How Boredom Helped Ringo Starr Write His First Beatles Song (And Preview Music He’d Make Decades Later)

In terms of sheer movement and physicality, drummers are some of the busiest members of any band—but for Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, it was during a moment of rest and relaxation that he felt the most creatively inspired. As any songwriter can ever hope to do, Starr managed to write his first contribution to the Fab Four during a bout of boredom.

Interestingly, his Beatles writing debut would prove to be a foreshadowing of music he would put out decades later.

Boredom Helped Ringo Starr Write This Beatles Song

As self-taught musicians, the Beatles’ natural curiosity around instruments led to every member of the Fab Four being a multi-instrumentalist, albeit to varying degrees of proficiency. Everyone knew how to dabble at least a little bit outside of their main instrument, and Ringo Starr was certainly no exception. In addition to playing the drums at the time, he also played guitar and piano.

In the 2002 book Anthology, Starr recalled the idea for “Don’t Pass Me By” coming to him while he was sitting at home, bored. “I was fiddling with the piano,” Starr said. “I just bang away. Then, if a melody comes and some words, I just have to keep going. That’s how it happened. I was just sitting at home alone, and “Don’t Pass Me By” arrived” (via Beatles Bible). “It was a very exciting time for me.”

Starr’s spark of creative inspiration came early in his time with the Beatles. But while he wrote the song in the early 1960s, it wouldn’t be included on an album until years later, in 1968, when the Fab Four included “Don’t Pass Me By” on their eponymous “White Album.” Up until that point, the bandmates would lightheartedly tease one another about the song’s absence from their records.

“Are the Beatles ever going to record it?” Starr said in a 1964 interview. “I don’t think so actually. I keep trying to push it on them every time we make a record.” Paul McCartney then interjected: “Unfortunately, there’s never enough time to fit Ringo’s song on an album. He never finishes it.”

The Beatle Foreshadowed Music He Would Make Decades Later

If every member of the Beatles had a specific genre they brought to the table, one might assume John Lennon’s was rock, Paul McCartney’s was pop, George Harrison’s was soul, and Ringo Starr’s was country. Thus, when the band recorded “Don’t Pass Me By,” it felt natural to steer the track toward a more classic, acoustic instrument-forward feel. “We played it with a country attitude,” Starr would later recall in Anthology. “Everyone was really helpful, and recording that crazy violinist was a thrilling moment.”

Decades later, Starr would return to his country roots with his January 2025 album, Look Up. His solo album features a wide variety of contemporary performers, including Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, and Lucius. Despite the inherent novelty of a country album by the iconic Beatles drummer, Starr wanted to stay true to the genre.

“I always say, we’ll, there’s three things [that define country],” Starr told Variety in October 2024. “The wife’s left, the dog’s dead, and there’s no money for the jukebox. That’s how it was when it started.”

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