It's July and you know what that means. That's right, it's birthday month. Everyone knows I celebrate my birthday all month, but today it's about birthday boy Ringo Starr.
You know Ringo as The Beatles' drummer, who Paul McCartney has said is the most consistent drummer he's ever worked with and I think he's pretty underrated as a musician. Ringo's played with some greats in music. His Wikipedia entry on who he's played, toured, and recorded with reads like a Who's Who of rock and roll of the past 50 years with names like Carl Perkins, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, Jim Keltner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dr. John, Dave Stewart, Sheila E, Howard Jones, Paul Carrack — you get the picture, the list is ridiculous and I haven't even mentioned the solo albums he drummed on for the other three Beatles.
One of my favorite Beatles songs featuring Ringo's drumming is "The End." For some reason I don't have a good mp3 of it (not sure where my Abbey Road cd is, but I'll be looking for it later). "The End" was the last song recorded by all four Beatles and all four have solos in the song (very nifty), even though Ringo didn't like solos. Here's a You Tube video with the song as it's heard on the Abbey Road as a 5 minute superfantasic medley of "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight," and "The End."
My favorite Ringo song has always been "Photograph," here's a 2008 clip.
Lastly, I found a great video from Ringo of a radio interview and a performance of his autobiographical song "Liverpool 8," I think you'll like it. Happy birthday, Ringo!
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