Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 18 February 1965http://www.beatlesbible.com/wp/wp-admin/post.php?post=169&action=trash&_wpnonce=4228d57602
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 18 March 1996 (UK), 19 March 1996 (US)
Ringo Starr: vocals, drums
John Lennon: backing vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass
George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar
Available on:
Anthology 2
Written by Lennon and McCartney and sung by Ringo Starr, If You've Got Trouble was originally intended to be a part of Help!, the soundtrack to The Beatles' second film.
I recorded a song for the Help! album that was never released - If You've Got Trouble. George Martin found it in the vaults of EMI studios.
Anthology
The songs given to Ringo to sing were never among Lennon and McCartney's finest: I Wanna Be Your Man and What Goes On were little more than album fillers, and often Starr was left to sing cover versions.
If You've Got Trouble bears the unfortunate hallmarks of the two songwriters going through the motions: uninspired lyrics about diamond rings, "money and things", references to Starr's haplessness (his persona within the group's early years was that of an amiable clown), and a tune which was less than inspired.
We've just come across that, and it's the most weird song. I've no recollection of ever recording it. It's got stupid words and is the naffest song. No wonder it didn't make it onto anything.
Anthology
In the studio
If You've Got Trouble was recorded in a single take on 18 February 1965, in between two other Lennon-McCartney songs - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away and Tell Me What You See.
The rhythm track was recorded first, then double-tracked lead and backing vocals were overdubbed, along with an extra guitar part by George Harrison.
That the song wasn't working as planned can be heard in Ringo's desperate call before the guitar solo: "Ah, rock on - anybody!" If You've Got Trouble was eventually replaced on the Help! album by Act Naturally, recorded four months later.
Related articles:
- Recording, mixing: If You've Got Trouble, Tell Me What You See, You're Going To Lose That Girl, That Means A Lot, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
- Recording, mixing: Ticket To Ride, Another Girl, I Need You, Yes It Is, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, The Night Before, You Like Me Too Much, If You've Got Trouble, Tell Me What You See
- That Means A Lot
- And Your Bird Can Sing
- Recording, mixing: And Your Bird Can Sing, Taxman
Are they kidding? Even the least inspired Beatles song is head and shoulders above anyone else's material (and that's not a dandruff reference). If Ringo had blurted "Ah, rock on, anybody!" in one of the classics, we'd celebrate its lunacy instead of taking this as evidence of a throwaway line. The fact that a Beatle mocks it in retrospect signifies nothing; witness the Lennon vitriol leveled at some of his finest work in retrospect.
Yes, but it's not just that Ringo says "Ah, rock on, anybody!", it's the disdainful way he says it that's so telling.
Raffian - from your response I can tell you haven't heard it. There are a handful of Beatles songs - maybe 10 or 20 - that I have no desire to listen to. (The rest of them I love.) This is much, much worse than whatever you consider the worst Beatles song. Search for it on YouTube. It is truly godawful. It took me until 1:07 until I would be willing to kill myself to stop the, um, so-called "music" if there were no stop button. It could be used as a weapon during warfare. It makes flowers wilt. It causes cancer. It emits gamma rays. It is that bad. Really.
I like this song, I think it's pretty good and hummable. The Beatles will I'm sure bash things they did and they're withing their rights, but as a fan I think it's alright.
Yeah, it's not such a bad little song, it's just unremarkable. (In fact, I like it more than either of "Help!"'s two Harrisongs.) A song as bad as the one Serge is apparently hearing would be a lot more memorable than this little 12-bar throwaway. And yeah, the "Rock on, anybody!" really is the best thing about the song.
I think that is a good song but with nonsense on the lyrics. It would be a good song if they put em' more better lyrics. But i think it's great anyway.
I listened to this song on Utube and it is as good as any other songs that Ringo sang. It is much better than the cover he did sing on help! That song, by the way (Act Naturally) should have been on "Beaucoups of Blues"
"Rock on anybody" is totally Ringo funny!
To comment that If You've Got Troubles is a much better song than Act Naturally, is a serious lapse in musical appreciation.
