Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

No question that George helped Ringo’s early solo successes become possible, but John, Paul, & George also relied on “a little help from their friends” to peddle their wares as well.  We would’ve gotten a very different sounding ‘John Lennon Plastic Ono Band’ or ‘All Things Must Pass ‘ album had it not been for Ringo’s excellent drumming on both albums.  Before any of you suggest that Ringo didn’t do anything so special that it couldn’t be copied, aside from the drum parts played one of the drummers key roles is to set the tempo for the song, a very underrated characteristic that if ever so slightly altered dramatically changes the results.  Think of how much different classics like ‘Isn’t It A Pity ?’ or ‘God ‘ would sound had another drummer come along and sped things up a bit, or dropped frequent fills throughout without regard for creating space for the others to shine.

George helping Ringo on ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ isn’t any different from him aiding Ringo along on ‘Octopus’ Garden’.  When you listen to George & Ringo working on ‘Octopus’ Garden’ during the ‘Get Back ‘ sessions, it’s pretty clear that Ringo had the melody & lyrics all ready while George’s role was to give it some structure before applying the excellent lead guitar later on during the recording of ‘Abbey Road ‘.  Think back to Paul’s ‘And I Love Her ‘, yes another lovely McCartney melody, but what would the song be without George’s exquisite playing throughout?  I don’t recall anyone saying that George “helped in the writing” or that Paul “owed more to George Harrison “.  If Ringo felt that George “helped in the writing” of ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, he would’ve given him writing credit, as he did with the song ‘Photograph’.  The version of the song floating around webland with a reference vocal from George is just that, a reference vocal, which could’ve been done for any number of reasons.  Just because you see Ringo drumming and singing at the same time on stage doesn’t mean that that’s how it was done in the studio.  Producers & Engineers strive for separation and would immediately advise against both being done simultaneously to avoid the vocals bleeding onto the drum track, George was likely isolated in a vocal booth and provided reference for the musicians so they knew where they were in the song for they never were very adept at writing things down.

Ringo deserves full credit on upstaging John, Paul & George during early 1971 when all four released their singles at this time.  John, Paul & George also employed producers, arrangers, session musicians, etc. for their respective singles here as well.  A great B-Side also makes a great single, and again, Ringo is the clear victor here.  Come to think of it, I don’t even remember what the B-Sides to the others’ singles even were!  ‘Early 1970’ even made Ringo’s compilation album, and for good reason, it genuinely IS one of his “Very Best”, he even plays most of the instruments!  Ringo Starr was by far the most prolific Beatle here, it’s not even close in my opinion…:-)