DON’T PASS ME BY AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

"This was my first song.  It was really exciting to get it down.  Everyone really worked to the full."  So stated Ringo about "Don't Pass Me By," which appeared as the second song recorded for the "White Album," the first being John's "Revolution" (soon to be re-titled "Revolution 1").  The Beatles entered EMI Studio Three on June 5th, 1968, at approximately 2:30 pm for work on Ringo's first composition.

Choosing to record this song was quite a shock to the EMI staff, as outlined by engineer Geoff Emerick in his book “Here, There And Everywhere.” “The 'White Album' sessions were full of surprises for me. Usually, a Beatles album project would begin with the recording of one of John's songs, and this was no exception. But the second song was always one of Paul's – after all, they were the main songwriters in the band. Ringo would be allocated one song per album, and it was usually done almost as an afterthought, near the end...But this time around, they decided to do Ringo's song right away...and, even more surprisingly, it was actually a song he'd written.”

Emerick continues: “No explanation was given, and George Martin and I were flabbergasted. The only thing we could come up with was that, behind the scenes, the others must have known that Ringo was getting a bit fed up, and they were trying to keep him happy. That seemed like the only possible reason why time and energy was being expended on a Ringo song so early on...After all, the 'Pepper' sessions had begun with 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' – a stark contrast...Obviously, tensions and intrigue were already in play, right at the beginning of these sessions.”

The song had already christened as “Don't Pass Me By” by the group, this being evidenced in the press and radio interviews as early as 1963. For some reason, though, documentation on this first day of recording shows the title of the song as “Ringo's Tune (Untitled).” At any rate, The Beatles (that is to say, Ringo and Paul) worked at laying down a rhythm track, this consisting of Paul on piano and Ringo on drums. Paul's piano, according to Bruce Spizer's book “The Beatles On Apple Records,” was “miked through a guitar amplifier and Leslie speaker,” thus creating the odd swirling effect heard on the finished recording.  Upon listening to the finished recording, it appears that the drums were also recorded in the same manner, that is, through a Leslie speaker, because of its altered appearance.  The duet recorded Three takes, the third one ending with Ringo shouting to George Martin in the control room, “I think we've got something there, George!” 'Take three,' indeed, was the keeper.

Onto 'take three” both recorded overdubs to fill up the four-track tape, Paul on another piano and Ringo playing a sleigh-bell found in EMI Studio's sound effects cupboard. A good portion of the recording thus far can be heard on the compilation album “Anthology 3” with a vocal track by Ringo added on from a recording made on a later date. Interestingly, when listening to the drums on this version, a drum overdub is evident (or else Ringo sprouted a couple of extra arms on that day). Therefore, an undocumented drum overdub had to have happened at some point and, since the liner notes in the “Anthology 3” album state this recording comes from 'take three,' it must have occurred on the original four-track tape before any tape reduction occurred.  Also evident when listening to the rhythm track found on "Anthology 3" is the fact that there was only two choruses instead of three, the second one missing, as well as the absence of the break section heard on the released version.  It seems reasonably clear, then, that the original rhythm track went through some editing to combine different takes to get it to its finished state.

With all four tracks filled, two attempts of a reduction mix followed, the best being the second attempt, engineers called 'take five.' With two open tracks, Ringo recorded his lead vocals on one of them, this recorded at 46 cycles per second so that his pitch would be higher during playback. It was quickly decided, however, that this could be improved upon, so Paul instead recorded a bass guitar overdub on top of it, wiping out Ringo's vocals in the process. This left one open track on the new tape, Paul also recording another bass guitar overdub on this as well. When this was complete, another reduction mix took place since all four tracks were filled again, this mix marked as 'take six.' But as it turned out, documentation shows that a decision was made to scrap this last reduction mix in order to go back to 'take five' at their next recording session. This session ended at this point, it being now 1:30 am the following morning.

