The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has always seemed one of the more affable members of the Fab Four, swinging his head back and forth with a lopsided grin as he kept a steady rhythm for his bandmates. But not even the amiable Starr could hide his disdain for some of his least favorite songs the band ever recorded, and that dislike wasn’t lost on his bandmates, either.
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Paul McCartney later said he believed Starr never “got over” the sting of hearing the Beatles track he always not-so-secretly hated. And while there seemed to be no grave animosity between bandmates (regarding this track, in particular, anyway), there certainly seems to be truth to McCartney’s claim.
Ringo Starr Never “Got Over” This Beatles A-Side, Always Hated It
Before the Beatles made their Ed Sullivan Show debut and sparked a tidal wave of Beatlemania across the globe, the future Fab Four were still cutting their teeth at EMI Studios under the strong influence of producer George Martin. The band was preparing to release their first singles, which would be an arduous task in and of itself. But considering the band had just recently lost drummer Pete Best, they were in an even greater flux. Martin, ever the businessman, hired a session drummer to fill in for Best.
There was only one problem: the Beatles had already found another drummer, Ringo Starr. Starr got on well with the rest of the band and provided a steady beat for the three guitarists up front, but Martin wasn’t sold. While recording what would become the Beatles’ debut single, “Love Me Do,” Martin told the band he wanted to cut the record without Starr. As Starr recalled in Anthology, “George Martin used Andy White, the ‘professional,’ when we went…to record “Love Me Do.” The guy was previously booked anyway because of Pete Best. George didn’t want to take any more chances, and I was caught in the middle.”
“It was very hard to accept that decision,” Paul McCartney added. “We said, ‘Ringo has to be the drummer. We wouldn’t want to lose him as the drummer. But George got his way, and Ringo…only played tambourine. I don’t think Ringo ever got over that. Ringo couldn’t admit to liking the A-side, not being on it.” It seems like Starr would agree, saying, “He has apologized several times since, has old George, but it was devastating. I hated the bugger for years. I still don’t let him off the hook.”
Trading One Creative Decision For Another Paid Off In The End
Whether or not Ringo Starr would play drums on their debut single wasn’t the only creative decision the Beatles and producer George Martin butted heads over. Martin wanted the band to record a version of Mitch Murray’s “How Do You Do It.” The band wanted to record their own material. Eventually, the Beatles compromised by speeding up their B-side single, “Please Please Me,” which sufficiently convinced Martin that they had two commercially successful singles on their hands with “Love Me Do” as the A-side.
A debut single is a musical first impression, and first impressions go a long way. Had the Beatles’ debut singles not been successful, who knows what could have happened to their career. Perhaps the flop would’ve taken the wind out of their sails and the boys back to Liverpool. Maybe they would have switched to a different genre to chase down the chart-topping success they were after. Fortunately, the Beatles stayed true to their creative vision, something that would bolster the rest of their short-lived tenure. After all, you don’t come to define a certain era and sound of rock ‘n’ roll by doing what’s already been done.
Even more fortunately, Ringo Starr didn’t let the snub of “Love Me Do” deter him from pursuing his gig with the Beatles, suggesting that the future Fab Four made the right choice about which decision to put their feet down to Martin over.
Photo by: Universal Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
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