Drumming Is My Madness - Ringo Starr

Artist: Ringo Starr
Song: Drumming Is My Madness
Year: 1981
Album: Stop And Smell The Roses

This is one of my favorite songs by Ringo. The title claim is so bold, yet played so nonchalantly by Ringo that it almost seems comical. Although, if you listen closely, the drumming is spectacular. Ringo always has a way of making his contributions to a song seem lazy, almost an afterthought. That is part of the brilliance of his playing. It's the tiny nuances in his drumming and his everyman persona that make his songs work.

Stop And Smell The Roses was the last album of Ringo's to feature input from all four Beatles. George and Paul gave songs to Ringo and John was working with Ringo on production. John also gave songs for Ringo to record, but in the wake of John's death, Ringo didn't have the heart to do them. Those two songs would later come out posthumously by John.

"Drumming Is My Madness" seems almost like any other Ringo song on its surface. It seems to have a straightforward beat. It trudges through without any regard to music. It sounds like a decent karaoke singer is trying his hand at a cheesy tune.

Once you get past that, the song transcends its meager beginnings and transforms into something subtle and complex. That is the beauty with this song and many others from Ringo's catalogue. Simplicity complicated.

Lyrics:
Drumming is my madness,
Drumming is my business.

Drumming is my pleasure,
Drumming makes me happy.

Drumming makes me lose control,
Drumming makes me rock and roll, yeah.

Watch me now, rizz off!

Do you think I'm sexy?
Do you think I'm silly?
Try a little tenderness, too.

Drumming is my middle name,
Drumming makes me go insane.

I got rhythm,
You got rhythm, too.

Here we go again!!

Drumming is my madness,
Drumming makes me crazy, HA! HA! HA!

HO!

Drumming is my hobby,
Drumming is a friend of mine.

Is it any wonder?
You can call me thunder,
My friends' name is lightning too.