Ringo Beat is a 1965 novelty single written and recorded by Ella Fitzgerald. It was inspired by the popularity of Ringo Starr, the drummer of The Beatles.[3][4] Fitzgerald had described the rock drumming style of her 16-year-old son, Ray Brown, Jr. as the "Ringo beat...cause that's where it all started".[5] The guitarist Barney Kessel also appears on the song.[1]
| "Ringo Beat" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Ella Fitzgerald | ||||
| B-side | "I'm Falling in Love" | |||
| Released | 1965 | |||
| Recorded | October 23, 1964[1] | |||
| Genre | R&B | |||
| Length | 1:52 | |||
| Label | Verve 103440[2] | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ella Fitzgerald | |||
| Ella Fitzgerald singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Billboard magazine review from December 12, 1964, commented that "Swinging' Fitzgerald takes off on that all too famous beat. Great opportunity for the WNEW's to recognize the Beatles".[4] Fitzgerald had complained in a November 1965 interview for Downbeat magazine that disc jockeys were refusing to play the song.[5] It was released on CD as part of the 2003 album Jukebox Ella, a compilation of Fitzgerald's singles recorded for Verve Records.[6]
Reviewing Jukebox Ella for Allmusic, John Bush described "Ringo Beat" as the only one of Fitzgerald's Verve singles to acknowledge rock and roll and felt that it was "mostly unembarrassed".[6] In his biography of Fitzgerald, Stuart Nicholson described the song as "awful" and placed in the context of Fitzgerald's constant search for an elusive hit record.[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c Stuart Nicholson (22 July 2014). Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz, Updated Edition. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-78814-7.
- ^ "Ella Fitzgerald - Ringo Beat/I'm Falling In Love at Discogs". discogs.com. 1964. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ Nicholas Schaffner (1978). The Beatles Forever. McGraw-Hill. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-07-055087-2.
- ^ a b Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (12 December 1964). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 31. ISSN 0006-2510.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ a b Frank Alkyer (1 November 2009). DownBeat - The Great Jazz Interviews: A 75th Anniversary Anthology. Hal Leonard. p. 339. ISBN 978-1-4768-5503-5.
- ^ a b Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles, Vol. 1 at AllMusic
External links edit
- Ringo Beat at Discogs (list of releases)