We're on the Road Again

Album: Give More Love (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • Ringo Starr's Beatles' bandmate Paul McCartney contributes bass to this track. The song also features The Eagles' Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, and Toto's Steve Lukather. Winter and Lukather co-wrote the song with Ringo.
  • Ringo recalled the story of the song:

    "Steve Lukather is Mr. Vitality when he's rocking, and that's how we got this rocker going. Luke and I were hanging out, and we had a bit of a rhythm pattern going and started to put a track down. We got a bit crazed in the beginning thinking that there's already Willie Nelson - who we love - singing his 'On the Road Again.' But we realized Willie doesn't own that line, and our road trip is a lot more rocking. Yes, that is Paul McCartney on bass and on screams, too." (Source Something New)
  • Paul McCartney plays on two songs on Give Me Love - this one and "Show Me the Way." Bruce Sugar, Ringo Starr's longtime recording engineer, told Billboard magazine Macca came in during the middle of sessions for his own album.

    "They talk when they're both in L.A. Ringo just asked him, 'Look, I'm doing an album. Could you play on it?' And Paul was so nice. He came by on his day off on a Sunday. And he worked hard, too. Those weren't easy songs he played on."
  • Sugar said the pair of songs that McCartney played on were challenging. "I think (Paul) was initially a little taken back by what Lukather wrote. It's a little more sophisticated than some of the stuff Ringo's done in the past. I think Paul was looking at and listening to it. He doesn't read charts. He has his own notation."

    Sugar added that he's discussed this with Starr. "I've brought that up to Ringo. 'I can't believe Paul doesn't read charts.' He goes, 'We're all buskers.' They just played, just played by ear."
  • Walsh, Winter, McCartney and Lukather all contribute backing vocals. Ringo said: "I didn't ask Paul or others on this song to scream - they just did it; like Paul, Edgar Winter and Joe Walsh at the end. They all went off and rocked. Real rock & roll and screams just seem to go together."

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