Ringo Starr Joked About Paul McCartney’s Ability as a Drummer: ‘I Wiped Him Off’

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney have known each other for the vast majority of their lives. They worked together closely in The Beatles, but they’ve collaborated, on and off, in the decades since the band broke up. Most recently, McCartney wrote Starr a song for his EP Rewind Forward. He even recorded a version for Starr that featured himself singing and playing the instruments, including drums. Starr joked that McCartney’s drumming was not up to his standards. 

Ringo Starr joked about the quality of Paul McCartney’s drumming on a song he wrote

Starr’s 2023 EP Rewind Forward features the song “Feeling the Sunlight,” which McCartney wrote. For years, Starr has trusted McCartney to write him songs.

“Well, he’d written me a couple of good songs, you know, like ‘Yellow Submarine,'” Starr told Billboard. “I thought, ‘He can do this.'”

Starr explained that McCartney went beyond just writing him a song. He recorded a version of himself performing, complete with vocals, guitar, and drums.

“We were Facetiming each other — we do that quite a bit — and I say, ‘I’m doing an EP. Write me a song.’ And he said, ‘OK,'” Starr explained. “And he not only wrote it, he’s on bass, he’s singing on it. He’s all over it. He actually put his drums on it.”

The final version of the song will not feature McCartney, though. Starr joked that his former bandmate’s drumming couldn’t quite compare to his own.

“I wiped him off completely and did it myself,” he said. “It would be like me sending him a track and I’m on bass.” 

Paul McCartney sometimes played drums in place of Ringo Starr on Beatles songs

Though Starr is the more experienced drummer by a long shot, McCartney can be heard playing the instrument on several Beatles songs. On “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” John Lennon was so excited to get in the studio and record that he didn’t want to wait for Starr. Instead, McCartney drummed on the track. Similarly, McCartney was the only musician on the song “Martha My Dear,” which he wrote about his dog.

During the cold and contentious recording sessions for The White Album, Starr temporarily quit the band, leaving them without a drummer. McCartney stepped in for him, drumming on “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and “Dear Prudence.” Luckily, it didn’t take long for Starr to return to the band, allowing McCartney to focus on the bass.

What songs has the bassist written for his former bandmate?

In the years after The Beatles broke up, McCartney, Lennon, and George Harrison all wrote songs for Starr’s solo career. McCartney said he always viewed this as a challenge.

“It was pretty much co-written, John and I doing a work song for Ringo, a little craft job,” McCartney said in the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles. “I always saw those as the equivalent of writing a James Bond film theme. It was a challenge, it was something out of the ordinary for us because we actually had to write in a key for Ringo and you had to be a little tongue in cheek.”

Songs McCartney wrote for Starr’s post-Beatles career include “Attention,” “Private Property,” and “Six O’Clock,” among others.