Ringo's lament "Rock on anybody" is easily the only highlight of the Beatle recording which should have left unreleased.
I mean it's not a great song, but I find myself listening to it from time to time, I mean, come on it's Ringo! By the way it sounds like Ringo is playing the guitar solos because they are god-awful!
Personally, i think it's a good song, maybe it's the less good song wrote by the Lennon-McCartney partnership, and yeah, maybe also, there's animosity for this song and maybe we can hear it too, but even with the nonsensed lyrics, lack of more good lyrics and drumming and voices, it's for me a good song. I tie it with Mr. Moonlight of the less good song they did.
Count me among those who like it. It's not a Grammy winner by any stretch, but God help me I like it.
While the song isn't very good, it really isn't all that bad either. I could see that if they practiced it a bit more, created a decent guitar solo, plus maybe a change or two in the arrangement, it would have been a no brainer to go on "Help!" as Ringo's track and nobody would have thought twice about it.
One can imagine though as they are playing it in the studio that as Ringo is singing, he looks around at the grimacing expressions on John, Paul, and George and decides the song is seriously lacking something.
Not as good as "Act Naturally", but I'd still rank it ahead of two or three other "Help!" tracks. Riff-wise, it's certainly better than "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" - you can see a definite progression straight through from "Troubles" to "Day Tripper" to "Taxman".
I found recently that the Anthology version the order of the lyrics is altered from the original form.
In Anthology starts: ''If You've Got Troubles, you've got less...''
But the original starts: ''I Don't think is funny when...''
The Anthology version is extended it lasts 2:44
The original can be find on bootlegs and lasts only 2:25.
Damn, anthology altered other song!
In with another "I like it!" It's no piece of genius, that's for sure, but I dig the beat and the drums and Ringo's voice. As someone else said, it's definitely "hummable".
I like this song. Don't know why some put it down.It's not regular beatle fare and quite unique. Ringo is an original.
I actually kind of like the song too. Despite the banal and awful lyrics, there is an interesting musical idea at the bottom of it. It always seemed to me to be a riff on the piano intro to Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" (a song the Beatles played during the stage days in Hamburg). I think that if John and Paul had put just a little more effort into it, it may have turned out all right.
That said, Ringo's version of "Act Naturally" is great -- better than the original.
A weak, but kinda funny song.
"If You've Got Troubles" is not such a bad little song.
It has nice riff, I think, only the words have gone wrong.
It's not irredeemably shite,
and with a few changes it could be put right.
"If You've Got Troubles" is not such a bad little song.
It has just three chords,
which any learner on guitar can play.
It has these three chords,
and they're major ones: E, b7, A.
Well done!
I agree this is amongst the weakest Lennon-McCartney tunes, of which there are only a very small handful i would actually consider truly "weak". I've always been amazed over the years at finding even really rare things they just threw out or gave to other ppl that I absolutely adore("I'm In Love" comes to mind as one of a zillion examples). This kind of craft is beneath them and i think they knew it, hence first giving it to Ringo then completely discarding it. I have to say its one Beatle song i could have lived my life without hearing. The fact that this made the cut for Anthology and "Love of the Loved" didnt is somewhat criminal, methinks. Any songwriter could pump this out and I NEVER thought I would think that about any Lennon-McCartney song
Aside from any compositional complaints, this has to be one of George's *worst* solos on record. (And that's saying a lot. I love and respect George's playing, and later on he became quite proficient, but he may have set the record for number of blunders in 16 bars.) The fact that the solo is double-tracked is just boggling.
If he made the same blunders both times, then that means they were deliberate choices and not blunders at all!
I usually don't mind mistakes in solos - it's a sign of character.
There's an old trick one does when playing LIVE - if you make a mistake, make it again because then it sounds like you meant it and thus becomes 'not a mistake'. However, this being in a studio - perhaps it was intentional? I don't believe they had quite the clout at that time to spend glorious hours in the studio, though. It doesn't sound entirely fleshed out and they don't sound enthusiastic.
Count me in as a lover. Part of the appeal to me is how awkward it sounds.