Ringo Starr Turns 72

Having done a birthday article on Paul McCartney last month, it’s only fair that I do one for his fellow surviving ex-Beatle, Ringo Starr, who was born as Richard Starkey 72 years ago on July 7, 1940. Ringo is held by many in less regard than the other Beatles, to the point where some seem to believe that he had little real talent and that if the Beatles had had another drummer they would have been just as successful. It is unquestionably true that Ringo didn’t have anywhere near the songwriting talent of John Lennon or Paul McCartney, or for that matter George Harrison, and as the Beatles’ reputation is founded in large part on their songs, in this sense he was less important. But it can be argued that he played a vital role in the band’s overall chemistry, and many critics and fellow musicians have said that his drumming skills are underrated.

I don’t feel qualified to judge Ringo’s drumming, but if excellent drummers like Phil Collins (who called the drum fills on “A Day in the Life” “very complex”) praise what he did with the Beatles, than it can’t be all that bad. It certainly works well with the songs, and his drumming on tracks like “Rain”, one that is often cited as having some of his best playing, sounds pretty good to me. He wasn’t a flashy drummer, but then the Beatles’ songs didn’t really call for flash. He did what the songs required, which is what counts, and he was clearly a better drummer than Pete Best, the group’s original drummer (even if the way the other Beatles went about firing Best was rather low). Of course as the drummer for the Beatles he influenced many drummers who came after him. His importance to the band’s chemistry was even more obvious. So while Ringo might not have been the band’s most talented member, he was far from dispensable. John Lennon even asserted that Ringo’s talent was such that he “would have surfaced with or without the Beatles.”

Ringo’s vocal skills were fairly limited, but he was effective enough on the songs he was given to sing, which included a few classics like “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “Yellow Submarine.” He only wrote two songs that were released by the Beatles, “Don’t Pass Me By” from The Beatles (1968) and (with a little uncredited help from George Harrison) “Octopus’s Garden” from Abbey Road (1969), which might not be considered classics but are still pretty good songs. He first received a composing credit for helping on the lyrics to “What Goes On” from Rubber Soul (1965). In earlier years, he generally sang covers, such as “Act Naturally” from Help (1965).

As a solo artist, Ringo had more difficulty sustaining a steady career, which was not surprising since his songwriting skills are limited and his singing, while pleasant, is unexceptional. He did release several very good singles in the immediate aftermath of the Beatles’ split, the first being “It Don’t Come Easy” (credited to Ringo alone, though George almost certainly helped – there’s even a bootleg version with George on lead vocals), which was one of Ringo’s best songs and was backed by the highly entertaining “Early 1970”, a humorous tune written by Ringo about his fellow Beatles and himself. The second single was “Back Off Boogaloo”, another rare solo Ringo composition, and almost as good as “It Don’t Come Easy”. He followed these with his one excellent solo album, 1973’s Ringo, which might well deserve a place among the top 10 solo Beatles albums (in fact if it weren’t for extra competition from Paul’s post-Anthology solo albums, its position in the top 10 would be guaranteed). That album also was unique in that it was the only post-breakup album to feature all four of the Beatles, and one song that had three of them, “I’m the Greatest”, on which Ringo was joined by John (the writer of the song) and George. It also included one of the best solo Beatles songs, “Photograph”, written by George and Ringo. This one is a real classic; I’d place it alongside “With a Little Help from My Friends” as one of the very best songs Ringo sang lead vocals on. There were a number of other standout tracks on the album, such as the abovementioned “I’m the Greatest”, a cover of Randy Newman’s excellent “Have You Seen My Baby”, George and former Beatles roadie Mal Evans’ “You And Me (Babe)”, Ringo and Vince Poncia’s “Oh My My” and “Devil Woman”, George’s “Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond)”, Paul’s “Six O’Clock”, Ringo’s own “Step Lightly”, and the album’s other number 1 hit (along with “Photograph”), the oldies cover “You're Sixteen”.

But after Ringo, things went downhill. Its follow-up Goodnight Vienna was not bad, and included a few good songs such as the title track (written by Lennon), “Snookeroo”(by Elton John and Bernie Taupin) and the novelty “No No Song”. But it was not as consistent as Ringo, and the albums after that were even weaker, usually only having a one or two decent songs at best. His career petered out in the early 1980s, though it revived in the 1990s, and several of his albums since then have gotten decent reviews. I haven’t heard any of them in their entirety so I can’t say how they compare with his 1970s ones, but the few songs I’ve heard have been pretty good – one standout track that comes to mind is “Never Without You”, his George Harrison tribute from 2003’s Ringo Rama. Ringo, like Paul, the only other surviving Beatle, remains active today, and while his recent releases may not be as consequential as Paul’s, they are by most accounts enjoyable enough. In any event, Ringo can certainly take pride in the important role he played in the Beatles.

I have made a list of 25 of the best songs with Ringo on lead vocals, both with the Beatles and as a solo artist. Obviously there are other songs that could go on such a list (as I mention above, I haven’t even heard most of the songs from his later albums), but this covers most of the really great ones.

The Best of Ringo Starr
Matchbox (Perkins/Jefferson)
Act Naturally (Owens)
What Goes On (Lennon/McCartney/Starkey)
Yellow Submarine (McCartney/Lennon)
With a Little Help from My Friends (McCartney/Lennon)
Don’t Pass Me By (Starkey)
Octopus’s Garden (Starkey/Harrison)
It Don’t Come Easy (Starkey/Harrison)
Early 1970 (Starkey)
Back Off Boogaloo (Starkey)
Photograph (Starkey/Harrison)
I'm The Greatest (Lennon)
Have You Seen My Baby (Newman)
You're Sixteen (Sherman/Sherman)
Oh My My (Poncia/Starkey)
You and Me (Babe) (Harrison/Evans)
(It's All Down To) Goodnight Vienna (Lennon)
Snookeroo (John/Taupin)
No No Song (Axton/Jackson)
Wrack My Brain (Harrison)
Private Property (McCartney)
Weight of the World (O'Doherty/Velez)
After All These Years (Starkey/Warman)
Never Without You (Starkey/Hudson/Nicholson)
Fading In Fading Out (Starkey/Hudson/Burr)

Honorable Mentions: Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond) (Harrison), Devil Woman (Poncia/Starkey), Six O’Clock (McCartney), Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love) (Lennon), A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll (Groszmann), Give Me Back The Beat (Starkey/Hudson/Burr/Dudas/Grakal)

Note: Aside from those in the list above, the only other songs that I know of which Ringo received sole credit for writing were "Down and Out" (Starkey), “Step Lightly” (Starkey), and “Call Me” (Starkey).