Another obituary in the Guardian. This time of Alan White, long-time drummer with Yes. Despite my liking for Prog Rock I was never into Yes. To me they seemed to take it a little too far.
Even without the Yes connection White would have had a notable career. He played on John Lennon’s Imagine LP and on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass.
He also drummed on this, released in February 1970:-
Plastic Ono Band: Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
This is me breaking the (self-imposed) rules of my category – again.
And how does it break the rules?
It’s a Beatles song. (There have been none so far.)
Well, I say a Beatles song but they never released it in the 60s – and the main item isn’t performed by the Beatles.
The song was, though, written by George Harrison for the White Album sessions but not used on the release. Instead it’s notable as the only track on which three members of the Beatles recorded together for an artist other than themselves during the band’s lifetime; the artist being Jackie Lomax. The line-up contained Lomax on vocals, George Harrison and Eric Clapton on guitars, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Paul McCartney on bass, and Ringo Starr on drums, although McCartney’s contribution was actually overdubbed later.
I include a “Beatles” version from the White Album sessions.
Ringo Starr was, you might have thought, the least likely member of the Beatles to have a pop career after the Fab Four broke up. He did, though, have some singles success in the 1970s – including this, his first solo UK hit. He had some help from George Harrison with it, however, not least the distinctive guitar intro and outro.
Ringo Starr: It Don’t Come Easy
Edited (6/10/21) to add: I’ve just come across this version by George Harrison who, contrary to what I wrote above, apparently composed the whole song himself and gifted it to Ringo.
Every time I hear this song it takes me back to the Church Hall in Dumbarton and the youth club I used to go to.
I suggested it to the guy in charge of putting the records on. He asked if it was any good. It was.
It is.
The guitar riff at the start of the break is similar to the one in You Never Give Me Your Money (repeated in Carry That Weight) from that great medley of songs on side two of The Beatles’ Abbey Road. Not surprising since George Harrison had a hand in Badge’s conception and he and Eric Clapton often worked together.
Cream: Badge
Later edited to add: the line about “the swans that they live in the park” was apparently thought up by one Ringo Starr.