The following day (actually later that day), June 6th, 1968, The Beatles resumed work on the song at around 2:30 pm, this time in EMI Studio Two. Funny enough, studio documentation for this day shows that the song now had a title, but it still wasn't called “Don't Pass Me By.” For some unknown reason, the song was now called “This Is Some Friendly.” This must have been an actual consideration for a title since, during an interview two days later; the Beatles answered questions about their new album and Ringo stated, “I have already recorded my song for the next LP. It has two titles, so I can't say what it will be called yet.”

Going back now to 'take five,' it was decided to scrap both bass parts that Paul had recorded at the previous session, replacing them with Ringo's lead vocals on one track and him double-tracking the vocals on the other track (sounding as if they were both recorded through a Leslie speaker as well).  It's interesting to note here that Ringo counted down from one to eight just before the break in the song in order to mark out the measures of the song, this still being heard in the finished song. On one of the vocal tracks, Ringo finishes the choruses with an additional lyric, namely “Don't make me blue.” In his later years, when Ringo would perform the song live, he would habitually include this line as if it was on the released version. Also, on one of the vocal tracks, he records this spoken-word ad lib: “I'm waiting for ya, honey. Hurry up to me. I don't want you to pass me by; I don't want you to make me cry, I want you to make me happy!”

Since this filled up all four tracks again, another reduction mix was made, making this 'take seven.' With two tracks open again, Paul recorded his bass guitar on one of the tracks, leaving the other track open for another day. An unnumbered rough remix was made of the song thus far, undoubtedly taken away by Paul and/or Ringo to listen to and help them decide what to fill the open track with to complete the song.

You might have noticed the inconspicuous absence of both John and George in contributing to the recording of this song. Geoff Emerick explains what the other Beatles were up to on this day: “Kenny Everett, the BBC disc jockey, came into the studio and did an interview with the four Beatles while they were working on 'Don't Pass Me By.' It was a distraction, but John got into quite a jolly mood, hamming it up for the microphone, so it did help lighten the atmosphere.” During John's interview, when asked by Kenny what they've recorded for the new album so far, John stated: “Well, we've just done two tracks, both unfinished, and the second one is Ringo's first song that we are working on this very moment.” (Kenny): “He composed it himself?” (John): “He composed it himself in a fit of lethargy.” (Kenny): “And what do you think about it?” (John): “I think it's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard since Nilsson's 'River Deep, Mountain Dew.'”

At around midnight that evening, attention turned to preparing tapes to be used for John's “Revolution 9” which took the session until 2:45 am the following morning.

“Don't Pass Me By” sat for a little over a month before it was brought into EMI Studio Two for more work. This day was July 12th, 1968, this session beginning at 3 pm. During the previous month or so, discussions decided the open track would sound great with a country fiddle, musician Jack Fallon recording his part on this day between 3 and 6:40 pm. Coincidentally, Jack Fallon was a former booking agent who had booked The Beatles into their first professional show on March 31st, 1962, at the Subscription Rooms, George St., in Stroud, Glos. This gig was played ten weeks before their audition with EMI Records, so Jack brought back some fond memories when he surprisingly arrived in the studio that day.

Regarding his fiddle playing on this day, Jack recalls: “George Martin had jotted down a 12-bar blues for me. A lot of country fiddle playing is double-stop but Paul and George Martin – they were doing the arranging – suggested I play it single note. So it wasn't really the country sound they originally wanted. But they seemed pleased. Ringo was around too, keeping an eye on his song.”

At the end of the finished recording, the listener can hear some extraneous fiddle playing which then fades away with the song (in fact, the mono and stereo versions differ in the fiddling heard). Jack explains: “I thought that they had had enough, so I just busked around a bit. When I heard it played back at the end of the session I was hoping they'd scrub that bit out, but they didn't, so there I am on record, scaping away! I was very surprised they kept it in; it was pretty dreadful.”

