Other musicians wrote many of Ringo Starr’s tunes. For instance, one of Ringo’s biggest achievements was penned by the same duo who wrote several Disney songs. The composers intended the tune in concern to offer something new to listeners.
‘You’re Sixteen’ was written by the songwriters behind some Disney films.
Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, better known as The Sherman Brothers, were composers. They composed music for several of Walt Disney’s later movies, including Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. They also composed songs for Disneyland, such as “It’s a Small World (After All).” They also penned popular singles.
Richard described the origins of The Sherman Brothers’ track “You’re Sixteen” in an interview published in the 2016 book More Songwriters on Songwriting.
“We wanted to give the listeners something they hadn’t heard,” he recalled. “They heard so many hard rock beats. But nobody had heard shuffle rhythms.
“So basically we said, ‘Let’s do a shuffle rhythm for the verse, and then when you get to the chorus, you hit them with a hard rock beat,” he continued. “So basically, it was all thought out before we wrote anything.” Subsequently, the duo came up with the line “you’re sixteen, you’re beautiful, and you’re mine.”
Ringo’s rendition of “You’re Sixteen” was significantly more popular. His version led the Billboard Hot 100 for one week and remained on the chart for a total of 15 weeks. Ringo’s following tracks did not chart. Ringo, the record that inspired the song, was also a success. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and remained there for 37 weeks.