Ringo Starr Discovered the Most ‘Brilliant’ Song He Ever Wrote Was Actually a Bob Dylan Hit
Bob Dylan’s songs have been an important influence on a number of musicians, including The Beatles’ Ringo Starr. All of The Beatles credited Dylan with influencing their music, but Starr took it a step further. His bandmate Paul McCartney told the story of the time Starr spent hours writing a brilliant song. After showing his bandmates, he realized that he had actually copied a Dylan hit.
The Beatles said that Bob Dylan was an important influence on them
Dylan and The Beatles rose to prominence at roughly the same time, and the band has spoken about how much the American songwriter influenced them. George Harrison was a dedicated fan and would go on to work with Dylan in The Traveling Wilburys. McCartney said that much of his songwriting was influenced by Dylan.
“We certainly got a lot from Dylan and I know I had one of his first LPs at home before The Beatles,” he told Sean Lennon, per NME. “I used to play that quite a lot so I was steeped in him and I think your dad was too, but that was just one of the influences.”
Ringo Starr accidentally wrote a Bob Dylan song
Dylan’s influence on The Beatles was so prevalent that they sometimes didn’t realize it. McCartney recalled the story of a time Starr learned this the hard way.
“I was always pretty keen not to repeat other people’s tunes, because it’s very easy to do when you write,” he said, per the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles. “Ringo’s got a funny story of the most brilliant song he ever wrote. He spent three hours writing a very famous Bob Dylan song.”
McCartney explained that they couldn’t help but laugh when Starr showed them the song.
“We all fell about and laughed,” he said. “That can happen. You say, ‘This is so great,’ and someone says, ‘Yeah, it’s number one at the moment.’ ‘Ah, that’s where I heard it.'”
Ringo Starr once revealed his favorite Bob Dylan song
Starr, like the rest of his bandmates, was a fan of Dylan. In 2009, he said his favorite Dylan song was “When the Deal Goes Down” from 2006.
“You just got to love Bob,” Starr told ABC News. “My old-time favorite lately is ‘When the Deal Goes Down,’ and it’s just a beautiful love song … It’s this beautiful love song, he’s very romantic in a lot of songs, everyone listens to his wacky dream stuff, which is great. He moves me on that record.”
Starr said it was practically impossible to put together a list of one’s favorite songs without including Dylan.
“If it moves me, it’s the sentiment of the record and how he says it. But no one else can say it like that,” he said. “We met him in the ’60s in New York. We just sort of bumped into him ever since. He’s just an incredible artist that is well-placed in the musical history of American music and world music, so I put Bob down because of all of that. You couldn’t do a list without mentioning Bob.”
