On each and every studio album The Beatles released, Ringo Starr was given exactly one song to sing. The exception was the White Album, on which Ringo sang two songs--but since it was a double album, it was still technically one song per album.
"The Ringo phenomenon" is the name I've given to explain the tendency for other compilations of Beatles songs (i.e. beyond the studio albums) to somehow end up with exactly one Ringo song. The more examples one finds, the more eerie and fateful it all seems.
For example, in 2000, Apple Records released One, a compilation of the 27 Beatles singles that had reached number one on the charts. It includes "Yellow Submarine"--the only Ringo song.
Not satisfied? Here's another example. Sometime in 1998 or 1999, a friend and I noticed that the Beatles had a lot of songs with animals in the titles. We hit on the idea of making a mix CD (which we titled Zoophilia) containing all of their animal songs we could find. Here is the track listing:
- Three Cool Cats
- Leave My Kitten Alone
- Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)*
- And Your Bird Can Sing
- Blue Jay Way
- I Am the Walrus
- Blackbird
- Piggies
- Rocky Raccoon
- Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
- Hey Bulldog
- Dig a Pony
- Octopus's Garden
- Free as a Bird
Again--"Octopus's Garden"--one Ringo song.
*The version from Anthology 2.