“Photograph” by Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr's "Photograph" led off his 1973 album Ringo, and it's the one song he and George Harrison ever officially shared a writing credit on, though the pair had started it in the South of France back in 1971. They took a first crack at it during the sessions for Harrison's Living in the Material World, but the keeper was cut in Los Angeles with Richard Perry producing.

Perry borrows from Phil Spector's Wall of Sound: stacked drums from Ringo and Jim Keltner, a thicket of acoustic guitars, orchestra and choir, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Harrison's 12-string and harmonies, and a tenor sax solo from Bobby Keys. Under all that glory sits a plain, aching song about lost love, a snapshot the only proof left that it happened. It went to number one in the US, Canada and Australia, and when Ringo sang it at the Concert for George in 2002, he said its meaning had changed.

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