"Ringo" is a popular song written by Don Robertson and Hal Blair. It was a hit single for Canadian-born actor Lorne Greene in 1964. It reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts on December 5, 1964, as well as garnering the same spot on the "Easy Listening" chart, where it retained the position for six weeks. The single also peaked at #21 on the Hot Country Singles chart. In Canada, it hit #1 on the RPMtop singles chart on December 7, 1964. The song's sung lyrics are limited to the title word alone, performed by an unidentified male chorus. The rest of the vocal performance consists of a spoken-word, first-person account of a Western lawman and his relationship with a notorious gunfighter, Ringo. The account in the song does not fit the known historical facts of the life of Western outlaw Johnny Ringo, but Greene was under the impression that the song was indeed about "Johnny Ringo the outlaw." The "B" side of the disc contained a vocal version of the theme song of Greene's TV showBonanza, with lyrics that were never used on the show. Greene recorded a French-language version of "Ringo" with "Du Sable" on the flip side of the 45, released on the RCA Victor Canada International label #57-5623. A German-language cover by :de:Waldemar Müller |Ferdy changes the meaning somewhat and alters the ending, but is otherwise fairly close to the English version. Like Greene's French-language edition, the single is also backed with a German version of Sand. Like "Bonanza", "Ringo" began as a track on Greene's Welcome to the Ponderosa RCA Victor LP in late 1963. On the album each track was supplemented with an introduction to each song, separately tracked. Greene said the song was written as a typical western ballad, in the vein of "El Paso" by Marty Robbins. Given his fame on "Bonanza", he had asked the two songwriters to come up with a song that fit in with his persona on that show. He also acknowledged that some teens who bought the record were probably expecting it to be about Beatles-drummer Ringo Starr and believed that after listening to it, they would not be disappointed that the song was actually about a western outlaw. Greene also noted that recording of the album featuring "Ringo" began before the Beatles became popular in the United States. The album's introductions to each track were left off of the single release. "Ringo" debuted in Billboard in October 1964. At the same time a special promotional recording by Greene was sent to radio stations to promote the album, where he speaks about seven of the album's tracks. "Ringo" was the lead track. On it, Greene talks about the probable confusion between his song character and The Beatles and the "wonderful drummer of theirs", assuring the listener that it is not about him. About this time the album had been upgraded to include a notation on the front jacket, FEATURING THE BIG HIT "RINGO". A completely sung version of the song was recorded by Riders in the Sky. Their version is a remake of the version done years earlier by the Sons of the Pioneers in which member Tommy Doss sang the lead. In December 1964 the first parody of the song was issued: "Gringo", written by Marty Cooper and H.B. Barnum. Cooper himself would record it under the name "El Clod", a name he had used in 1962 to record a parody on the Challenge label for the song "Wolverton Mountain", which was called "Tiajuana Border". This "Ringo" parody would be issued on Vee Jay Records. Other parodies soon followed, including two by Frank Gallop with his 1966 hit single "The Ballad of Irving" on the Kapp label, which was quickly chased with a sequel, "The Son Of Irving" on the Musicor label. Another was released in the 1980s by Dutch comedian Andre van Duin ; and then by Country Yossi and the Shteeble Hoppers. Allan Sherman sang a parody on his special Allan Sherman's Funnyland on January 19, 1965, on which Lorne Greene also sang the original "Ringo." The 2005 short filmRingo, which used the song along with public-domain footage of John Wayne and Roy Rogers, won the Short Film Award for animated film at the 2005 Seattle International Film Festival.
