The Beatles Song Paul McCartney Called a ‘Job to Order’ for Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr didn’t write many songs for The Beatles, but Paul McCartney and John Lennon often wrote music that catered to his talents. The drummer had many fans, and The Beatles wanted to ensure his admirers could hear his contributions. Lennon and McCartney wrote one song with Starr’s talents in mind that Paul called a “job to order” for the famous drummer. 

Paul McCartney and John Lennon gave a Beatles song a ‘country’ influence

“I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” is from The Beatles’ 1964 album Beatles for Sale. Lennon primarily wrote it, but it is credited to Lennon-McCartney. The track contains themes of isolation and anxiety as the singer details being at a party and trying not to bring down the mood after their date stands them up. 

It has a distinct sound for The Beatles, infused with a country and blues style. In a 1964 interview with Disc (via Beatles Bible), McCartney said that was their goal while writing the track. 

“We went after a real country and western flavor when we wrote this one,” McCartney said. “John and I do the singing in that style, and George takes a real country solo on guitar.”

Lennon and McCartney wrote ‘I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party’ for Ringo Starr

“I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party” has a “country and western flavor” to appeal to Starr’s talents, whose early musical influences included country and blues singers like Hank Williams and Lightnin’ Hopkins. In Many Years From Now, Paul McCartney explained that he and John tried to write at least one song for Ringo on each Beatles album. This was one that they wrote to fit Starr’s “style” and “delivery.”

“Ringo had a great style and great delivery. He had a lot of fans, so we liked to write something for him on each album. ‘I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party’ is quite a nice little song, co-written by John and I. It sounds more like John than me, so 80-20 to him, sitting down doing a job. Certain songs were inspirational, and certain songs were work, it didn’t mean they were any less fun to write, it was just a craft, and this was a job to order really, which Ringo did a good job on.”

However, Starr did not sing lead vocals on the track as that went to Lennon. Even though he wrote it for the drummer, Lennon said it was a “personal” song. 

“That was a very personal one of mine,” Lennon shared. “In the early days, I wrote less material than Paul because he was more competent on the guitar than I. He taught me quite a lot of guitar really.”

Starr has performed lead vocals on many other songs

While Starr passed on “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”, he still performed lead vocals on many other famous Beatles songs, including “Yellow Submarine”, “Honey, Don’t”, “With a Little Help from My Friends”, and “Good Night”. Starr did co-write a few Beatles songs, but he is only solely credited for two tracks: “Don’t Pass Me By” and “Octopus’s Garden”. 

He has a nice singing voice to complement his percussion skills, but it wasn’t until his solo career that he proved he could write a significant number of quality songs.