Ringo Starr – Back Off Boogaloo

Back Off Boogaloo was Ringo’s follow up to his 1971 hit It Don’t Come Easy. It was released as a single only in 1972.

Some say Ringo wrote this song about Paul McCartney to stop his snide remarks in the press about the other Beatles and also to make better music. I can see why some people saw that in:

Wake up, meat head
Don’t pretend that you are dead
Get yourself up off the cart

Get yourself together now
And give me something tasty
Everything you try to do
You know it sure sound wasted

That last line was because Paul was very fond of Cannabis at the time. Ringo has since cleared that up and said it was inspired by Marc Bolan of T-Rex. Bolan had often said the word Boogaloo and Ringo wrote the song. Later on, George helped him finish the song but didn’t want songwriting credit as was the case in It Don’t Come Easy.

The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in the UK in 1972.

Chris Welch wrote in Melody Maker: “A Number One hit could easily be in store for the maestro of rock drums. There’s a touch of the Marc Bolan in this highly playable rhythmic excursion … It’s hypnotic and effective, ideal for jukeboxes and liable to send us all mad by the end of the week.”

 

Back Off Boogaloo

Back off, Boo-ga-loo, I said
Back off, Boo-ga-loo, come on
Back off, Boo-ga-loo, Boo

Back off, Boo-ga-loo
What d’yer think you’re gonna do
I got a flash right from the start

Wake up, meat head
Don’t pretend that you are dead
Get yourself up off the cart

Get yourself together now
And give me something tasty
Everything you try to do
You know it sure sound wasted

Back off, Boo-ga-loo, I said
Back off, Boo-ga-loo
You think you’re a groove
Standing there in your wallpapers shoes
And your socks that match your eyes

Back off, Boo-ga-loo, I said
Back off, Boo-ga-loo, come on
Back off, Boo-ga-loo, Boo

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

15 thoughts on “Ringo Starr – Back Off Boogaloo”

      4. Lol… Oh you must not have heard ol Pete boy play…whew…it was pretty bad. They did Love me do and man…was it off. Oh…I actually met Pete in the 80s…I got his autograph…on a Beatle magazine….I felt bad because…Ringo was on there. Nice guy though.

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      5. I didn’t know he was bad….thought it was some other reason. I’ve heard he was a nice guy who still hasn’t been given a reason why he was booted. If he sucked at drums…well there’s your reason mate…off you go!

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      6. Oh no… It’s on the Anthology ….he could NOT keep time and he put this skip beat in the middle of Love Me Do…man was it bad. Even musicians at the time could see why they replaced him. George Martin told them he would not be on the studio recordings.

        He got millions though because of his few recordings with them…demos….were placed on the Anthology 1….

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      8. Yea man I’m glad he got it. I mean they had to have a drummer to play Germany and got him. He helped them…and talk about feeling like a loser… Billy Preston and others said they did the right thing. He only really could play a straight 4 beat… Pete thought McCartney was jealous of his looks lol.

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