Five songs that prove Ringo Starr was a genius

Ringo Starr has always been known as everyone’s favourite punching bag out of the four Beatles. When talking about all of the group’s talents, the common joke is always that John Lennon was ‘The Intellectual’, Paul McCartney was ‘The Cute One’, George Harrison was ‘The Quiet One’, and Starr just sat behind the kit. If it weren’t for any of Starr’s innovations, though, The Beatles would have been in a much different place.

Throughout their career, Starr’s penchant for writing his own hooks was a separate form of songwriting, always playing off what the rest of the band was doing by switching up his style. Although there might not have been any set melody to what he was playing, some of his classic breaks are instantaneously identifiable from the moment they came on.

While it’s easy to pick out his interactions with the band at the start of their career, some of Starr’s greatest moments have come from the back half of their tenure, where he began including different off-kilter rhythms. Even when not working behind the kit, his voice and general personality always bled through the mix, always seeming like the knockabout uncle of the group.

Even if nothing that Starr did was flashy in the traditional sense of the word, he was always the ultimate example of how to serve the song, whether that meant giving the occasional nudge t a track or making something that completely tied the song together. No matter what kind of Beatles song was coming through the speakers, everyone knew they would be okay as long as Ringo counted it off. 

‘A Hard Day’s Night’ – A Hard Day’s Night

There was a bit of apprehension for The Beatles going into making their first film. Having gone through the initial surge of Beatlemania, the film would surely kick things into high gear, with their privacy becoming a thing of the past and working hours getting even longer. Days would often bleed into the night, and Starr was the one who found a bit of levity in the situation.

When stepping out of the recording studio after a long day on the job, Starr remarked that he had a long hard day as the group was walking out. Quickly realising it was dark outside, he quickly switched his tune from day to night. Although it meant nothing at the time, John Lennon was immediately inspired by the drummer’s goof for the new album’s title track.

Making the basic building blocks of a classic Beatles song, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ became the lynchpin of the group’s next project, with Lennon using Starr’s phrase to talk about the feeling that he got from going from gig to gig every day but knowing that he will have someone waiting for him at home. Starr may have been along for the ride, but sometimes inspiration was coming faster than the band could keep up with.

‘Here Comes the Sun’ – Abbey Road

Of all the primary songwriters in The Beatles, George Harrison was never looking to make something that was a standard pop song. Throughout his tenure with the group, Harrison was always known for thinking outside the box, either bringing spirituality into the mix or making songs with various unheard-of instruments in pop music. When he came in with a gentle acoustic song, Starr was stumped about the rhythm.

Written in various time signatures, Starr had a hard time figuring out where to accent the various sections of ‘Here Comes the Sun’. Developed from the Indian-inspired sense of rhythm, Starr had to work on the song for a little while to find a way to come off at the right time. The answer: play the guitar riff on drums.

Just like John Bonham would do for Jimmy Page’s riffs in Led Zeppelin, Starr plays the accents Harrison makes on the guitar providing a lovely sense of counterpoint to what the rest of the instruments are doing. Starr’s brain might not think in odd numbers like Harrison’s, but it’s bound to work if he feels it in his bones.

‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ – Revolver

By the time The Beatles got to making Revolver, every single song was a different creative endeavour. Compared to the pop-rock stylings of their early work, fans were taken aback when they heard tracks like ‘Eleanor Rigby’ or ‘Taxman’ for the first time, as the band pulled at everything from R&B to classical music to the avant-garde. When they made one of their most ambitious songs yet, Starr was responsible for giving the track its title.

When combing through potential titles like ‘Mark 1’ or ‘The Void’ Starr offered to call the song ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. Although the phrase was supposed to be ‘tomorrow never comes’, Starr’s little malapropism became the perfect idea for the song, especially coupled with Lennon’s knack for writing about the nature of existence.

Outside of the ‘60s rock scene, the essential groove of the tune is also forward-looking for its time, having the same sense of dynamics that would come later in various hip-hop grooves in the early ‘80s. While Starr might not have been comfortable writing songs at this point, his little mannerisms suited the tracks just fine. 

‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Even though The Beatles went off the road, that didn’t mean their schedules got any less hectic. Coming from the same school of doing things as fast as possible, their ability to spin their work into art on albums like Sgt Pepper was only matched by their other ventures in graphic design and their soon-to-be label Apple. That wear and tear would take the drive out of anyone, but Starr still found time to deliver a winning vocal on the group’s latest album.

Recorded right after shooting the now-iconic album cover for Sgt Pepper, Starr made one of his strongest vocal performances, playing the lovable guy trying his best to sing on-key. Although Lennon and McCartney nearly steal the spotlight right back with their backing vocals, it all comes back to Starr singing his heart out, remarking that he only needs help from his friends to get him through even the toughest situations.

This leads to one of the greatest moments in Beatles history, where Starr goes for an amazing high note that’s normally out of his range, hitting it dead-on as the rest of the Beatles sing around him. It certainly was a hard day’s night getting the session finished, but Starr turned all of those blood, sweat and tears into determination when he finally finished the day.

‘Rain’

Throughout his career, Starr was never one to tooth his own horn. Even when in one of the biggest bands in the world, Starr was always comfortable sitting in the back and never playing anything flashy for the sake of being flashy. Despite being one of the most humble guys in rock, even Starr could admit that ‘Rain’ belongs in a class by itself.

As The Beatles were jumping headfirst into psychedelic music, Starr laid down one of his career’s most chaotic drum tracks. As John Lennon groans about the whether, amid various backwards instruments, Starr goes for broke in the verses, adding one solid fill after another while keeping every root accent right in the pocket.

The craziest part about it is the fact that the recorded version is being played at half-speed, with the original take being borderline punk with how fast Starr is keeping up with the rest of the band. Starr might be the mild-mannered gentleman whenever he opened his mouth to sing, but when The Beatles let him unleash, he was an absolute animal behind the kit.

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