Like any commercial product worth, the group’s first albums are full of versions of other artists, since at the beginning there was not full confidence on either side, neither on their part, regarding their compositional capacity, nor by the record company that like all companies prefer to go a safer path And we must not forget that they were mainly interpreters of other artists’ material during their performances in fashionable clubs.
Although, nevertheless, in this way, it helps us to verify the musical origins of the group, which comes from a more rock’n’roll aspect but makes its eclectic nature clear from the beginning. So we have for example an energetic version of ‘Twist and Shout’, where John and Paul leave their voices, an interesting ballad like ‘A Taste Of Honey.’
In addition to the usually discarded shots of already known recordings, we can again find unreleased songs that do not add anything new either, since in general they pale compared to the material that they published at the time but that, nevertheless, are still good songs with more or less hook.
The best of all these novelties is the dynamic ‘If You Got Trouble’, by Ringo Starr which has a rhythm reminiscent of ‘Slow Down’, of which we can hear in the Past Masters – Volume One the version they recorded.
Starr was assigned with managing the old Lennon and McCartney compositions that the principle songwriting couple had abandoned. The drummer, who had been excitingly working on the track, determined to add some spices. However, his noble works undermined an already soft song.
The track’s lyrics is very confusing. Starr’s first line is shameless by anyone’s definition: “If you’ve got trouble, then you’ve got less trouble than me,” he sings. Ringo then later snaps: “And don’t think it’s funny / When you ask for money / For things”.
The track came at a tough time for The Beatles’ Lennon- McCartney duo as they advanced on one of their rare dry runs.
It’s claimed that The Beatles promised to throw the song away nearly the second they listen to the first cut of the tune. Talking in Anthology, George Harrison said he’d skipped about the song’s existence: “We’ve just come across [‘If You’ve Got Trouble’],” George said per the Beatles Bible. “I’ve no recollection of ever recording it.”
Even if he doesn’t consider his own flop guitar solo for the song, the guitarist didn’t hold back in his evaluation of the track: “It’s the most weird song… It’s got stupid words and is the naffest song,” he said. “No wonder it didn’t make it onto anything.”
Keep going below and listen to the song: