Not so sure himself, either.
My good friend Ryan nearly shat his panties when he heard the demo version of The Beatles’ Good Morning Good Morning, from the Anthology 2 (presumably, disc 2?). He just really liked it, even preferring it over the actual album version. It’s got less stuff. It’s just the band being awesome.
I’m not a crazy, rabid Beatles fan, and I can only tell you as much as I’ve learned from recently watching Anthology. I had never known Ringo to use two kick drums, so even still I’m unsure whether or not he actually uses one on this track. I could easily imagine Ringo at least toying around with two kicks, right? It surprises me especially because I often cite Ringo as my hero and foil to double-kick/30-cymbal flurries.
Listen for yourself, especially at 2:04. Ryan says it could be the sound from the bass, but if you listen the phrasing, there’s no way that the bass could pluck at 16th note speed at the same time. I think there is both muted bass plucking and double kick in the intro to further add to the confusion.
Good Mornin Good Mornin Demo Version (mp3)
Let me know what you think!
—
UPDATE! March 2, 2009: After much scrutiny, I decided that it WAS Paul’s picking sound which made a thumpy sound comparable to Ringo’s kick. However, there are couple of small parts in the song where it really really does sound like a double kick. Too bad Ringo doesn’t accept fanmail anymore, otherwise, I’d try to email him. Haha!
5 Comments ↓
I never did a close examination but I the it is Paul being his ADD/ spaztic self. I think this proceeds iron laden’s tradermark four fingered bass playing.
btw – it is totally double bass and i think you and i are the only ones that care.
I’m pretty sure the part at 2:04 is the bass guitar. The compression on the drum track is so extreme it sucks everything out when the kick hits. If it were double kick you wouldn’t be able to hear the snare and the backbeat/downbeat swooshing around. The part at 2:10 sounds like it could have some double kick in it though.
I found this post after Googling ‘Good Morning Good Morning, double kick’ because I wanted to know if anyone else was onto it. That has got to be a double kick during the outro. Though I agree the plucked bass has a very percussive kick to it that sounds like a bass dum.
According The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962-1970 it is documented as Ringo playing double bass. Being a drummer myself I concur.