The Beatles mistake Ringo Starr called “one of the dumbest things we ever did”
Ringo Starr is the most underappreciated member of The Beatles. He provided the band with a stern backbone that laid the foundations for the other members to thrive and was the final piece of the jigsaw that completed the Fab Four. However, much to Starr’s frustration, he was omitted from the recording process of one of their signature tracks.
When The Beatles released their debut single, ‘Love Me Do’, in 1962, they had finally settled on a permanent line-up following the recruitment of Starr, but producer George Martin still held reservations about his new bandmate. Starr was no stranger to the other boys in the band at this stage, having shared a bill with The Beatles during a summer of shows in Hamburg in 1961.
Therefore, when tension grew with drummer Pete Best, The Beatles lined up Starr as his replacement before the eventual ousting occurred. Starr wasn’t given the luxury of a settling-in period and was immediately thrown into the deep end, leading to the wildest ride of his life, lasting eight years.
Mere weeks after officially joining the set-up, Starr was in London at EMI Studios to record with The Beatles for the first time. Despite having the full support of John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney, he was an unknown quantity to Martin, who had taken a gamble on the band.
As a precautionary measure, Martin enlisted another drummer, Alan White, who played on a separate recording of ‘Love Me Do’ and Starr performed on another take. Although this is unusual, Martin’s thinking is somewhat understandable. Still, the decision to release both versions, one on the album and another on the single, is unfathomable, even to the band.
For the second session, featuring White, Starr was in attendance, but as he was barred from playing his instrument, he instead contributed tambourine to the track. Although his work on the tambourine didn’t add much to the recording, it does indicate the difference between the two versions of ‘Love Me Do’.
Even after playing on every other recording by The Beatles and helping them become the biggest band in the world, the debacle surrounding ‘Love Me Do’ still irked Starr. During a conversation with Paste in 1977, Starr explained how the mishap came to be, stating, “He (Martin) wanted a professional drummer. Mainly because when we did the run through for ‘Please, Please Me’, I was doing tambourine in one hand, maraca in the other and the bass drum and the high hat.”
Starr then recalled the precise moment that he believes led to Martin bringing in White, noting, “This mad thing, trying to shake and hit the cymbals with the maraca. I would smash this big cymbal with a maraca. And George is looking at me going, ‘Oh, yes? We’ve got a mad person here.’ That’s why he brought in Andy White, anyway.”
The drummer was incredibly frustrated because Martin showed a lack of belief in his talent, which started their relationship on the wrong foot. “It’s a very simple song, you know. I can do it. But George didn’t want it at the time. He was insecure. He wanted to fit in a real player. But it was one of the dumbest things we ever did,” he added.
Over the course of their career, The Beatles didn’t make many mistakes, and the decision to overlook Starr on the recording of ‘Love Me Do’ is up there with the band’s gravest errors. However, regardless of whoever drummed on the track, it was always destined to be a hit and was the perfect way for the Fab Four to launch themselves into the public eye.
