Quincy Jones Pulls No Punches On Early Days With The Beatles

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What were your first impressions of the Beatles?

That they were the worst musicians in the world, they were no-playing motherfuckers.

Paul was the worst bass player I ever heard. And Ringo? Don’t even talk about it.

I remember once we were in the studio with George Martin, and Ringo had taken three hours for a four-bar thing he was trying to fix on a song. He couldn’t get it. We said, “Mate, why don’t you get some lager and lime, some shepherd’s pie, and take an hour-and-a-half and relax a little bit.” So he did, and we called Ronnie Verrell, a jazz drummer. Ronnie came in for 15 minutes and tore it up. Ringo comes back and says, “George, can you play it back for me one more time?” So George did, and Ringo says, “That didn’t sound so bad.” And I said, “Yeah, motherfucker because it ain’t you.” Great guy, though. --Excerpted from David Marchese's conversation with Quincy Jones that appeared in Vulture magazine in Feb. of 2018