Song of the Day 5/8: Ringo Starr, “It Don’t Come Easy”

When the Beatles broke up, everyone knew that John, Paul and George would pursue solo careers. But what about Ringo? The guy Robert Christgau called “our representative on the Beatles” usually got one vocal turn per album and had scant songwriting experience. So people were surprised when this 1971 stand-alone single climbed the American charts, reaching No. 4. It was credited to Starr, who said he started working on the song in 1968, with production credited to George Harrison, who also played the guitars, with Klaus Voorman on bass and Gary Wright on keyboards. Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger provided backing vocals. The song became a signature one for Starr — he plays it on most of his All-Starr Revue tours — and established his viability as a solo artist.

The full truth came out a few years later, when Ringo admitted that while he started the song, it was mostly written by Harrison, who apparently offered it to Badfinger based on this demo he recorded. They turned it down, perhaps because Ham and Evans tended toward a more McCartneyesque sound.