Re: Was Lennon Incompetent?

Quoth "jack stone" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on this day of 23 Nov 2003
19:23:42 -0600:

>     And then there's Ringo.
>     THUD-THUD-THUD.  That's this guy's transition from the intro to "Lucy
>in the Sky With Diamonds" into the chorus.  

How do you know this was Ringo's idea? Maybe he was given direction by
John: "Hey, Ring, make it sound like 10,000 tibetan monks all stomping
at the same time!" Or maybe it was Paul: "Pssst, Ringo. I'll slip you
some hash if you forget about the brilliant roll you came up with, and
just do some stupid thud on John's song." Then again, could've been
George Martin: "Bloody hell, Richard, old boy. *I* don't know what
John wants! Just bash away at something, will you?"

>     The question that haunts me is how a third
>rate singer and a fourth rate drummer got to be a significant part of the
>greatest pop band of all time?  It just doesn't fit in my mind.

If you believe the boys themselves, Ringo was the best drummer *in
Liverpool* at the time when George Martin said, "Boys, I'd like to see
you for a minute. Oh, not you, Pete."

>     If anything, I would like to think that this fact alone further
>reinforces my case for the divinity of Paul McCartney and John Lennon as the
>two foremost pop geniuses of all time (rumors of their poor live
>performances notwithstanding).  How can you be the greatest band with a less
>than adequate drummer?

Years of learning to compensate with Pete Best on drums?

Seriously, Ringo has a seemingly sloppy style, but what the other guys
have said about him is that he had a rock solid back beat. They could
give him the tempo,  turn their back on him, and not have to worry
about him speeding up or slowing down. That's what they were looking
for, and that's what they got.
-- 
Kevin Wayne

"Stark raving sane."
     -- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

--

All follow-ups are directed to the newsgroup rec.music.beatles.moderated.    
If your follow-up more properly belongs in the unmoderated newsgroup, please 
change your headers appropriately.   -- the moderators