Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineers: Phil McDonald, Geoff Emerick
Ringo Starr worked on two songs for his debut solo album Sentimental Journey during this 2.30-7pm session.
In the first half hour he recorded a mono demo of ‘Whispering Grass (Don’t Tell The Trees)’, a 1940 hit for The Ink Spots. Several takes were recorded, and an edit of takes three and five was taken away by George Martin and given to arranger Ron Goodwin.
The song was recorded properly at Morgan Studios in London on 5 March 1970.
Between 3pm and 6pm Starr added lead vocals to Elmer Bernstein’s new arrangement of the 1945 song ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?’. The backing tracks had been recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles on 3 February, and featured electric guitar, piano, organ, brass, violin, bass, drums and bird whistle.
Starr’s vocals, added simultaneously with a tape reduction mix, took 18 attempts to complete. Between 6pm and 7pm the recording was mixed into stereo.
The vocals were re-recorded on 18 February 1970, making this day’s work on the song redundant.