Always heavily influenced by Motown and the American blues and rock of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Ray Charles, as they made their big jump from the smaller stages in Liverpool to defining their sound in Hamburg, Germany, The Beatles’ repertoire extended into earlier influences of rockabilly, folk, and country-western with covers by Carl Perkins and Buck Owens among others.
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All four members had their particular brushes with country. A big Chet Atkins fan, George Harrison started playing Atkins’ 1962 black Country Gentleman and Tennessean Rose model Gretsch guitars while in The Beatles. Atkins also admired the band and released an album of their covers, Chet Atkins Picks on the Beatles, in 1966, with liner notes written by Harrison.
“I have appreciated Chet Atkins as a musician since long before the tracks on this album were written, in fact, since I was the ripe young age of 17,” wrote Harrison in the liner notes to Atkins’ album. “Since then I have lost count of the number of Chet’s albums I have acquired, but I have not been disappointed with any of them. For me, the great thing about Mr. Atkins is not the fact that he is capable of playing almost every type of music but the conviction in the way he does it.”
Post-Beatles, Paul McCartney’s band Wings hit the country singles chart with “Sally G,’ featuring Nashville musicians Johnny Gimble, Lloyd Green, and Bob Wills, while John Lennon once wrote a letter to Waylon Jennings in 1975 hinting at a song he wished he had covered—perhaps Jennings’ hit “I’m a Ramblin’ Man,” released a year earlier.
The biggest country fan in The Beatles may have been Ringo Starr, who wrote and co-wrote a few country-bent songs for the group and released a country and western-influenced solo album, Beaucoups of Blues, in 1970. He also added more country twang to his song “So Wrong For So Long,” which he co-wrote with Dave Stewart for his 2017 album, Give More Love.
Country always surfaced in one way or another with The Beatles, which is evident on these five tracks recorded by the four.
1. “Baby’s In Black,” Beatles for Sale (1964)
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
By the time The Beatles were recording Beatles for Sale, they had already met Bob Dylan and were influenced by more folk and country, which has some inflections on the album. The first song recorded for the album was a country waltz, “Baby’s In Black,” recorded with Lennon and McCartney singing their vocal parts through the same microphone, simultaneously.
2. “Honey Don’t,” Beatles for Sale (1964)
Written by Carl Perkins
The Beatles covered a selection of songs by Carl Perkins since their beginning, from “Matchbox,” Sure to Fall (In Love with You),” “Glad All Over,” and “Lend Me Your Comb.” On their fourth album, Beatles for Sale, the fab four covered two more Perkins songs: “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby,” and “Honey Don’t.”
3. “Act Naturally,” Help! (1965)
Written by Johnny Russell
In 1965, The Beatles also recorded and released a cover of “Act Naturally” by the late country legend Buck Owens (1929-2006) for their fifth album, Help! The track featured Starr on lead vocals and was initially released as the B-side to “Yesterday” in the U.S.,
Originally written by Johnny Russell and first recorded by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, the song hit No. 1 on the country chart in 1963. In 1989, Starr rerecorded “Act Naturally” as a duet with Owens.
4. “What Goes On,” Rubber Soul (1965)
Written by Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney
“Don’t Pass Me By,” the first song Ringo Starr wrote for The Beatles wasn’t the drummer’s only experiment with country music. Along with Lennon and McCartney, Starr also co-wrote the country-tipped “What Goes On” for The Beatles’ 1965 Rubber Soul album.
5. “Don’t Pass Me By,” The Beatles/The White Album (1968)
Written by Ringo Starr
In 1963, Ringo Starr wrote his first song for The Beatles. Originally called “This is Some Friendly,” the title was later changed to “Don’t Pass Me By” and eventually released on The Beatles’ The White Album in 1968.
Though Starr also wrote and co-wrote a number of songs for The Beatles, including “Octopus’s Garden,” “Maggie Mae,” “Dig It,” and “Flying,” when it came to “Don’t Pass Me By,” it took four years before it was recorded and released. The song was first mentioned in a 1964 interview with the band on the BBC radio show Top Gear. When Starr was asked if he would write any songs for The Beatles, Paul McCartney interjected with his “Don’t Pass Me By” lyrics singing, Don’t pass me by / Don’t make me cry / Don’t make me blue.
“I wrote ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ when I was sitting around at home,” said Starr. “I only play three chords on the guitar and three on the piano. I was fiddling with the piano—I just bang away—and then if a melody comes and some words, I just have to keep going. That’s how it happened.”
Starr added, “I was just sitting at home alone, and ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ arrived. We played it with a country attitude. It was great to get my first song down, one that I had written. It was a very exciting time for me and everyone was really helpful, and recording that crazy violinist was a thrilling moment.”
Read the full story behind “Don’t Pass Me By” HERE.
Photo: King Collection/Avalon/Getty Images
