Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Beaucoup of Blue





50 years ago today Ringo Starr was in Nashville to start recording his county themed Beaucoup of Blue album.

12 comments:

  1. Ringo recorded two albums in 1970. NEITHER one was aimed at his core audience.☹️ (MarkZapp)

    ReplyDelete
  2. He did his 1st album for his mum, second album for himself. Neither album did much for me, but so what. At the age of 29 the guy FINALLY had an album of his own, and he did what he wanted. Good for you, Ringo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems that both of the albums from 1970 have gotten more recognition in more recent times than they did back then. I don't like the country album, but I know some people that do. I quite enjoy Sentimental Journey and I think Ringo was way ahead of his time. Look how long it too Paul to release such an album (Kisses on the bottom)

      Delete
    2. when sentimental journey came out I played it at my relatives house and they loved it, surprised it was Ringo

      Delete
  3. Both albums are very good but obviously have a limited audience. I remember in the late 80s a slew of Apple albums were released as cutouts, so you could find very obscure titles for peanuts in drugstores, etc. I remember getting 'Sentimental Journey' that way (along with Badfinger's 'No Dice' and 'Magic Christian Music'.

    At least 'Beaucoups of Blues' is a very well-made album, if a little 'packaged'. Note Jerry Reed (of 'When You're Hot, You're Hot' fame, as well as co-starring in 'Smokey & the Bandit') playing the blistering guitar on '$15 Draw'. Ringo even clumsily quotes Jerry's song at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  4. First heard the title track on Blast From The Past in '76. I'm not the world's biggest C&W fan but wow what a great song, and perfectly suited for Ringo's voice, too. Unfortunately, the songs on BOB are not as interesting as some of the great performances on it by the Nashville studio vets...Ringo's first All-Starr Band !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ringo is not quoting Reed's song there. Jerry Reed's When You're Hot You're Hot" came out a full year after Ringo's album. The phrase "WYHYH" had been prevalent in pop culture for years, thanks to Flip Wilson.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uh, Flip's catchphrase was "The Devil made me do it!". While "When You're Hot You're Hot" was released in 1971 (and may have been mentioned on Flip's show *afterwards*), the fact Ringo mentions it while Jerry is playing guitar would strongly suggest that he was aware of the song. It's possible that the song was in the process of being written during this time, and that Ringo heard it.

      Delete
    2. Uh, Geraldine Jones, Flip's fictional character that he invented in 1968 *years* before his TV special, introduced *multiple* catchphrases into pop culture, including TDMMDI and WYHYH. Not that I'm a huge Flip Wilson fan or anything. Not at all, no.

      Delete
    3. Whether or not Flip *introduced* WYHYH into pop culture, the fact that Ringo says it while Jerry Reed is playing the outro solo on "$15 Draw" would *strongly* suggest that Reed already had the song and that Ringo had heard it. Amazingly enough, songs are not written the week before they're released ("Instant Karma" excepted). Many Beatles songs were around years before they were recorded. So sorry, the link to Jerry is much more likely than Flip. Whether Jerry got the idea from Flip is a whole other story.

      Delete
    4. *Wonderful* anecdotal tales of *imagination* & *illumination*

      Delete
  6. Ringo always said he liked country music; ex. act naturally

    ReplyDelete