ringo feel like he was disposable.
Ringo took his concerns to the band, and to assuage their drummer of his worries,
they invited him to sing and provide creative input for the "Rubber Soul" track "What Goes
On." Not only would this function as Ringo's lead vocal performance for the seminal album,
it was also Starr's first songwriting credit on a Beatles record. The song is spiritually similar to
the laid-back "Act Naturally," and Ringo still performs it in concert to this day. In 2015,
he told CBC News that, even though more than half a century has passed since his
time in the Beatles, he still doesn't get tired of playing these old hits.
"Are there any that you say, you know, 'I've actually heard that enough.'"
"No."
One of the most memorable songs of the psychedelic '60s, "Yellow Submarine" is
arguably Ringo Starr's starring moment from the Beatles era. Unlike their more hard-edged
contemporaries The Rolling Stones, The Beatles had a broad audience and a family-friendly
appeal that they were willing to embrace. According to "Ringo Starr: Straight Man or
Joker?," "Yellow Submarine" was conceived as a song that would appeal mainly to children,
while also celebrating the band's roots in the major port city of Liverpool.
Featured on the 1966 album "Revolver," "Yellow Submarine" was a hit single on
both sides of the Atlantic, charting at No. 1 in the U.K. and No. 2 in the U.S. According to Ian
MacDonald's "Revolution in the Head," the song was primarily Paul McCartney's creation, though
he also had some uncredited help from folk singer Donovan while crafting the tune's far out lyrics.
Despite the popularity of "Yellow Submarine," "With A Little Help From My Friends" is arguably
Ringo Starr's signature song, serving as a reflection on his role as the band's
mediator and social glue during some of The Beatles's more tumultuous moments. What's more,
the song is still a staple of Ringo's live performances today.
"With a Little Help From My Friends" was the second track on 1967's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band," a concept album that opens with the Fab Four taking on the persona of
a fictional musical group before introducing the character Billy Shears to sing track two.
Shears is played by Ringo, who sings the song as the character,
rather than as himself. In "The Beatles: The Authorized Biography," Barry Miles revealed
that the song was specially written for Ringo by Lennon and McCartney, who fittingly pieced
it together at a piano in front of a small audience of friends.
Despite the song's popularity as a Beatles track,
it's also often associated with English singer Joe Cocker, whose cover of the
song hit #1 in the UK. He would famously go on to perform it live at Woodstock.
Though Ringo Starr isn't renowned for his songwriting,
the music and lyrics for "Don't Pass Me By," his first solo composition on a Beatles record,
came to him quite naturally. In "The Beatles Anthology," he recalls,
"I wrote 'Don't Pass Me By' when I was sitting round at home. I only play three chords on the
guitar and three on the piano. I was fiddling with the piano – I just bang away – and then
if a melody comes and some words, I just have to keep going. That's how it happened."
According to "The Beatles Bible," Ringo wrote the simple country-and-western-style song
early in his Beatles career, but it would take until 1968's "The Beatles" — better
known as "The White Album" — for the track to see the light of day.
According to Alan Clayson, there was one very solid reason for "Don't Pass Me By" getting a
pass for so many years: In writing it, Starr had unconsciously plagiarized the music from
a Jerry Lee Lewis song. It was only in the final years of The Beatles' career,
when they and producer George Martin were experimenting with orchestration and studio
effects, that they were able to tweak the song enough to avoid a potential lawsuit.
In many ways, "Good Night" has a sound unlike any other song The Beatles ever recorded. The
grand finale of "The White Album," it is a sweet and tender lullaby rendered into an epic through
cinematic orchestration. As Ian MacDonald notes in "Revolution in the Head," "Good Night" was
penned by John Lennon as a bedtime song for his son Julian, who was five years old at the time.
According to "Rolling Stone," Lennon was evasive in explaining his intentions behind
the song. He was adamant that Ringo should sing the piece instead of him,
perhaps feeling that Starr would provide a more cuddly presence on what is essentially
a children's song. Lennon had also already shown his sensitive side on the album with
the ballad "Julia," a track he wrote for his deceased mother. It's possible that
he may have felt too emotionally exposed singing two soft, sweet songs on one album.
The song is something of an anomaly in The Beatles' catalog, as no Beatle apart from
Ringo performs on it. The rest of the music was played by session musicians directed by
George Martin. As MacDonald notes, Ringo's soulful vocal performance and the sweeping
instrumentation mean that listeners often suppose the song to be a McCartney piece,
akin to the knowing style of "Martha My Dear" and "Honey Pie."
Ringo Starr's second and final composition for The Beatles, "Octopus's Garden" feels like a
deliberately crafted cousin to the Ringo-led "Yellow Submarine." This family-friendly,
joyful, and willfully silly number appeared on 1969's "Abbey Road," the last album the
group would record together. While the song's "Little Mermaid"-esque lyrics
of happiness and freedom under the sea paint a utopian vision,
the fact is that "Octopus's Garden" was composed during a period of great turmoil.
Most accounts of The Beatles break-up focus on the private and public walkouts by John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. But in truth, Starr was the first Beatle to quit the band,
storming out of the "White Album" recording sessions as his anger at an increasingly
controlling McCartney — who had openly insulted Ringo's drumming — hit an all-time high.
Ringo fled London entirely for several weeks, and basked in the sun of the Italian island of
Sardinia, where, sitting by the ocean, he became deeply interested in the unique behaviors of sea
creatures. According to Ian MacDonald, given what a tense period of Ringo's life was transpiring
at the time, he may have even envied the animals for their seemingly carefree lifestyles. In 2022,
Starr told Jimmy Kimmel that a boat's captain told him that an
octopus would gather pretty rocks to make a garden, which blew his mind.
"When you're stoned, that's the best idea I've ever heard in my life! I go, whaaaat?!"
On his return to the band at Abbey Road studios — where he found his drum kit bedecked with
flowers as a gift from his apologetic bandmates — Ringo introduced the song to his fellow Beatles,
and worked with George Harrison to get it into shape for recording.