Expert: Chalk - 7/16/2007

Question
QUESTION: When the Beatles brought Ringo into the band, it was the overwhelming consensus that Ringo was the best drummer in Liverpool. (As best as such a thing can be measured.) I’ve always been curious how much of the Beatles drumming was Ringo’s creation? Did he invent, or did he simply follow composition instructions from Paul and John? A perfect example is the song, “Ticket to Ride.” I have never heard such an amazing and creative drum arrangement. Who created that?



ANSWER: Hi, Dan, and apologies for a slightly delayed reply. (As a songwriter myself, I'm working on a new song that I'm very pleased with, and I got rather involved!).

I can't really answer your question as such except to say that, at the time, there were people who said that Ringo was not technically a good drummer and that, in any case, there were session drummers who played on the Beatles recordings...

That's not to say that Ringo didn't, but it's true that some of George Martin's arrangements involved some quite complicated drumming, and I wonder if Ringo was really capable of that as a young man.

But he has one thing that all pop musicians need: Swing. He helped to make the recordings 'move', and he certainly had a special style. I remember the first time I heard "Can't Buy Me Love" - I thought, "Heck, that really swings".

When I appeared on the same show with them in 1963, someone called me over and said, "Just look at that drummer" - it was Ringo, of course, and his kind of slashing style on the hi-hat cymbal was definitely unique!

You may like to read this: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0706/30/lkl.01.html - Paul says, "...Ringo was in this other group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. And we just thought he was the very best drummer we'd ever seen. And we wanted him in the group. It was kind of like that. So we were big fans of his."

I'm just listening to "Ticket to Ride" - personally, I think that's Ringo playing, but there's a tambourine being shaken in the Bridge sections and at the end - that could be anyone. I would say that Ringo created this drum arrangement, probably with suggestions from George Martin, but I could be entirely wrong! As for John & Paul, I can't judge whet their input might have been.

If you'd like to go further, here's some more reading for you:-

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=who+played+what+Beatles&btnG=Google+Searc
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=who+played+what+Beatles&btnG=Search&meta=

Regards, Chalk.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks! I thought your response was fast. Before the internet, life was 6-8 weeks.  :->

So, now I get it more. And it probably explains why Ringo felt "left out" and "not like the other 3" when they switched from live performances to studio only.

But now a Pandora's box has been opened regarding George Martin. Was he the only Beatles producer? (Besides the Phil Spector quasi-involvement at the end.) If there were other producers, who are they? Chalk, are you able with your ear to tell a Beatles/Martin production vs a Beatles/_______ production? And I assume you feel that Martin was the best of the lot.

Answer
I ask myself if there *was* a life before the Internet!  LOL

With such a great resource now at our fingertips, you may be able to find stuff in your follow-up question that, frankly, I can't help you with. There are numerous sites around that discuss the details of Beatles recordings, the people involved in the sessions, etc.

Sorry, Dan, but I am not able with my ear "to tell a Beatles/Martin production vs a Beatles/_______ production" for the simple reason that I do think that George was the only Beatles producer, at the least the main one on every recording.

I mean, you'd have to be there to know what really went on. There are lots of rumours, but rumours aren't truth. I don't want to feed you information that's only been speculated about over the years, and my knowledge does not go deeper than that.

I was busy gigging with my bands at the time, and it was a different world then - you couldn't follow things like you can today.

So I'll advise you to get your mouse beefed up and whizz around WWW to see what information is available. I would suggest using http://www.google.co.uk/ +pages from the UK as this is where the primary material is likely to be. Here's a little start: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=details+of+Beatles+recordings++%22George+Martin
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=details+of+Beatles+recording+sessions++%2

Good Luck!

Chalk.