How a “fit of lethargy” gave Ringo Starr his first Beatles song
When you think of The Beatles, you think of three of the best songwriters to ever take to music. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison are all responsible for the eclectic library of hits that The Beatles were responsible for putting out; however, there were four members in the band, not three. So, what can be said about Ringo Starr’s songwriting ability?
Ringo Starr is renowned as an excellent musician. Arguably, The Beatles wouldn’t have had the impact they ended up having were it not for their drummer. He provided their songs with an element of swing, as his sweeping style of percussion gave The Beatles a much-needed bounce that didn’t take away from the emotive nature of their songs but made it so people could dance to them.
He loved his role in the band, providing an excellent rhythm section and supporting his bandmates in the process. That being said, he isn’t renowned as an exceptional songwriter; he never showed much interest in songwriting and was happy to let his bandmates assume that role rather than take it on himself. However, that doesn’t mean he has zero writing credits for The Beatles.
He did contribute a few songs throughout his time with the band. None of them proved to be the band’s biggest hits, but they did show that Starr could write some nice tracks when he put his mind to it. His first for the band didn’t come from wanting to engage with music, though, quite the opposite; it came from a period of feeling disengaged with everything.
“I wrote ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ when I was sitting round at home,” admitted Starr, discussing his first writing credit for the band, “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.”
Starr continued, “That’s how it happened: I was just sitting at home alone and ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ arrived. We played it with a country attitude.”
It’s a nice track, and as Starr says, there is a country twang to the song. He was excited about having his first writing credit for the band, but this excitement wasn’t necessarily reciprocated. John Lennon, in particular, didn’t seem to engage with the track. “We’ve just done two tracks. The second one is Ringo’s first song,” he said, “He composed it himself in a fit of lethargy.”
Based on Lennon’s words, it wasn’t necessarily the track that he had a problem with, but how it was put together. Songwriting was John Lennon’s life, and he viewed it as a way to spill his guts and connect with listeners on a deep level. Subsequently, a song born purely out of boredom might not appeal to him much. Ringo was happy, though.
“It was great to get my first song down, one that I had written,” said the drummer, “It was a very exciting time for me and everyone was really helpful and recording that crazy violinist was a thrilling moment.”
