{"id":28808,"date":"2025-01-27T05:30:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T10:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28808"},"modified":"2024-12-17T12:19:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T17:19:18","slug":"take-five-classic-ringo-starr-singles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/27\/take-five-classic-ringo-starr-singles\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Classic Ringo Starr Singles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ringo Starr was one-fourth of the most influential group in the history of rock music. His inimitable style, charm and drumming endeared him to legions of fans. He sang on a number of Beatles hits and deep album tracks. The one thing he rarely did in those years was write songs: Among Beatles tunes, only \u201cDon\u2019t Pass Me By\u201d from the White Album and \u201cOctopus\u2019 Garden\u201d (from <em>Abbey Road<\/em>) are credited to Ringo alone as composer.<\/p>\n<p>But that didn\u2019t stop the man born Richard Starkey from embarking upon a creatively fruitful post-Beatles solo career, one that continues to this day. Here are five classics that remind us what a fine pop star good old Ringo has always been.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIt Don\u2019t Come Easy\u201d (single, 1970)<\/strong><br \/>\nThe second song Ringo ever wrote would be his first solo single. Co-written by George Harrison (who isn\u2019t credited), the song was recorded a few times before the session that yielded the finished version. An early mix from that session circulates among collectors; it features George on lead vocals instead of Ringo, and at one point backing vocalists Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger can be heard singing \u201cHare Krishna.\u201d Other players on the session included Gary Wright, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann, Stephen Stills and Beatles roadie Mal Evans. The single made it to #1 on the U.S. <em>Cash Box<\/em> chart.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/anpjEN9KeJ0?si=nkdkOw8lq456vXwc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cPhotograph\u201d from <em>Ringo<\/em> (1973)<\/strong><br \/>\nAs he sang (in lyrics penned for him by John Lennon and Paul McCartney), Ringo really <em>did<\/em> get by with a little help from his friends. Once again, pal George co-wrote a song with him, this time receiving credit. With a soaring Jack Nitzsche arrangement and Richard Perry\u2019s expert production, this lovely and sentimental tune ranks among the best post-Beatles singles. \u201cPhotograph\u201d soared to the #1 spot on the U.S. singles chart, and hit the Top Ten in ten other countries.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nevdSt_2PIM?si=-s_vb_ijctrZFZgf\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cNo No Song\u201d from <em>Goodnight Vienna<\/em> (1975)<\/strong><br \/>\nThis playful tune is a wry tale of someone who claims to eschew various illicit and\/or mind-altering substances (specifically pot, cocaine and moonshine). The song was written by acclaimed actor-songwriter Hoyt Axton, who also penned \u201cJoy to the World\u201d (Three Dog Night), \u201cThe Pusher\u201d (Steppenwolf) and many other hits. The session for this song included Ringo\u2019s old Hamburg friend Klaus Voormann, top session pianist Nicky Hopkins and others, including Keith Moon on spoken vocal. \u201cNo No Song\u201d earned Ringo yet another U.S. #1 single.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FIzgJyhxbKY?si=W5jV6j8ai_KJjsa9\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWrack My Brain\u201d from <em>Stop and Smell the Roses<\/em> (1981)<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 1980 Ringo began work on an album project planned as <em>Can\u2019t Fight Lightning<\/em>. In an approach similar to that used on 1973\u2019s hit LP <em>Ringo<\/em>, he sought help from his old Beatles band mates on various tracks. John Lennon was planning to participate, but was killed before that could happen. Then Ringo\u2019s deal with his label fell through, and the project was shelved for a time. When it was revived, the re-titled album project included this song, written by Harrison. Released as a single, \u201cWrack My Brain\u201d would be Ringo\u2019s last Top 40 hit to date, making it to #38 in the U.S. <em>Stop and Smell the Roses<\/em> was reissued for Record Store Day 2023.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AMNYZ6LsSec?si=5GxHZBbjREN-Q18N\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWeight of the World\u201d from <em>Time Takes Time<\/em> (1992)<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter the flop of his 1983 album <em>Old Wave<\/em>, Ringo would take nearly a decade to record a follow-up. But when he did, it was worth the wait. Featuring production from some top names (Peter Asher, Jeff Lynne, Phil Ramone, Don Was) the album followed on the heels of Ringo\u2019s first (and highly successful) All-Starr Band tour. Penned by outside songwriters, \u201cWeight of the World\u201d nonetheless had a very Beatlesque feel, and the recording featured keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) along with Jellyfish duo Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Andy Sturmer. Released as a single, the song just missed the Top 40 of the Mainstream Rock chart in the U.S. It did chart in six other countries, with Switzerland\u2019s #21 spot as its best showing.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7opmWof02uE?si=711YmzT6dt5mIrI7\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ringo Starr was one-fourth of the most influential group in the history of rock music. His inimitable style, charm and drumming endeared him to legions of fans. He sang on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1845],"class_list":["post-28808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-ringo-starr","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28809,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28808\/revisions\/28809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}