“It Don't Come Easy” by Ringo Starr

"It Don't Come Easy" was a stand-alone single Ringo Starr released in April 1971, and it's still one of his best-loved solo hits; and his old bandmate George Harrison was all over it: he produced it and helped write it, though only Starr took the credit. The sessions started at Trident Studios in London in March 1970, with overdubs that October, and the band is a who's who, with Harrison and Stephen Stills on guitars, Klaus Voormann on bass, Gary Wright on piano, Jim Keltner on maracas, and Pete Ham and Tom Evans singing backup. The result is a warm, horn-lifted stomp with Ringo sounding thrilled to be out front.

Apple pushed it hard and it paid off: number 1 in Canada, number 4 in the UK and the US. That August he and Harrison played it together at the Concert for Bangladesh in New York, and he still sings it with his All-Starr Band.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.