Drift Away – Christian's Music Musings

Today, Ringo Starr has turned 81 years old. It’s so great to see he’s still going strong! I just love the man and not only because he was the drummer of my all-time favorite band The Beatles. Ringo strikes me as a genuinely nice guy with a great sense of humor, who despite his fame comes across as a fairly regular person. A guy you’d love to hang out with. And somebody every band would want to have as a member since it always seems to be about the group, never about him.

Ringo is no technical virtuoso, which I’ve seen him acknowledge in interviews. I think his honesty and humbleness say a lot about him. And yet he’s held in high esteem by other professional drummers for his creative drumming style. That’s especially the case when it comes to certain Beatles songs where you can figure out the tune just by listening to Ringo’s drum part. When you think about it, that’s pretty cool!

But it’s perhaps the concept of Ringo’s All-Starr Band, which best illustrates what he’s all about. Yes, they play some songs from his solo period and his time with The Beatles, but they also perform tunes from the other members. It’s the “all” in the band’s name that matters. I so much hope I’ll finally see Ringo for the first time with the latest incarnation of the All-Starr Band at New York’s Beacon Theatre in June 2022. Meanwhile, let’s celebrate his 81st birthday with a selection of tunes spanning his 50-year-plus solo career.

It Don’t Come Easy – non-album single, April 1971