A Not-So-Perfect “Good Night”: The Ringo Starr Led Beatles Track That Was Never Performed Live

Plenty of Beatles songs never made it to the stage. Whether it’s because the band retired from touring before the song could get a proper performance or some other reason, plenty of fan favorites never got to be experienced live in concert.

One such song is the 1968 track “Good Night” from the band’s self-titled album, also known as the White Album. “Good Night” is one of the Fab Four’s most famous closers. It is the last song on that very album and one of very few that features Ringo Starr as the lead singer. In fact, he’s the only Beatle featured on the song, period. Starr sings his heart out against an orchestral arrangement conducted by the famed English composer George Martin.

So, is there a deeper reason as to why The Beatles never performed this incredible closing song live?

Why The Beatles Never Performed “Good Night” Live

The answer to this question is pretty simple: They had retired from touring long before the song was released. Specifically, the Fab Four quit touring in 1966.

However, there is another question worth posing: Why didn’t Starr perform the song live throughout his solo career?

[See Paul McCartney From The Beatles Live In Concert]

“Good Night” wasn’t written by Starr. It was originally written by John Lennon as a tribute to his then-five-year-old son Julian. It’s widely described as a “lullaby”. Even though Starr didn’t write it, he is the main and only Beatle to be featured in the song. It doesn’t make sense why he would avoid performing the iconic piece of work live with his All Starr Band.

It would be the perfect closer to any live set. Imagine seeing Starr live, and closing out his set with the iconic whisper of “Good night… Good night, everybody… Everybody, everywhere… Good night.”

Tons of artists have covered the iconic song before Starr has even gotten to it. Barbra Streisand, Kenny Loggins, and Linda Ronstadt are just a few.

Unfortunately, we don’t have an answer as to why Starr hasn’t performed this song live. Maybe he doesn’t want to divert away from the original subject matter too much; getting a whole orchestra on the road to perform one song isn’t exactly practical. Either way, we may never hear the song live. But Starr is still very much touring and making music, so we can at least hope.

Photo by David Redfern

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