In the book “Beatles Anthology,” Ringo fondly remembers this session. “We played it with a country attitude. It was great to get my first song down, one that I had written. It was a very exciting time for me, and everyone was really helpful, and recording that crazy violist was a thrilling moment.”

After this was complete, Paul added yet another bass overdub and Ringo contributed a piano part himself. Four mono mixes were then made by the engineering team of George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and Richard Lush, but one further addition to the song made later deemed these mono mixes unusable. After a pair of mono mixes finalized for “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” this session ended at 11 pm.

A week-and-a-half later, on July 22nd, 1968, the final element to “Don't Pass Me By” was recorded in EMI Studio One. The larger Studio One gained choice because the orchestral work for John's “Good Night” had started on this day and they needed a studio to accommodate the 26 musicians that would perform. Before that happened, however, approximately between 7 and 8 pm, a tinkling piano introduction to “Don't Pass Me By” was recorded as an edit piece, undoubtedly by Paul. Four 'takes' occurred, also through a Leslie speaker, the fourth being deemed the best, although this was drastically cut down from 45 seconds to only eight seconds. This piano introduction would be edited onto the finished version when the proper mono and stereo mixes stood prepared.

However, George Martin had another idea for an introduction to “Don't Pass Me By,” something they also recorded on this same day. An orchestral score, arranged by George and the musicians assembled on this day, recorded this piece which has come to be known as “A Beginning.” While this piece was beautifully scored and performed and would have fit in with The Beatles intention of using segues between the gaps of tracks on the album, it was decided not to use this recording after all. George Martin decided to resurrect this recording as the opening track of the 1996 compilation album “Anthology 3.”

Both the mono and stereo mixes of the song were created in the control room of EMI Studio Two on October 11th, 1968 by the engineering team of Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith. Only one mono mix and one stereo mix were needed to get the song to the releasable state, them having to tack on the piano edit pieces for each. And, as noted above, they chose a different closing segment of Jack Fallon's fiddle playing for the stereo mix, seemingly an isolated performance taken directly from one of the song's choruses. The mono version had received a speeded up edit, which gets noticed with Ringo's higher pitched vocals. There is a little more fiddle playing throughout the mono version as well.

On October 18th, 1968, a tape copy of the mono mix of “Don't Pass Me By” was made by 2nd Engineer John Smith, to iron out master tape imperfections.

The above mentioned new mix created for the compilation album “Anthology 3” was put together by George Martin and Geoff Emerick sometime in 1996. They worked to combine 'take three' from the first generation tape with Ringo's double-tracked vocals from 'take five.'

Live recordings of “Don't Pass Me By” made by Ringo Starr and his band throughout later years. The first, recorded May 13th, 1998 for the VH1 popular program “Storytellers,” and featured on the album “VH1 Storytellers.” The second was recorded on July 24th, 2003 at the Casino Rama just outside Toronto, Ontario in Canada, and featured on his album “Tour 2003.” The third was recorded on June 24th, 2005 at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois and broadcast on the PBS concert series “Soundstage,” and featured on his album “Live At Soundstage.”  Written in a "Country and Western" style, as was Ringo's favorite type of music, it follows a somewhat typical format for that genre, namely 'verse/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ chorus' or (aababb).  The loose nature of the recording is evident in the haphazard delivery and construction of the piece, Ringo and Paul sometimes getting lost during the rhythm track as to parsing out the measures properly.  This results in Ringo adding his drum fills in unconventional places and unintentional time signature changes, as we'll see.

A random piano introduction of no set structure, which was recorded later and edited, begins the song. As the final couple of piano notes play, Ringo hits a cymbal, and a few drum beats from his drum overdub are heard, as well as a voice in the distant background. Ringo then counts out the song with some powerful snare drum beats as we hear a piano come in a little early (possibly Ringo's piano overdub). We then hear an official two-measure introduction which acquaints us with the instrumentation we will hear throughout most of the song, this being Paul and Ringo on piano, Paul on bass, and Ringo on drums with added extraneous drum fills as well as sleigh bells.

