John Lennon always believed Ringo Starr was far better than Charlie Watts: “Ringo’s a damn good drummer”
It’s often repeated that John Lennon once said Ringo Starr “wasn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles”. But, as Beatles fans will quickly point out, that’s a misquote. The line actually came from comedian Jasper Carrott and was later wrongly attributed to Lennon, as if he had mocked his own bandmate. In reality, Lennon was a strong supporter of Starr, even ranking him above other drummers of the time and calling him the best of the decade.
Starr often gets a lot of slack. That misquoted dig is thrown around time and time again, as there is this pervasive myth that the drummer was no good. The truth couldn’t be further from that – obviously, Ringo Starr was a great drummer. With as much of a part in making The Beatles the history-shaking band they were, Starr’s unique playing that was neither obnoxiously flashy nor was it boring was the group’s foundation.
As a student of jazz players, Ringo had adopted the belief that the drums should always serve the bigger picture of the song. “People always feel it’s weird, but I never listened just for the drums,” Starr once told Dave Grohl, adding, “I listened for the whole track.” He didn’t care for big, show-stealing drum solos. Instead, he cared about creating a solid, powerful and thrilling beat for the song to exist alongside.
Another player at the time was exactly the same: Charlie Watts. Yet another jazz student, The Rolling Stones player, worked on exactly the same ethos. “I don’t like drum solos,” he once said. “I never take them. I admire some people who do them, but generally, I don’t like them. It’s not something I sit and listen to. I prefer drummers in the band playing with the band.”
The two drummers, both working at the same time in the heyday of the 1960s, clearly shared a kinship. Starr praised Watts greatly, stating, “You look at Charlie Watts in the Stones and there is nothing really said, and he’s an amazing drummer, but the drummers tended not to get the writing,” as he discussed how drummers often fly under the radar.
However, if it were up to John Lennon, he would’ve put Starr above Watts each and every time. “I always objected to the fact that because Charlie came on a little more ‘arty’ than Ringo and knew jazz and did cartoons, that he got credit,” Lennon said, resenting the fact that Watts always seemed to be taken more seriously or revered more.
Lennon added: “I think Charlie’s a damn good drummer and the other guys a good bass player but I think Paul and Ringo stand up anywhere, with any of the rock musicians.”
He put it plainly, pitting the two bands against one another; “If you compare [Paul McCartney’s] bass playing with The Rolling Stones’ bass playing, and you compare Ringo’s drumming with Charlie Watts’ drumming, they are equal to them, if not better.”
Dispelling the myth that Lennon criticised Starr’s playing, he said simply in the Anthology, “Ringo’s a damn good drummer.” He also proved his dedication to his old bandmate by calling him in to play on Mind Games, his 1973 solo record.
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