The “crazy” 1972 song Ringo Starr thanked God for
When we talk about the most crucial members of The Beatles, Ringo Starr very rarely gets a mention, which seems cruelly unfair.
It’s become a bit of a running joke over the past year when the four Beatles biopics were announced. People were talking about the complex stories that intertwine throughout the lives of Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison, and then imagined the Starr biopic would consist of him waking up, eating waffles, and just having a jolly old time.
You can understand where a lot of these ideas of Ringo Starr come from. He wasn’t the band’s original drummer, and if you want to believe the rumours, he was hired because John Lennon didn’t want to work with a drummer who was more charismatic and handsome than he was. Equally, Starr wasn’t one to write songs; he penned a couple for the band here and there, but none of them is considered classics.
Even in interviews, his fellow band members have made out like he was a charity case at times, as McCartney essentially said that they would palm songs onto Starr when no one else in the band wanted to sing them. It’s a pretty harsh way to word things, but it does set up this idea that the drummer was a bit of an afterthought. It’s mean, sure, but it also gives you some insight into why a lot of people don’t give Ringo Starr the same respect they give the other members.
“‘Little Child’ was a work job,” said McCartney when talking about one of the band’s lesser-known tracks, “Certain songs were inspirational, and you just followed that. Certain other songs were, ‘Right come on, two hours, song for Ringo for the album’.”
However, despite comments like these, the band also acknowledge that The Beatles wouldn’t have reached the stellar heights they did without Ringo Starr on drums. His style had a swing to it, one that glided in the background of tracks and gave them a rhythm which was infectious. Another drummer probably wouldn’t have worked in The Beatles, as Starr gave the band security with his playing style.
“Look, I love Led Zeppelin,” said McCartney, “But you watch them playing and you can see them looking back at John Bonham, like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ This is the beat. You could turn your back on Ringo and never have to worry. He both gave you security and you knew he was going to nail it.”
There are quite a few Beatles songs which, while Ringo may not have written them, he was responsible for making them. Essentially, without his drumming patterns, they just wouldn’t be considered the classics that we know and love today. When Starr was talking about the song ‘Back Off Boogaloo’, a solo record, he said he was a huge fan of the snare pattern on the track, that it made the song, and that it came from God. Well, two out three ain’t bad Ringo, cos you’re right the drum pattern is great, and you’re right it makes the song, but God had nothing to do with it, this was a drum pattern written in the Starrs.
“The crazy bit is the song was turning into ‘Mack The Knife’ in my head, and I was trying to hold it together,” he said, “George wanted me to play a drum pattern I just couldn’t play. In the end, the drum pattern I did play on the snares makes the track. It comes from God. This was one of those. I’ve tried to play it with the All-Starrs and only two of the eight bands could do it. And those are great bands.”
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