The first verse appears next which is nine measures long and is in 4/4 time except for measure seven which has two extra beats, this becoming 6/4. Ringo's double-tracked vocals are the only new elements heard throughout measures one through seven, Jack Fallon's fiddle coming in for measures eight and nine. The added two beats in measure seven make Ringo lose his grounding in the rhythm track, his drum breaks now appearing in inappropriate places in the final two measures of the first verse and continuing into the second verse.

The second verse is next which is identical to the first in number of measures, time signature changes, and elements heard with the addition of the fiddle throughout the entire verse. By the end of the fourth measure, Ringo gets back on track as to where the measures are laid out, undoubtedly aided by Paul changing chords on the piano in the proper places while they were both recording the rhythm track together. Ringo does momentarily get tripped up again in this regard after the seventh measure, his next drum break appearing in the middle of the eighth measure where it shouldn't appear.

Then appears the first chorus which is twelve measures long and features the identical instrumentation as the second verse. This moves directly into the third verse which is also identical instrumentally to the second verse, Ringo not being confused about the seventh measure this time around. A curious rattling sound is heard in the second measure during the word “unfair,” this sound probably recorded during the fiddle overdub since it doesn't appear in the “track three” rhythm track recording as heard on “Anthology 3.”

The chorus that follows is the same in regards to the elements heard but differs in that it is fourteen measures long instead of twelve, the final two measures encompassing a 'Beatles break.' Measures eleven and twelve feature Ringo counting out the beats (“one, two, three...”), a crashing chord happening when Ringo says “seven” which then ushers in silence for a measure and a half.

There are some unique things happening in this silence, however. We hear Ringo say “eight,” then we hear the overdubbed drum sounds winding down, then comes three staccato piano chords, then we hear the rhythm track that had been faded down being faded back up again with Ringo's anticipatory hi-hats and toms flailing away, then we hear someone say something that sounds like “Give it some more” (possibly meaning to fade up the rhythm track louder), and finally Ringo gives a quick moan. The last two beats of the fourteenth measure sound off with a loud snare drum fill to usher the song back in for a final chorus.

This final chorus is actually seventeen measures long this time around, this encompassing the song's conclusion. The first two measures are strictly instrumental with all the same elements as before except for the leading vocalization by Ringo of the song's title. An edit in the rhythm track can be detected as Ringo sings “Don't” at the end of the second measure, joining into the original take where the second verse ended.

Things get complicated again because of the musicians once again getting off kilter during the rhythm track. This time it appears to be Paul on piano that messes things up. He should have changed chords at the beginning of the fifth measure, but he mistakenly waits for another two beats to make this change (which one can clearly hear on the “Anthology 3” version). Ringo's vocals change where they should, however, which gets things out of whack. The same thing happens in the seventh measure, Ringo compensating with his drum overdub which covers this problem nicely on the released version. All things get rectified by Ringo in the eighth measures as he pauses after the phrase “hate to see you go,” thereby making the eighth measure 6/4 instead of 4/4 and evens up the measures with Paul's piano. Ringo was most likely prompted by someone to do this while recording his vocal tracks, probably George Martin.

This final chorus then concludes with a couple more chord changes and a suitable three-note ending, this being accentuated by Jack Fallon's fiddle 'scraping' fading the song out.

It's unfortunate to say that the effort put into “Don't Pass Me By” is sub-par in comparison to the usual Beatles productions of late. If George Harrison thought that his compositions were briefed over in the studio to get out of the way and concentrate on Paul and John's songs, as he has stated, even more so was the case for Ringo's first song. Not that Ringo wasn't grateful; in fact, as stated above, he felt that “everyone really worked to the full” on this song. Nonetheless, this situation was remedied the following year as his “Octopus's Garden” got an arrangement and production compared to any track on the “Abbey Road” album.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon WHY DON’T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD.

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