I’ve been listening again to the psychedelic era Beatles: Revolver, Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour, but, apart from marvelling at the brilliance of the music, I’ve been concentrating on Ringo’s drumming - and it’s superb!
His drumming on songs like Strawberry Fields, Tomorrow Never Knows and I Am The Walrus are particularly impressive because they’re not what I’d call regular songs. In many songs, you could play a drummer the track minus the drums, and ask him to show how he’d drum on that track, and he’d be able to do it without too many problems.
So, my question is: as the rhythm and beat on those songs are - umm…interesting, did Ringo ‘compose’ his own drumming, or did John and Paul tell him what they wanted?
My guess would be that he played what he wanted. But don’t forget who the other complementary portion of the rhythm section was. The bass and drums partner with one another and Paul was a really impressive bass player IMO.
In fact, I’ve always thought that’s what made the early Beatles stand out from other quartets. The bass provided not only the backdrop for the drums but in places actually set up or carried the tune.
Not sure if I can explain it since I’m not a musician, but listed to songs like:
“Oh yeah I, tell you something.” Dun dun dun dun dun “I think you’ll understand.”
“Help me if you can I’m feeling down.” Boom boom boom “And I do appreciate you being 'round.” Boom boom boom
Just hang on a sec, Biffy and fishbicycle will be along to 'splain all of this - they know their Beatles.
I will say this: songs like Ticket to Ride and Tomorrow Never Knows have very similar syncopated drum beats. Different from a straight rock backbeat, but not hard once you know what you are doing. The choice to use them is what would be interesting to hear about.
As for Ringo, I love him and have defended him on this and other boards many times. However, I don’t think of him as creative, per se - even John said when answering a question about whether Ringo was one of greatest drummers in rock “Ringo isn’t even the greatest drummer in the Beatles” referring to Paul’s skills as a drummer. Ringo, to me, is to be respected for:
playing rock steady
for being consistent - a highly-underrated attribute. As I have pointed out before, in all the records of the Abbey Road recording, I don’t recall seeing one entry where a track had to be re-cut because Ringo make a mistake. Think about that.
for being a great team player and a nice guy - again highly underrated, but critical in the long-haul life of a band. A decent player who is a great team player is usually much more preferable vs. a great primadonna…
A jerky quote if John ever had one. Paul can play drums, and I think John and George could, too. But that doesn’t mean they were actually any good. If there’s a late Beatles song with klutzier, more pedestrian drumming than “Back in the USSR,” (done by Paul because Ringo had quit) I haven’t heard it.
Ringo’s playing was unique and influential. I don’t know how creative it was because I don’t know how much input he got from the other three. I get the impression that it was a lot.
I’m not an expert, but I think Ringo was a great drummer when he was in The Beatles. Strawberry Fields and A Day in the Life are two examples of unusual and very effective drumming by him. I just finished a biography of McCartney in which he stated that the best rock drummers, in his opinion, are Starr, Bonham and Moon. He insisted that this was his legitimate and honest appraisal, not sentimentality. I particularly enjoyed this comment because these three guys are also my favorite drummers.
I think that’s an oversimplification. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about that particular quote:
"John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison have all said that Starr was the best rock and roll drummer in the world, although, when once asked in an interview ‘Is Ringo Starr the best drummer in the world?’, Lennon quipped ‘He’s not the best drummer in The Beatles!’ This was in reference to “Back In The USSR” and “Dear Prudence”, the first two tracks on White Album (1968) in which McCartney handled the drumming; Starr had walked out earlier, and did not return for two weeks until the other three Beatles urged him to come back. "
All very fair - and again, let me restate: I am a HUGE Beatles fan and huge Ringo fan. I appreciate his contributions on many levels. I simply tend not to think of him as a particularly creative drummer vs. players like Bonham or Moon, to cite the other players mentioned by McCartney. But he is a great drummer in my mind - no question…
Interesting, because I would say that Bonham and Moon were ‘big’ drummers. While both had immense skill, they were showy and flamboyant (in style as well as personality!), whereas Ringo was/is much more restrained. I wouldn’t group him in with the other two, in terms of style.
Paul did the drumming for his first solo album, which, come to think of it, I haven’t seen or heard of in years. He even gave himself a drum solo. Having heard that, all I can add is that John was one hell of a kidder.
Agreed. I don’t think Paul was grouping them stylistically, just listing those he liked best as drummers. Even Moon and Bonham, though both were ‘big’ drummers, as you say, were very different from each other.
I should have mentioned before that the biography I just read was Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles. Miles was part of The Beatles’ scene in London and was a partner in the Indica Gallery and Bookstore, which The Beatles were involved in. I highly recommend it.
I think Ringo was very talented and John had some very positive things to say about his drumming at various times, even using him for solo projects.
Ringo’s own personal favorite performance was in the song “Rain” (possibly my fave Beatles song) which is a continuous untampered-with take. Pretty cool.
If you get the chance check out the B-side to “Back Off Boogaloo,” “Blindman.” It’s a rarely heard awesome and certainly creative song co-written by Ringo and Klaus Voorman about the spaghetti western Ringo was in in 1971 - entertaining movie as well!
I tend to agree with WordMan. Whether Ringo was musically creative, or whether he was very good at executing someone else’s arrangement is immaterial. More important is that he was a stabilizing influence.
I know what you mean. I’m so obsessed with Paul’s bass playing that I get angry enough to physically assault anyone who says that Paul was a mediocre bassist or who denigrates his instrumental contribution to the Beatles. In fact, I am obsessed with melodic bassists in general, of which I believe Paul McCartney is possibly the most influential and revolutionary. I started a thread on this subject a while ago, which turned out to be very popular with the music crowd. I probably shouldn’t mention it but I was very, very high when I started that thread - can you tell from the writing?
Ringo’s style was simple but distinctive. I was reading a review of the excellent new album by The Minus 5 in which they described the song “Cemetery Row” as having “Ringo drum fills”, and when I listened again, I realized they were right.
If your style can be used as an adjective thirty+ years later, I’d say it’s hard to deny your creativity.
I agree, what I’m still unsure of is how much of that was down to him working out what to play, or playing what he was told to play, or just instinctive talent.
