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Ringo and "It Don't Come Easy"

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Garmen

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May 9, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/9/96
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i recently started listening to some of Ringo's music. i love his song
"It Don't Come Easy". i was wondering if anyone has any information
about this song, i just have the info from the cd liner. thanks.

David Allen

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May 10, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/10/96
to Garmen


This is definately one of Ringo's, and the solo-Beatles', best songs!

Ringo sings this song on the Concert for Bangladesh. Also, I found it as
a "Bonus Track" on a Ringo's CD "Photograph."

I think, as with most Beatles and solo-Beatles singles, it did not
originally appear on an album.


Regards,

Dave.

Lye Berry

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May 11, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/11/96
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In article <Pine.HPP.3.91.960509...@bluejay.creighton.edu>, Garmen <gar...@creighton.edu> says:
>
>i recently started listening to some of Ringo's music. i love his song
>"It Don't Come Easy". i was wondering if anyone has any information
>about this song, i just have the info from the cd liner. thanks.

I don't know if it has been confirmed yet, but rumor has it that George
actually offered that song to Badfinger (according to Mike Gibbins, BF
drummer) nearly a year before Ringo put it out. If this is true, then
George must have written it; which wouldn't surprise me a bit. It has
his composition style all over it - and there's even a demo of George
singing the song.

Lye Berry

Sanscluejo

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May 12, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/12/96
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On May 09, 1996 22:16:24 in article <Ringo and "It Don't Come Easy">,
'Garmen <gar...@creighton.edu>' wrote:


>i recently started listening to some of Ringo's music. i love his song
>"It Don't Come Easy". i was wondering if anyone has any information
>about this song, i just have the info from the cd liner. thanks.

Garmen,
This is my favorite "Starkey" tune. Ringo wrote it, and it was his
first solo hit (peaking at #4 on both sides of the Atlantic). It features
superb production by George Harrison (who also produced Ringo's next
single, "Back Off Boogaloo", and co-wrote Starr's third hit, "Photograph",
with Ringo). Although it is now added as a bonus track on the "Ringo"
album, "It Don't Come Easy" was a hit two years earlier (1971) and was
originally released only as a single. By the way, "Boogaloo" peaked at #
9 and "Photograph" hit # 1.
--

cluel...@usa.pipeline.com

5/11/96

--
sansc...@aol.com (also available in industrial strength as
cluel...@usa.pipeline.com)


cluelessjoe

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May 12, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/12/96
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Mikko Kangasjärvi

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May 13, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/13/96
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Garmen <gar...@creighton.edu> wrote:

>i recently started listening to some of Ringo's music. i love his song
>"It Don't Come Easy". i was wondering if anyone has any information
>about this song, i just have the info from the cd liner. thanks.

I know Ringo recorded this song with George Harrison, Klaus Voormann
and some others already in March 1970 but it was released only a year
after. George Harrison produced it and it was a big hit both in US
and UK. It was also Ringo's first solo effort on which he actually
played drums.

Mikko Kangasjarvi
mi...@sci.fi
http://www.sci.fi/~mike
------------
The maintainer of Mike Stufflake's Beatles Discography
http://www.sci.fi/~mike/beatles/welcome.htm
------------
The Twin Peaks Lodge
http://www.sci.fi/~mike/tp/tplodge.html


Stephen Kennedy

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May 14, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/14/96
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Mikko Kangasj=E4rvi wrote:
> =

> Garmen <gar...@creighton.edu> wrote:
> =

> >i recently started listening to some of Ringo's music. i love his song
> >"It Don't Come Easy". i was wondering if anyone has any information
> >about this song, i just have the info from the cd liner. thanks.

> =

> I know Ringo recorded this song with George Harrison, Klaus Voormann
> and some others already in March 1970 but it was released only a year
> after. George Harrison produced it and it was a big hit both in US
> and UK.

I listened to it yesterday, and apart from the quality of the song (it real=
ly
is very good, not just by Ringo's standards) the drumming strikes me as
being excellent.

I'm The Greatest and Early 1970 are also interesting - in lineup at least
they could have been called Beatles tracks... (no, I hadn't only just
become aware of this, I'm simply being enthusiastic :-))

-Steve
-- =

----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Down the 303, at the end of the road: flashing lights, exclusion zones
- and it made me think its not just the stones that they're guarding"
http://users.aol.com/g0lri/ http://users.aol.com/kkingboy/ G0LRI
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Malcolm Atkinson

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May 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/16/96
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'It Don't Come Easy' has quite a long history, being recorded and then
remade twice!

