Ringo was the first of the English rock drummers of the '60s to define the archetype of the present-day rock drummer." "Ringo was the first `outsider' to join a very exclusive club of drummers, because the drumset was developed in the United States. "He was also the first drum star who was not an American by birth," Smith adds. His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song. One of Ringo's great qualities was that he composed very unique and stylistic drum parts for the Beatles songs. We started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect. "Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm in how the public saw drummers. "Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity," says Steve Smith. Without the contributions of all four Beatles-Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr-the Beatles music would not have been that music. But his creative input, time feel, unorthodox fills, and emphasis on serving the music helped make the Beatles' music what it was. Starr is the first to admit that he is not a technician on his instrument. As longtime writer for Modern Drummer magazine, I cannot count the number of drummers who have told me that Ringo inspired their passion for drums when they first encountered the music of the Beatles. "I'll Still Love You" remains a never-finished Harrison gem.I could not have been more thrilled to hear that Ringo Starr is to be inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame. As usual, Starr was game, but he couldn't completely overcome the ham-handed synthesized orchestration from producer Arif Mardin. "I'll Still Love You" didn't ultimately find its way onto a released project until Harrison handed the composition over to the content-starved Starr for Ringo's Rotogravure, the second (and last) Starr album to include compositions by all three of his former Beatles bandmates. George wrote it in the '60s with Bond-theme-singer Shirley Bassey in mind, demoed the song for 1970's All Things Must Pass and then returned to it during aborted sessions with Ronnie Spector, Cilla Black and Leon Russell over the next few years. This huge ballad was originally called "When Every Song Is Sung," after first boasting "Whenever" as a title. That still leaves plenty of collaborative greatness on our list of the Top 10 Ringo Starr Songs Written by the Other Beatles. We've also put aside some very good songs written by Starr or others that simply featured musical or vocal work by his fellow Beatles - including '60s-era Beatles originals like "Octopus's Garden" and cover songs including "Matchbox" Ringo's fun 1974 take on the Platters' "Only You" with Lennon "King of Broken Hearts" with Harrison from 1998's Vertical Man and the terrific McCartney duet on "Walk With You" from 2010's Y Not. Starr's interpretations ended up sounding like ideas of his own. Their best joint efforts, both in the band's heyday and later on various solo projects, played off that complexity. But John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison knew there was more to their bandmate, who endured a string of hardships throughout his early life – some because of the fates (childhood illness, being overlooked because he was surrounded by such dizzying talent), some made worse by his lifestyle (lingering bouts with addiction). No one talks about peace and love, then or now, with as much consistency and upbeat charm.
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