The Beatles

Some of the best drumming on any Beatles song is on "Back in the U.S.S.R.," which Paul played because Ringo had temporarily quit the band because he was tired of all the arguing in the studio.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: We went from Elvis Presley and Pat Boone — basically an extension of the 1950s — all the way to The Doors, Sgt. Pepper and the Summer of Love in a little more then three years. Obviously, the Beatles were on the cutting edge of that. My mind would boggle if I was alive through a similar culture shift.

 

I always laugh whenever I see the Lennon quote saying Ringo wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles.
I played rhythm acoustic in a garage band years ago and we covered the Fab Four. I was the least proficient in the band, electric lead and rhythm, bass, drums but could hold my own. We were friends and loved British Invasion music so I got to know the Beatles catalogue well. The drummer was outstanding and could play note for note.
McCartney isn't in the same league as Starr as a drummer. When he was crafting his songs he instructed and gave direction on what percussive sound he wanted but Ringo fleshed it out. That's fairly typical in a band because usually the drummer isn't a composer and in the infancy stages of a song they all sound terrible until there is a defining beat established. Telling someone how you may want it to sound and sitting on the stool and banging out a recordable version are two completely different things. Paul's debut solo album, "Ram", on which he played all the instruments was woefully 'under drummed' to coin a phrase. Anything I've heard where McC has been on the skins could be bettered by any astute student having had some lessons and done some hard practicing. His drumming has ZERO texture yet that is what made Ringo such a great drummer for the Beatles.
I assume that Lennon was using his bully stick when he made the quote, either he was sick of the interview/drunk/stoned/drunk & stoned/mad at Ringo etc. (pick one). Anyone nodding their head in silent agreement upon reading or hearing the quote is propagating a popular misconception.

 

McCartney also handled all the drums on "BOTR," which include the title tune and "Mrs. Vandebilt," both of which are pretty nifty drum parts.

But Ringo handled the drums on "Rain," one of the dozen or so great rock drum tracks of all time. He doesn't stack up in raw chops to Moon, Watts or Bonham, but he was great for what his role demanded.

Except for the infamous quote, Lennon was usually wildly complimentary toward Ringo as a drummer. He hired him to do most of the drumming on "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine" when he could have brought in Keltner or pretty much any other studio pro in the world.

I think as much as anything else he was probably just having a piss at the interviewer for asking what he considered a dumbass question.

 

And worth noting: it appears Lennon never actually said that.

From the LA Times article on the latest Beatles biography:

 

Starman, your comments made me stop and realize that McCartney changed how his songs were drummed as he broke away from Lennon as a writing partner during the "Pepper" and "White Album" time frame. Most of his music from then and into his solo career was percussed more subtly because, well, that's how it was written. Just shows his musical genius that his songs could undergo that transition and still be rock classics, just quieter on the back end. In truth the later albums were all about the engineering and guitar sounds and less about an active drum track.
Always bugged me that Lennon supposedly made the comment about Starr so Lewisohn's word (law re: Fab) is a good find.

 

I do know in the 'Double Fantasy' round of interviews in Nov./Dec. 1980, Lennon was very expansive in his praise for Ringo and his assessment he was "perfect" for his role in the band.

The bogus quote is something Lennon might have said on the infamous "Lost Weekend" if he had just stumbled home after a long night drinking with Ringo and some kind of argument over some shit that went down a decade before.

 

I agree that if Lewisohn says Lennon never said it, he never said it. Lewisohn's research has always been flawless.

 

As I mentioned elsewhere, I spent three weeks on that book and got ab out halfway in (400 pages or so) before it had to go back to the library. Just overwhelming, probably of interest only to the truly obsessed or those with more time to read than I have.

As for Ringo, his drumming really drove a lot of their early songs then seemed to disappear into the mix except for stuff like "Come Together".

 

I think on most of the really super-produced symphonic/orchestral stuff from "Pepper" through "Abbey Road," George Martin probably steered/dictated most of the percussion tracks.

He had the technical knowhow necessary to figure out where and when time changes needed to be. The production stories of Martin figuring out how to record "Strawberry Fields" in two different tempos and then slow down the Lennon vocal track to match the instrumental backing are amazing.

Lennon himself was horrible at keeping rhythm and he knew it. "Give Peace A Chance" of course was first recorded live in the hotel room with Lennon keeping the time, and later he overdubbed a beat-box, and about halfway through the song they go about half a beat out of step (it's very obvious if you listen for it -- ba-boom, ba-boom).

That's why almost all of his later Dakota demo tapes are recorded to a beat-box click track.

Most of Lennon's later-era psychedelic-orchestral stuff like "Strawberry Fields" and "I Am The Walrus ('No You're Not,' Said Little Nicola)," Lennon just threw at Martin and said "you figure it out" when it came to stuff like the rhythm tracks.