# "I Can Help" singer \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-help-singer-edited-title/684680 "2014-03-27T15:12:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-help-singer-edited-title/684680/21 "2014-03-31T18:30:20Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > So am I the only idiot who thought for the last 40 years… > > …“I Can Help” was by Ringo Starr? > > Apparently this Billy Swan guy isn’t even English. This rates the second “huh?” of the thread. You’re right…Billy Swan isn’t English…he’s American. I guess what you’re trying to imply is that if The Beatles did cover songs, they would at least be by English songwriters. But in fact, this never happened, at least not in the course of their officially released oeuvre. All their cover songs were by American songwriters. By the time of “I Can Help” hitting the charts in 1974, Billy had already tasted success a dozen years earlier as the songwriter of “Lover Please,” a #7 hit for Clyde McPhatter. For the record, I guess this shows the divide between people who had the radio on in the background and those who actually listened to it. I agree that there’s a resemblance between Billy’s voice and Ringo’s on this track, and I noted it at the time. But I knew it was Billy Swan because I knew who every song I heard on the radio was by. Billy went on to have some moderate hits on the country charts. I was particularly fond of his 1981 single “Do I Have to Draw a Picture.” ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-help-singer-edited-title/684680/22 "2014-04-01T11:28:00Z")
To me, it always sounded like Roy Orbison. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-help-singer-edited-title/684680/23 "2014-04-01T13:06:03Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I always knew it was Billy Swan. I remember when it came out. I never had any impression it was Ringo. Moi aussi. I never thought it was Ringo even when I was 7 and it was on the radio. I will say, anecdotally, that playing that in a 90s alt-band got people up on their feet. They liked hearing it. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-help-singer-edited-title/684680/24 "2014-04-01T18:48:09Z")
I never thought it was Ringo and don’t see a similarity in their voices, but I can’t claim any kind of superior voice recognition. My head asploded recently when I found out that it’s Ringo who screams “I got blisters on my fingers” at the end of Helter Skelter. From the moment I first heard that in 1968, I knew without question it was John. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-help-singer-edited-title/684680/25 "2014-04-01T19:58:02Z")
I always knew it was Billy Swann, but until today I though Swann was a black guy. Maybe I confused him with Billy Preston? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-help-singer-edited-title/684680.md?page=1)