Written by: Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Recorded: July; August 1974
Producer: Richard Perry
Released: 15 November 1974 (UK), 18 November 1974 (US)
Available on:
Goodnight Vienna
Personnel
Ringo Starr: vocals, drums
Elton John: piano
James Newton Howard: synthesizer
Robbie Robertson: guitar
Klaus Voormann: bass guitar
Trevor Lawrence, Steve Madaio, Bobby Keys, Chuck Finley: horns
Clydie King, Linda Lawrence, Joe Greene: vocals
Jim Keltner: drums
‘Snookeroo’ is the fifth song on Ringo Starr’s 1974 album Goodnight Vienna.
It was written for Starr by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
We’ve also written a song for Ringo, ‘Snookeroo’. He said, ‘Listen, make it nice and commercial,’ so we did. Bernie wrote really simple lyrics, very Ringo-type lyrics, and I tried to write a simple sort of melody to it. And I play piano on it.
Rolling Stone, 21 November 1974
Taupin’s lyrics referenced Starr’s upbringing in the north of England.
It’s a simple, biographical thing: ‘I was born in a Northern town’ … like that. Just that bit got me humming ‘Yellow Submarine’.
Rolling Stone, 21 November 1974
In the studio
Elton John recorded a demo of ‘Snookeroo’ on 6 June 1974 at Brother Studios in Los Angeles. The recording was first released in 2024 on the Record Store Day reissue of Caribou.
Starr’s version was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles in July and August 1974. In addition to playing piano, Elton John can be heard counting in the musicians at the beginning.
I had gotten to know Elton John several years before this. Robert Stigwood had a party and we said hello. We asked all sorts of people who were writing songs then for material. Bernie wrote these strange lyrics and Elton turned them into a song. ‘Snookeroo’ seemed to read like a Ringo song, the Ringo attitude, so we did it. There was no deep madness going on in those days. It was all like, ‘It feels good – let’s go.’
Photograph – The Very Best Of Ringo Starr
The release
A single, ‘No No Song’, with ‘Snookeroo’ on the b-side, was released in the US on 27 January 1975, and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘Snookeroo’ was released as a UK single on 21 February, with ‘Oo-Wee’ on the b-side. It failed to chart.
