Ringo as rock's Sonny Greer [Gould part 2]

Dear Tim,

...Somewhat incredibly, I haven't read Magic Circles; it must have come out right around the time I finally stopped reading and researching and staying current on all things Beatle in order to focus all of my addled attention on finally finishing my book. But now, of course, I'm curious, because you're not the first person to suggest that I really should check out McKinney's book.

As for Ian McDonald, I liked the highly opinionated quality of Revolution in the Head, but I also sensed a certain hauteur (if not outright arrogance) in the writing, which may have made it hard for him to appreciate other people's work.

On the matter of Ringo, the truth is that I've always loved his playing. It may be that as a drummer, I overcompensated for my concern that I might be placing too much emphasis on the role of the drums in the Beatles' music. I've been asked about Ringo in many of the interviews I've done, and I always fall back on my feeling that the Beatles were simply unimaginable without him. To me, he's always represented the essence of musicality in a drummer - great feel, good time, and a focus on serving the needs of the song - without resorting to any of the "drumistics" (as my old teacher Alan Dawson used to call it) that many people confuse with good drumming. Would "Helter Skelter" really have sounded much better if Mitch Mitchell had played on it? I doubt it - and it wouldn't have been nearly as funny. That said, the next time you hear Robbie Robertson talk dismissively in an interview about how the guys in the Band (another of my great loves) never paid any attention to "all that psychedelia" in 1967, listen to "Day In The Life" and ask yourself where Levon [Helms] got his sound. To the extent that there has always been a certain analogy in my mind between the Beatles and the Duke Ellington band - arguably, they are the two greatest "composing" bands in the genres of rock and jazz - Ringo is a little reminiscent of Sonny Greer...

And thanks again for your kind words, Tim...

Best,

Jon