I Feel Fine Drums

I've always wondered if it first came from a rehearsal of "What You're Doing" since the ending of that sounds similar.

 

Those "claims" were discounted many years ago by the people who were there . . .including George Martin, etc

Purdie is the Carol Kaye of the drumming world in more ways than one!

 

It's Jimmie Nicol, I believe.

 

Here's an excerpt from Max Weinberg's book "The Big Beat" where he interviewed Bernard Purdie:

MW: You played on the Beatles' tracks?
BP: Twenty-one of them.
MW: Do you remember which ones?
BP: Ummmhmmm.
MW: Which ones?
BP: That's information I don't disclose.
MW: Why won't you name the tracks?
BP: Because, if I need that information to get me some money, then I'll have what's necessary. I also played on songs by the Animals, the Monkees--
MW: Everyone knows the Monkees were a fabricated band, but the Beatles--
BP: Ringo never played on anything
MW: Ringo never played on anything?
BP: Not the early Beatles stuff.

When asked about Purdie's claim, Max Weinberg said he "Felt embarrassed for him."

In Ringo's chapter in the same book, Weinberg brings up Purdie's statement, Ringo's reply is:
"Well then, what was I doing in the studio? I've heard that rubbish before. Everyone was expecting me to come out and fight it. You don't bother fighting that ****."

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Poor Purdie. Didn't think people could hear the session tapes...or understand 2- and 4-track recording...

 

Jeeze . . . . may be time to turn in your sticks

 

This idea that Ringo didn't play on Beatles tracks that have always been credited to him is just off the charts silly. Here's my take. There's a common narrative I hear primarily among non-musicians and a few musicians that Ringo was nothing more than an inadequate to mediocre drummer at best. Despite the sentiments to the contrary by his peers, and his multitude of followers in the professional drumming world, the narrative that Ringo wasn't any good continues to live on. I hear it occasionally when chatting about the Beatles with non-musicians. What happens with these established narratives is that they will stick around regardless of facts disproving them sometimes to the point of even people who most certainly know better questioning their own ears. Just like people buying into that fake John Lennon quote about Ringo not even being the best drummer in the Beatles. The narrative perpetuates the myth which then becomes the reality for some. I give Ringo credit for not playing into the fraud being perpetuated by Bernard Purdie.

There is one area that I believe hurts Ringo's reputation is his solo career. While his studio work has been decent, his live work has been really spotty with him almost always using a second drummer for him to play alongside of giving me the impression that he either lacks confidence to be a great drummer live or knows his skills have deteriorated and doesn't have the chops to play unaccompanied anymore. I think this hurts his reputation for me. A little.

Ringo was a pretty amazing drummer with some decent chops, particularly in the early days of the Beatles. His live playing on "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You" shows that he had both the chops and swing to power through it in a way most standard rock drummers wouldn't or couldn't.

I've seen various clips of Ringo playing "I Feel Fine" with the group. Whe you can hear and see what he's doing, it's fabulous and pulls off the verse section and transitions with ease and a great flare. There's no reason on earth why they would have needed a session on drummer to pull the track off on record.

 

The one who turned out to be the real disappointment in that book is Dave Clark...but that's a discussion for another thread.

 

Yes, Ringo was a brilliant drummer, and I've had this same conversation with other fellow drummers about how the general public just doesn't get it. One person who is NOT the general public is Geoff Emerick. I love his book because it gives a real insider's view of the studio process at EMI, but one thing that struck me was how he was repeatedly disparaging at times of George's and Ringo's abilities. It seems to me that Geoff never had to sit through the process of creation and rehearsal for hours and hours because other bands couldn't affort to it in front of him in the studio! I believe that's why he thinks some other bands or session players were more polished., he didn't have to watch quite so much struggling. When he saw The Beatles live one time he was blown away at how good they were, but he doesn't seem to make this connection about the whole woodshedding process that bands go through.

Btw, I had no idea Purdie is that wacked. Sad too, he's amazing.

 

I always thought the reason that Ringo has a second drummer was for when he was up front singing. He didn't want to do shows from behind the kit.

I saw him about 5 years ago with Sheila E and he backs her up doing "Glamorous Life" holding that rock steady beat - it was great to watch.

 

Bro, you dodged my very simple question twice.

 

Bravo, mrgroove01, bravo.

 

Conan knows . . .

 

Dave Stewart knows . . .

 

Yes, he holds a steady beat. But that is it. When he played with Paul on Queenie Eye, Birthday, or Hey Jude, all he did was a steady beat. It was the other drummer that was doing the fills. Shame really.

 

There are plenty of live performances before the screaming got REALLY bad where he still played it the same as the record. It's Ringo, without a doubt.

 

Please list them or some of them.

 

I think it would ease my mind a bit if Ringo would just feature himself by playing drums live with the rest of the band for a few tracks with no accompanying drummer or percussionist. Have Greg or whoever else that drums take a break. You know, for Starr Time!

 

Does this count?:

 

Is he playing it the same way?

 

CHECKMATE matey!

 

Is that Bernie Purdie playing with the band at the Washington Coliseum in 1964? If it's not, than how can it be him on anything else the Beatles did?

 

He's playing the basic pattern but it's not exactly like the isolated drum track, where he adds a little drum roll/shuffle on the snare on most verses.

 

In that particular clip, his left hand is doing the same thing that I hear on the isolated track, except he's doing a full snare hit instead of the cross stick. That's to be expected for a live show. But his right hand is playing a very different pattern on the bell of the cymbal.