Recording of Ringo's new composition was begun on the evening of February
18 1970 at Abbey Road's Studio 2, during the 'Sentimental Journey' album
sessions. Earlier in the day, Ringo had re-recorded his vocals for 'Have
I Told You Lately That I Love You' and 'Let The Rest Of The World Go By',
songs destined for 'Sentimental Journey'. At this stage, the song was
known as 'You Gotta Pay Your Dues'.

On this first session, Geoge Martin was producing, with George Harrison
was playing acoustic guita and directing the other musicians, which
comprised of Ringo (drums), Klaus Voorman (bass) and Stephen Stills
(piano). 20 basic track takes were made between 7.00 pm and 12.30 am,
with Take 20 being labelled 'best'. Ringo then added a lead vocal and
George added two electric guitar parts, finishing at 4.00am, with the
song being mixed into stereo.

The following day, after overdubs onto 'Love Is A Many Splendoured
Thing', recording resumed on 'You Gotta Pay Your Dues', with Ringo
overdubbing another lead vocal onto Take 20 between 5.00 and 6.00 pm.
Harrison was not involved in recording on this day, although Eric
Cpalton may have been involved (Neville Stannard, Working Class Heros,
p.154). After an hour's break, it was decided to re-make the song, with
takes 21-30 being taped between 7.00 and 11.00pm. Take 30 was labelled
'best' and onto this take, two bass parts were added before the session
ended at 1.30am.

This version however, was to remain unfinished, because on March 8, Ringo
decided to again remake 'It Don't Come Easy', as it was now known.
Recording probably took place at Trident Studios (documentation is
unavailable - all that is know is that it wasn't recorded at Abbey Road),
with George Harrison producing, as well as playing guitar. Klaus Voorman
(bass), Stephen Stills (piano), Mal Evans (tambourine) and Ron Cattermole
(saxaphone, trumpet) were also involved.

Recording of overdubs continued the next morning, again with Harrison
producing. The song was then left until October 1970, when further
overdubs were made (details unknown)

When news of the sessions reached the press in March 1970, Apple told the
music press there was "absolutely no plans for the record to be released
as a single at the present time", and the song wasn't issued until April
9 1971 in the UK (and April 16 in the US). Ringo's first solo single
(with 'Early 1970' as a B-side featuring George Harrison on guitar and
backing vocals) entered the NME charts on April 21 at No.12 and rose to
No.5 for two weeks, staying on the chart for nine weeks.

A facinating outtake from these sessions has appeared on a recent bootleg
('To Be Expected', Strawberry Sampler 001, tr.8). It features George
Harrison on lead vocal (probably singing a guide vocal for Ringo to sing
along to). While the instrumentation is almost identical to the released
version (the horns have not been added yet), during the guitar break, the
female backing vocalists add the line 'Hare Krishna'. Following the
guitar solo, rather than there being another verse, there is a repeat of
the song's opening guitar phrase from George, again with the backing
vocalists singing 'it don't come, oh no, you know it don't come easy'
twice, with George adding a few shouted lines behind them before
returning to the verse. Subsequently, there are some additional backing
vocal lines.

Ringo performed this song at the August 1 1971 Madison Square gardens
'Concert For Bangla Desh', and, as he frequently did during his Beatle
concert performances of 'I Wanna Be Your Man' and 'Act Naturally', he
managed to forget most of the words to his own composition. His
performance can be found on George Harrison's triple album 'The Concert
For Bangla Desh'.

'It Don't Come Easy' appeared on Ringo's 1975 'Blast From The Past'
'greatest hits' album.

The song was also heard in the 1978 NBC-TV 'Ringo' special (although he
recorded new versions of several songs for the special, the released
recording of 'It Don't Come Easy' was used).

When Ringo recorded a new version of his 1972 hit 'Back Off Boogaloo' for
the 'Stop And Smell The Roses' album, 'It Don't Come Easy' was referred
to, along with several Beatle songs, in the backing vocals.

Ringo included the song on the set list for his July-September 1989
American tour, and a performance of this song opened the 1990 album
'Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band' (it was also included on a bonus 5"
CD single released with the US limited edition deluxe CD version of
'Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band).

In 1991, 'It Don't Come Easy' was added as a bonus track to the CD
version of 'Ringo', along with 'Down And Out' and 'Early 1970'

(Source: Mark Lewisohn, Complete Beatle Chronicle, 1992 p.345-347)

--
"You might very well think that, but of course, I couldn't possibly
comment."

