Did Ringo Starr Have Songwriting Credits on Any of John Lennon’s Songs with the Beatles?

Ringo Starr, often remembered for his iconic drumming and melodic role, didn't receive songwriting credits on any of John Lennon's songs with the Beatles. Traditionally, songwriting for the band was primarily attributed to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who had a collaboration that produced the majority of the group's material.

Ringo's Contributions

While Ringo didn't receive regular songwriting credits, he did contribute to the band's sound and occasionally penned his own songs. For example:

Don’t Pass Me By Octopuses' Garden Note: He also contributed to a couple of instrumentals or incidental tunes where all four Beatles were credited: Flying from Magical Mystery Tour, Dig It from Let It Be, Christmastime is Here Again from the band’s holiday fan club releases, and 12 Bar Original from Anthology, along with the 2 'new' songs Real Love and Free as a Bird, which were credited to all four ex-Beatles.

What Goes On

What Goes On is one of the rarest in The Beatles' catalog as it’s one of the few times an additional writer got a credit with Lennon-McCartney. Essentially, this is a song where Lennon wrote the lyrics, and Ringo contributed a few lines.

Uncredited Contributions

John Lennon occasionally used Ringo's unique ideas for titles, such as:

A Hard Day’s Night Tomorrow Never Knows

Ringo also added a line to Eleanor Rigby, contributing the line, “I am late, I am so late,” to the song’s bridge.

Some interesting perspectives on the authorship of Birthday exist. Paul McCartney claims they co-wrote it 50-50, while engineer Geoff Emerick says it was mostly Paul's song. Other Apple staffers, however, suggest that both George Harrison and Ringo added to the composition.

Unreleased Material

During his time with the Beatles, Ringo wrote or started a few songs that were never released or weren't released during his time with the band, such as:

Carolina, a song he started but never released. Early 1970, which he started in February 1970 and released as a solo B-side a few months after the group officially broke up.

Solo Career and Songwriting

After his time with the Beatles, Ringo became much more prolific as a composer. He co-wrote several of his biggest hits with George Harrison:

It’s Don’t Come Easy Photograph Back Off Boogaloo

He also collaborated with Paul McCartney on a handful of solo tunes, which were mostly unreleased or never completed:

Beautiful Night Angel in Disguise

Ringo usually writes or co-writes 2-4 songs per album these days, totaling to over 100 solo tunes. Despite this, none of the tracks on his most recent release have been attributed to him as a composer.