Ringo Starr and George Harrison spoke about the time they spent creating “Photograph” in the past. 16 tracks were assembled by one artist on his own to complete the song. Ringo Starr’s “Photograph” demonstrated that he and George Harrison could be a powerful musical partnership on par with Lennon and McCartney. Ringo claimed that he and George penned “Photograph” while attending a renowned film festival. 16 songs were combined to create the perfect song. ‘Photograph’ was written by George Harrison and Ringo Starr on a yacht. “Photograph” was co-written by George and Ringo, making it conceivably the most well-known song that Ringo had a hand in writing. Ringo talked about his memories of writing the song with the “My Sweet Lord” singer in a 2023 interview with Billboard. He recalled, “I think we were on a yacht.” “We were at the Cannes Film Festival,” he continued. I don’t remember much of what happened throughout that holiday. One of the most well-known film festivals in the world is the Cannes Film Festival, where films from all over the world compete for the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) trophy. Filmmaking luminaries like Steven Soderbergh, Jane Campion, and Quentin Tarantino have all had their careers jump-started thanks to the festival.
Ringo shared his recollections of George as a teammate. “George was like my producer for a while,” he recalled. He looked after me. I could only play three chords, but he added the appropriate chords. A wonderful video shows him shouting “F!” as I’m playing “Octopus’ Garden.” Ringo continued. “I have no idea where F is. ‘G flat!’ While lying on the sofa, he is simply crying out these chords. Look, as long as the music is in the key of C, I can play it,” Starr chuckles heartily.
Legendary musicians other than George and Ringo contributed to “Photograph.” In the studio, “Photograph” was put together with assistance from Bill Schnee and “You’re So Vain” producer Richard Perry. Schnee claimed that Perry was demanding in a conversation with The Last Miles. Richard frequently listened to mixes again and wanted to remix them, especially if they were going to be singles, according to the source. “The best one is ‘Photograph’ from Ringo’s [Ringo] album. Schnee continued, “He had the concept of doing the Wall of Sound and we definitely went for that. The Wall of Sound is a recording method invented by Phil Spector in which instruments are placed on top of one another during the mixing process such that it is impossible to tell one from the other. Schnee recalled that Perry and he intended to mix 16 recordings to make “Photograph.” Schnee believed it would be difficult to manage Perry’s incessant demands, though. He told Perry that he would prefer to complete the task alone, and Perry agreed. While working alone on the project, Schnee genuinely enjoyed it. Maybe the next time we all hear “Photograph,” we should all be aware of the effort that went into creating the song’s rich, silky sound. The extraordinary team effort that was “Photograph” is yet another factor in the fame of the Cannes Film Festival.
