The 1960s saw The Beatles become the biggest band in the world. Within a few years, they were no longer the mop-topped young men singing sweet love songs and rhythm and blues covers – they became creative geniuses.
With albums such as Rubber Soul, Abbey Road and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, The Beatles changed popular music through their endless experimentation and boundary-pushing approach to songwriting. Although the band was a foursome, Paul McCartney and John Lennon were the pack’s leaders, penning most of the tracks without the input of George Harrison or Ringo Starr.
While Starr was happy to let the others dominate writing sessions, Harrison became increasingly annoyed at Lennon and McCartney’s authoritarianism, leading him to temporarily leave the band in 1969, shortly before they eventually split for good. When The Beatles were no longer, each member pursued solo endeavours, and Harrison impressed fans and critics alike with his stunning album All Things Must Pass. Around this time, Harrison penned a song which he hoped to give to Shirley Bassey, who had recently earned chart success with a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Something’.
The track was initially titled ‘Whenever’ before Harrison renamed it ‘When Every Song Is Sung’. However, Bassey never ended up recording it, and Harrison instead performed the song during the All Things Must Pass sessions. Still, it failed to make the final cut and was given to Ronnie Spector. After the recording fell through, the song was performed by Cilla Black, Mary Hopkin and Leon and Mary Russell, with each singer failing to produce a completed version.
A few years later, Starr was in the process of creating his fifth solo album, Ringo’s Rotogravure, which led him to ask Harrison if he could cover the song. Now named ‘I’ll Still Love You’, Harrison agreed to let him sing it. Describing it as “an old song of George’s,” Starr once said: “I remembered the song from 1970. I always loved it and no one ever did it.”
Moreover, he told NME: “Well, Paul asked to write a song. I asked John and eventually he came up with ‘You Got Me Cooking’. I also asked George to write one, but there was an old one of his that was never released by anybody that I always loved. I asked him if, instead of writing one, could I have that old one? He said fine; it saved him a job. It’s called ‘I Still Love You,’ a big ballady thing.”
Yet, when Harrison heard the final product, he was not happy with Starr’s interpretation of the song and decided to begin legal action. Eventually, the pair settled the matter out of court, but the incident highlighted Harrison’s songwriting’s importance to him.
Listen to Starr’s version below.
