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TL;DR:

  • George Harrison’s “When We Was Fab” features Ringo Starr on the drums.
  • It took 16 or 17 tracks for George to complete “When We Was Fab.”
  • The tune was a minor hit in multiple countries.
Ringo Starr with George Harrison in black-and-white
Ringo Starr with George Harrison | Cummings Archives / Contributor

George Harrison‘s “When We Was Fab” pays tribute to the singer’s days with The Beatles. Notably, Ringo Starr added some magic to “When We Was Fab.” Subsequently, George explained how much work went into the creation of the track.

Ringo Starr and Jeff Lynne worked on George Harrison’s ‘When We Was Fab’

The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1987. In it, he discussed how “When We Was Fab” came together. “We did the basic drum tracks and we did that one, although it was very vague at that time on the chord changes that we wrote,” he said.

George was asked if Ringo played the drums on “When We Was Fab.” “Yeah,” he replied. “We quickly worked that out before we laid the track down — I got that bridge, and then [producer] Jeff [Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra] figured out all them chords, like where it goes, ‘Take you away,’ and there’s a lot of chord changes there.”

George Harrison said he made 16 or 17 tracks in order to complete the song

George revealed a lot of work went into the song. “We laid the drum track down with the piano, I think, and guitar, and I made it later with these sort of 16 or 17 tracks that we’d done,” he said. “And then we started work on what I thought were … would make a good, varied album.”

George gave fans more insight into the drums from “When We Was Fab.” “And at the same time, the ones that turned out best with the drum tracks — because, you know, there were some songs that will eventually turn out fine but they just didn’t come out as good on that day as the ones we chose,” he said. The song was initially titled “Aussie Fab” because it was written in Australia and it sounded like the Fab Four. This title inspired the song’s final title.

Related

George Harrison Co-Wrote Ringo Starr’s 1st No. 1 Song

How ‘When We Was Fab’ performed in the United States and the United Kingdom

“When We Was Fab” became a minor hit for George. It reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 11 weeks. George included “When We Was Fab” on his album Cloud Nine. The album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 31 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “When We Was Fab” was a minor hit in the United Kingdom as well. There, it reached No. 25 in the U.K. and remained on the chart for seven weeks. On the other hand, Cloud Nine hit No. 10 and lasted on the chart for 23 weeks.

“When We Was Fab” is a notable song in George’s discography and it wouldn’t be the same without Ringo.

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