Ringo Starr Said He Couldn’t Have Sung These 2 Beatles Songs
While classic rock stars are often stereotyped as being cocky, some of them are well aware of their limitations. Ringo Starr said he couldn’t have sung two of The Beatles’ songs. He also named the two Fab Four tracks that paved the way for him to become a solo artist.
A reporter told Ringo Starr he couldn’t have sung 2 of The Beatles’ songs and he agreed
During a 2023 interview with AARP, a reporter noted that Paul McCartney wrote The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” specifically for Ringo to sing. The reporter said Ringo wouldn’t have been able to sing “Helter Skelter” or “Blackbird.” Interestingly, both of those tracks are from The White Album. “No, I couldn’t,” Ringo replied.
“John wrote several songs for me over the years, and George too,” he recalled. “I used to be a rock drummer, and then they ruined my whole career. [Laughs.] ‘With a Little Help’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’ are the reasons I’m onstage every night.”
Paul McCartney recently wrote a song for the ‘Back Off Boogaloo’ singer
The reporter said people writing songs for Ringo was an act of love. “Yeah, they know me,” he said. “Paul loves me as much as I love him. He’s the brother I never had. As an only child, suddenly I got three brothers. We looked out for each other. We all went mad at different times. You can’t imagine what it was like, being in The Beatles. It got bigger and crazier.”
Ringo then discussed the most recent song Paul wrote for him: “Feeling the Sunlight” from the EP Rewind Forward. “Paul and I were in England, having dinner together [along with our wives],” he said. “I told him I was making an EP, and I said, ‘Why don’t you write me a song?’ He wrote the song and put bass on it, he put piano, he put the drums on — and I had to take the drums off.”
Ringo Starr might’ve been able to do ‘Helter Skelter’ justice but not ‘Blackbird’
Ringo’s statements about “Helter Skelter” and “Backbird” are interesting. “Helter Skelter” is, arguably, the most abrasive song from the Fab Four’s entire discography. One of Ringo’s best songs is “Back Off Boogaloo,” and that’s a hard rock song. Ringo’s voice might have sounded right at home in “Helter Skelter.” After all, everyone loves that end of the track where Ringo screams “I got blisters on my fingers!”
On the other hand, “Blackbird” is a soft rock ballad with folk elements that probably wouldn’t have worked for Ringo. None of Ringo’s famous songs, from his Beatles days or his solo career, were soft ballads. Maybe he could have blown everyone’s mind by singing “Blackbird” well. But that’s doubtful. Of all The Beatles, Paul was the best at singing ballads so it’s for the best that he took on that song.
Regardless of whether “Helter Skelter” or “Blackbird” would have been the right tunes for Ringo, his bandmates definitely wrote classic songs for him to perform.