Malcolm Atkinson of New Zealand <atki...@actrix.gen.nz>

Lye Berry

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May 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/16/96
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In article <4neftl$3...@asgard.actrix.gen.nz>, Malcolm Atkinson <atki...@actrix.gen.nz> says:

>A facinating outtake from these sessions has appeared on a recent bootleg
>('To Be Expected', Strawberry Sampler 001, tr.8). It features George
>Harrison on lead vocal (probably singing a guide vocal for Ringo to sing
>along to). While the instrumentation is almost identical to the released
>version (the horns have not been added yet), during the guitar break, the
>female backing vocalists add the line 'Hare Krishna'. Following the
>guitar solo, rather than there being another verse, there is a repeat of
>the song's opening guitar phrase from George, again with the backing
>vocalists singing 'it don't come, oh no, you know it don't come easy'
>twice, with George adding a few shouted lines behind them before
>returning to the verse. Subsequently, there are some additional backing
>vocal lines.

Two points: If Ringo actually *wrote* "It Don't Come Easy," then why
did George record a "guide vocal" track? Shouldn't Ringo have known how
to sing it if he wrote it? Badfinger's drummer (Mike Gibbins) has
claimed that George offered the song to Badfinger in early 1970. Whether
his memory is accurate on the specific *song* or not could be debatable.
But the composition smacks of George Harrison's writing style - and the
lyrics seem a bit too sophisticated for Ringo (BTW, Ringo goofed up the
lyrics during the Bangla Desh concert - hard to remember someone else's
words perhaps?).

Anyway, the loud backups heard during the "...it don't come - oh no.."
portion is Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger, though Tom is way
upfront.

Stephen Kennedy

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May 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/16/96
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Lye Berry wrote:
> Two points: If Ringo actually *wrote* "It Don't Come Easy," then why
> did George record a "guide vocal" track? Shouldn't Ringo have known how
> to sing it if he wrote it?

George was the better singer, and may have been guiding Ringo on the technique.

> Badfinger's drummer (Mike Gibbins) has
> claimed that George offered the song to Badfinger in early 1970. Whether
> his memory is accurate on the specific *song* or not could be debatable.

Very debateable I'd say, but I'm happy to give way on this as I simply
don't know. All I know is that I've only ever seen the song credited to
Starkey.

> But the composition smacks of George Harrison's writing style - and the
> lyrics seem a bit too sophisticated for Ringo (BTW, Ringo goofed up the
> lyrics during the Bangla Desh concert - hard to remember someone else's
> words perhaps?).

Hmm... Ringo had forgotten the words to his own compositions before had
he not?

-Steve
--

Lye Berry

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May 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/17/96
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In article <319B7B...@kalika.demon.co.uk>, Stephen Kennedy <st...@kalika.demon.co.uk> says:
>
>Lye Berry wrote:
SNIP...

>> Badfinger's drummer (Mike Gibbins) has
>> claimed that George offered the song to Badfinger in early 1970. Whether
>> his memory is accurate on the specific *song* or not could be debatable.
>
>Very debateable I'd say, but I'm happy to give way on this as I simply
>don't know. All I know is that I've only ever seen the song credited to
>Starkey.

One more thought. Gibbins connected the song to Badfinger's "No Matter
What." After NMW was written, George apparently thought it wasn't radio
material - at which time he offered them "It Don't Come Easy." I doubt
that George would be out shopping a Ringo composition.

So my theory is this: George wrote the song at a time when his catalogue
was quite full - just before the over-brimming "All Things Must Pass".
He first took it to Badfinger (BTW, Gibbins said Badfinger rejected it
because they had already recorded Paul's "Come And Get It"). So George,
being a mate of Ringo's, gave the song to him - publishing and all.
It's just a theory, but all the pieces seem to fit.

DaveInMn

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May 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/17/96
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"Early 1970" is pretty cute. Basically one verse for each of the Beatles,
including Ringo's appraisal of his own somewhat limited talents (hey, I
said talents, not appeal -- I like Ringo!).

My favorite is the verse about Paul -- "...lives on a farm, beep beep."


Kent Stewart

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May 24, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/24/96
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In article <319877...@kalika.demon.co.uk>,

Stephen Kennedy <st...@kalika.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>I'm The Greatest and Early 1970 are also interesting - in lineup at least
>they could have been called Beatles tracks...


Of course, by it's very nature Early 1970 could never have been
a Beatles track, as the lyrics only make sense in the context of
the breakup.

And this has to be the best post-breakup composition by *any* of the
former Beatles as far as dealing with the emotions of moving on into
a post-Beatle world. _God_ may have been an impressive declaration
of independence, but _Early_1970_ is to me a remarkable affirmation
of the sense of *family*: ties that go deeper than the surface, and
remain deep even as family members grow up and go their separate ways.

Just a beautiful song.


cheers,
--bongo

"and when he comes to town, I wonder if he'll play with me?"

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