3 Eternal Ringo Starr Songs From His Years With The Beatles

When it comes to The Beatles, music fans often appreciate the other three members before they get to drummer Ringo Starr. There is the famous quote from Quincy Jones that Starr wasn’t any good at his instrument. And thinking about the songwriters in the group, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and George Harrison bubble to mind way before the kit player.

But to forget about Ringo would be a travesty. He was perhaps the most unassuming and charming of the Fab Four. The guy who could come out of left field with a hit song that just went to your heart. That’s why we wanted to celebrate him here below. Indeed, these are three eternal songs by Ringo Starr from his years with The Beatles.

[RELATED: How Boredom Helped Ringo Starr Write His First Beatles Song (And Preview Music He’d Make Decades Later)]

“With a Little Help From My Friends” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

This song perhaps sums up Ringo Starr’s role as part-time frontman for the former Mop Tops. When it comes to writing a hit song, he did in fact need some help from his friends. This song, which comes from the band’s 1967 LP Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was written by Paul McCartney but sung by Starr. And its opening line about singing out a tune or out of tune, depending on how you hear the delivery, is cute when you think of Starr’s distinct voice. Nevertheless, it remains one of the band’s best, most popular, and most covered songs. And on it, Starr sings,

What would you think if I sang out of tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song
And I’ll try not to sing out of key

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

“Yellow Submarine” from Revolver (1966)

This childlike song was written by McCartney and Lennon but performed by Starr. His voice was perhaps the most “unserious” of the Fab Four’s—not because he wasn’t trying but just because Starr had that quirky sensibility about him that made him seem pleasantly cartoonish. It was a wonderful thing and not something to shy away from, which is why he featured on many of the band’s memorable songs, including this one. And on it, Starr sings,

In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed on to the sun
‘Til we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

“Octopus’s Garden” from Abbey Road (1969)

Unlike the two songs about, Starr penned this tune with a little assistance from Beatles guitarist George Harrison. Of their work together, Harrison famously said, “‘Octopus’s Garden’ is Ringo’s song. It’s only the second song Ringo wrote, and it’s lovely.” And like “Yellow Submarine,” the song is fun and silly and vivid. It’s imaginative in the way a child’s favorite book is. And on the classic tune, Starr sings out,

I’d like to be
Under the sea
In an octopus’s garden
In the shade

He’d let us in
Knows where we’ve been
In his octopus’s garden
In the shade

I’d ask my friends to come and see
An octopus’s garden with me

Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images