Paul McCartney explained how a classic Beatles song came about as he lifted the lid on how Ringo Starr introduced the band to new music. Ringo hosted a concert special on American channel CBS on Monday (March 10) to celebrate his country album ‘Look Up’, which was released in January.
The show saw Ringo play a number of Beatles classics, including ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’ as well as new songs from the album. He was joined on stage by a number of stars, such as Sheryl Crow and Jack White.
It also featured a video message from Paul, who spoke about Ringo’s long-standing love of country music and the song ‘Act Naturally’ by Buck Owens, which Ringo sang when The Beatles covered in 1965. ‘Act Naturally’ follows a narrator who wants to make it big in Hollywood as an actor, which Paul likened to Ringo in the film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
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The Walton-born 82-year-old said: “Ringo was the first guy in The Beatles to turn us onto country music. We were very much into rock and roll but he was heavy into country.
“So, he had a lot of records we didn’t have and he was a big admirer of some of the country stars of the time. So of whom we’d never heard of, I must admit. He goes way back into country music, so it was natural for him when we first recorded for his track to be a cover of the Buck Owens song ‘Act Naturally’.”
“You know, it’s the story of Ringo. He came to do the film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and he was the star. He was the one who acted naturally, so he’s got a long love, going way back, of country music and so, it’s great that he’s done a country album and I love him.
“Maybe my favourite song of his would have to be ‘Act Naturally’. Come on.”
‘Act Naturally’ was released on the album ‘Help!’ by The Beatles in August 1965. They performed it live a number of times, including a 1965 episode of ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and on their US tour the same year. Ringo has continued to play it live regularly since, with his All-Starr Band.
The ECHO recently looked at the origins of the song ‘Yellow Submarine’, which was written for children by John Lennon and Paul, and was sung by Ringo. The idea for the track came to Paul while on holiday in Greece, where he enjoyed an iced dessert that was yellow or red, and was known in the area as a submarine. John also had the idea of living in a submarine during an acid trip.
The psychedelic idea became an almost nursery rhyme style song, sung by Ringo. It performed very well commercially.
The song was given an Ivor Novello award in 1967 for the British A-side single with the most sales. In a BBC interview about that, John and Paul both joked with journalist Brian Matthew that neither of them were the primary creator of it.
Mr Matthew asked: “Who was principally responsible, Paul or John?”, to which John said: “Paul.” Paul then replied: “John, really”. After a couple more humorous retorts, including John saying it was Ringo’s work, Paul explained it all.
He said: “No, it’s the old patty, you know. The old vaudeville. I suppose I thought of the idea and then John and I wrote it. There’s your correct answer, Brian.”
Paul explained the song was never meant to be taken seriously. He said: “It’s a happy place, that’s all … We were trying to write a children’s song. That was the basic idea.”
John clearly wasn’t much of a fan of some of the ideas behind the song. He wrote next to some crossed-out early lyrics: “Disgusting!! See me.”
