Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr – “With A Little Help From My Friends” Live

Would You Believe In Love At First Sight?

“With a Little Help from My Friends” was one of the last songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They were messing around in the piano at John’s house when they penned the lyrics. It’s from the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and written for drummer Ringo Starr. It ranked at number 311 in the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” by the Rolling Stone magazine.

“It was a challenge, it was something out of the ordinary for us because we actually had to write in a key for Ringo and you had to be a little tongue in cheek. Ringo liked kids a lot, he was very good with kids so we knew Yellow Submarine would be a good thing for Ringo to sing. In this case, it was a slightly more mature song, which I always liked very much.” — Paul McCartney

The song was written conversation-like. Ringo has performed this track along with other music artists like Eric Clapton, Elton John and George Harrison. There has been more than fifty cover versions but the ones that made it to the charts were from Joe Cocker, Wet Wet Wet and Sam & Mark.

“The song With A Little Help From My Friends was written specifically for me, but they had one line that I wouldn’t sing. It was ‘What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?’ I said, ‘There’s not a chance in hell am I going to sing this line,’ because we still had lots of really deep memories of the kids throwing jelly beans and toys on stage; and I thought that if we ever did get out there again, I was not going to be bombarded with tomatoes.” — Ringo Starr

In this live version of the song, Paul and Ringo are rockin’ it on stage. Seeing them perform together just brings back a lot of memories!

+ LYRICS +

What would you think if I sang out of tune
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song
And I’ll try not to sing out of key
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm gonna try with a little help from my friends

What do I do when my love is away?
(Does it worry you to be alone?)
How do I feel by the end of the day?
(Are you sad because you’re on your own?)
No I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm gonna try with a little help from my friends

(Do you need anybody?)
I need somebody to love
(Could it be anybody?)
I want somebody to love

(Would you believe in a love at first sight?)
Yes I’m certain that it happens all the time
(What do you see when you turn out the light?)
I can’t tell you, but I know it’s mine
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Oh I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends

(Do you need anybody?)
I just need someone to love
(Could it be anybody?)
I want somebody to love

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm gonna try with a little help from my friends
Oh I get high with a little help from my friends
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends
With a little help from my friends