Number 3 - I'm The Greatest

Beatles Involved: John, George and Ringo

Listenability: 3.5 out of 5

Written by John Lennon for Ringo Starr, it was recorded on 13 March 1973 by John, George, Ringo, Billy Preston (who appeared on the Let It Be Album) and Klaus Voorman (a friend of all The Beatles from their Hamburg days). According to author Keith Badman, the session lasted approximately 18 minutes. Apart from the Anthology reunions this is the only time three former Beatles played live together in a recording studio. Unfortunately the song never really takes off as it lacks a chorus. The end result is O.K but it's not the greatest!

Two versions of this song have been officially released, the first with Ringo on lead vocals on his 1973 Ringo album. The second features John on lead vocals on the 1998 John Lennon Anthology. On the second version John is performing the vocals as a guide for Ringo rather than for official release. Billy Preston's organ playing is missing from the John Lennon version. Producer Richard Perry and session musician Nicky Hopkins were also present at the session.

What They Said About It....

John:

Question: You [The Beatles] haven't worked together in three or four years? 

Well let me say, I've worked with Ringo and George on Ringo's album. I worked with George on an album of mine [Imagine]. I worked with Ringo about two months ago [in August John worked with Ringo on the songs Goodnight Vienna and Only You] and I might be working with George on Friday night folks! [This didn't happen. The following Friday, 27th December 1974, John signed signed the official documents to dissolve The Beatles partnership. John was the last ex-beatle to sign these documents.] 

Today - NBC TV December 1974 

Question: "Didn't all four Beatles work on a song you wrote for Ringo in 1973?"

'I'm the Greatest.' It was the Muhammad Ali line, of course. It was perfect for Ringo to sing. If I said, 'I'm the greatest,' they'd all take it so seriously. No one would get upset with Ringo singing it.

Question: "Did you enjoy playing with George and Ringo again?"

Yeah, except when George and Billy Preston started saying, 'Let's form a group. Let's form a group.' I was embarrassed when George kept asking me. He was just enjoying the session and the spirit was very good, but I was with Yoko, you know. We took time out from what we were doing. The very fact that they would imagine I would form a male group without Yoko! It was still in their minds... 

Taken From: 1980 Playboy Interview With John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Ringo:

And John happened to be in town, so did George. They wrote me a song, um, and then I didn’t want to leave Paul out so I phoned him and I flew back to England to do Paul. But it just came about like that. 

Taken from raw footage from 1976 Australian television interview

               It was John, George and I. It was the closest we ever got to a reunion. And it was fine.
           Taken from interview by Elliot Mintz, broadcast on American radio on 29 August 1977.

It just happened. John was there and George was there. So I go to John and said, 'I’m doing an album. Do you got any songs?’ He said, ‘I got one I’ll finish for you.’ He was in the Beverly Hills with his piano. So he finished a song for me. George was there and I said, ‘George, give us a song.’ You know, they’re the writers. And he says, ‘Yeah, I got a song.’ So I say ‘Well come and play.’ And he and John said okay. So we have the one track with John, George and Ringo on it. Then I thought, well, we’ll get Paul. I’d talked to him as well. I called Paul and I said, ‘You can’t be left out of this. I’ve got John and George is back. I’ve got the other two on it. Have you got any tracks?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a track.’ And I was going to England, so I said, ‘Come on Richard, we’re going to England.’ We went to England and we went into the Apple studio there with Paul to do his track. So that’s how that album got together. 

Question: So with that album, all four of The Beatles were on it, with three on one track. We were like big girls again. We were all looking at each other smiling. We hadn’t played together in four years. I’d played on John’s album, George’s album. This was my first one of those. We were just smiling while we were playing. It was nice.

Bill Minkin interview 1977

Paul:

I know the three of them did play together once, maybe on Pussy Cats [an album of Harry Nilsson's]. They jammed together, and I remember, I think it was John who said to me, "Man, it was great, we're a great band. Because that was the great thing about the Beatles; we really were a great band. 

Taken from: Rolling Stone - 20th Anniversary Edition, 1987. N.B. Paul get's the details incorrect. The song John, George and Ringo got together for was for a track off Ringo's 'Ringo' album. It was not a jam, but rather a series of takes for the one song. 

Billy Preston:

I remember one night when we were in between takes, and there was John, George and Ringo along with some other musicians. We were all saying, 'This is great! We should go out and get another band together, have other musicians.' And then John Lennon said, 'Yeah, that would be great, but it would be like starting over.' I remember him saying that and then, years later, he comes out with the title 'Starting Over' on his own album. 

Taken from 'Ticket to Ride' by Scott Muni, Denny Somach, Kathleen Somach p. 147 -148 

Richard Perry:

Just like that. No planning. The three ex-beatles recorded one of John's songs. Everyone in the room was just gleaming... it's such a universal gleam with The Beatles. 

The Beatles Diary. Keith Badman

This was the most exciting and fun session I've ever had!" 

Taken from the 1990 'Ringo' album CD release notes by Staffan Olander.  

Nicky Hopkins:

All it was, was all the people turned up, which has happened many times before in England. For example, Ringo worked on George's upcoming album and Harrison helped out on my forthcoming solo LP. 

The Beatles Diary. Keith Badman