I saw a John Lennon interview where he said he used to worry about Ringo and what he would do after the Beatles. Suddenly Ringo was on top of the world and John jokingly said he telegrammed Ringo and asked Ringo would he “write me a hit?”
– Max at PowerPop
Yesterday’s featured song Bad Moon Rising, as well as today and an upcoming song were all jogged to my memory from fellow blogger’s Max web site PowerPop.
Photograph was released as the lead single from former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr’s 1973 album Ringo. It was a major international hit charting in 10 different countries, including hitting No 1 in the United States, Canada and Australia. Starr and Harrison began writing the song on a luxury yacht in the South of France in 1971, during a period when Starr was focused on developing his acting career. Harrison also contributed guitar and backing vocals to the track. The lyrics are a reflection on lost love, whereby a photograph is the only reminder of the protagonists’ shared past.
[Chorus]
Every time I see your face, it reminds me of the places
We used to go
But all I’ve got is a photograph, and I realise you’re not
Comin’ back anymore
[Verse 1]
I thought I’d make it
The day you went away
But I can’t make it
‘Til you come home again to stay
[Chorus]
I can’t get used to livin’ here while my heart is broke
My tears I cried for you
I want you here to have and hold as the years go by
And we grow old and grey
Starr sang Photograph at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, during which he and Paul McCartney, as the two surviving ex-Beatles, were honoured with the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Rolling Stone reported on Starr’s performance of the song: “Backed by a massive full band, he bounced around the stage while old black-and-white photographs showed on a big screen behind him.” In the album review for Rolling Stone, Ben Gerson highlighted Photograph as one of the “three most wonderful songs” on Ringo, along with the Lennon-composed I’m the Greatest and the Harrison–Mal Evans collaboration You and Me (Babe).
References:
1. Photograph (Ringo Starr song) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
“Photograph” is a pretty pleasant song. When it comes to Ringo Starr, what I like first and foremost is Ringo the human being. He always strikes me as a kind, positive and down-to-earth individual whose fame never got to his head.
Ringo is all about the music, not whether he’s in the limelight or not. The best illustration is the concept of his All-Starr-Band where they take turns playing each member’s hits. And when it’s not a Beatles or Ringo solo song they perform, Ringo looks perfectly happy playing the drums only. I’ve witnessed this myself when I saw them in New York City in June 2022 – such a fun show!
I currently don’t recall who said it, but there’s a great quote I once read: “Every band deserves a Ringo!”
Hi Christian.
I align with your modest description of this song: ‘A pretty pleasant song’. You mentioned Ringo’s qualities as a human being. I’m afraid my meagre understanding of the Beatles members starts and ends with their music contributions, but I was intrigued to read your take on Ringo as a person, his focus on ‘the music’ and your reflections on seeing his ‘All Starr Band’.
That quote you ended with, is indeed fantastic. Thanks.
That album is the closest The Beatles ever had reuniting. They all helped out and it became such a great album for him. This album set him up nicely. He plays a lot of songs from this album to this day. This is a great one…Ringo had more hits than people remember. George and Ringo were more successful in some ways than John and Paul at first…but that switched of course.
I listened to some of his other songs from the record and I liked them too. What amazes me hearing each member’s post – Beatles contributions is how many songs sounds like a Beatles song – even a Ringo song sounds like the Beatles whom of course was principally their drummer. As you pointed out ‘they all helped out’ on this. I also like your astute observation:
‘George and Ringo were more successful in some ways than John and Paul at first…but that switched of course.’
They did everything but appear in the studio together…Thanks Matt
Yeh, high fives all round. I love that Lennon quote about writing him a hit that you recalled. You can tell they wanted him to succeed.
Just a wonderful song. Ringo…
I’ve had the song in my head this morning. It’s seems a ‘nothing to write home about song’ at first glance, but there’s something profound there which I can’t quite put my finger on.
I have always felt kinda like that. Says something more or something. Lol love it.