| "No No Song" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) A-side label | ||||
| Single byRingo Starr | ||||
| from the albumGoodnight Vienna | ||||
| B-side | "Snookeroo" | |||
| Released | 27 January 1975 (US only) | |||
| Recorded | 1974 | |||
| Genre | Pop,novelty | |||
| Length | 2:33 | |||
| Label | Apple Records | |||
| Songwriters | Hoyt Axton, David Jackson | |||
| Producer | Richard Perry | |||
| Ringo Starr singles chronology | ||||
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"No No Song" is a 1974 song by English musicianRingo Starr. Written byHoyt Axton and David Jackson, it appeared on Starr's 1974 album,Goodnight Vienna. It was released as a single in theUS on 27 January 1975, backed with "Snookeroo,"[nb 1][1] and reached No. 1 in Canada,[2] #3 in theBillboard charts,[3] becoming his 7th and last top 10 hit. It also reached No. 1 onCash Box charts in the US.[4]
In the song, the narrator meets a woman fromColombia who offers himmarijuana; a woman fromMallorca,Spain, who offers himcocaine; and a man fromNashville,Tennessee, who offers himmoonshinewhiskey. The narrator declines all of them, saying that they are bad for his health.Harry Nilsson provides backing vocals.
Some reissues and later pressings of the Ringo Starr version credit the song as "No No Song/Skokiaan."[5] As Keith Harris andChuck Eddy wrote inRolling Stone, "The music's real root, though, is apparently the Rhodesian number 'Skokiaan,' (first recorded in 1947), the title of which actually gets affixed to certain pressings of Ringo's records."[6]
Personnel are taken from the LP liner notes.[7]
Billboard described "No No Song" as a "good, fun Ringo cut."[8]Billboard expressed concern that the drug references might limit airplay, even though the lyrics have the singer rejecting drug use.[8]Cash Box described it as a "friendly, tongue-in-cheek temperance tune," saying that "Ringo delivers it like he really means it!!"[9]
In 1975, the song's co-writer, Hoyt Axton, released his own version of the song, featuringCheech and Chong, on his albumSouthbound.
That same year,Joe Dassin released aFrench language adaptation of the song, "Moi j'ai dit non" ("Me, I Said No"), as the B-side of his most successful single, "L'Été indien". In this version, the protagonist refuses money, a marriage proposal and a political office in order to preserve his peace of mind.[10] Another French version, "(Non non non non) Je suis un mari fidèle" ("I'm a Faithful Husband"), was also released in 1975 by Robert Demontigny for theQuébec market inCanada. This time, the protagonist refuses various women's advances but changes his mind in the end when he finds his wife kissing his best friend.[11]
Brazilian rock musicianRaul Seixas recorded aBrazilian Portuguese version called "Não Quero Mais Andar na Contramão" ("Don't Want to Ride on the Wrong Way Anymore"), adapting the drugs mentioned in the lyrics to the Brazilian culture (respectively, Colombian marijuana,Boliviancocaine andArgentinianchloroethane spray). This version was included on his 1988 albumA Pedra do Gênesis ("The Genesis's Stone")[12] and issued as a promotional single.[13]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
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