"In My Life"
Ringo’s drumbeat for “In My Life” is quite possibly his most deliberate, restrained, and uniquely melodic playing on a Beatles record. For the main groove, his kick drum lands on beat one and the “and” of two, locking in with the similar rhythm of the bass guitar. What follows is an eighth-note rest, then a lone hi-hat strike on beat three—a space usually reserved for the snare. The snare instead appears on the “and” of three, creating an offbeat accent that gives the rhythm a tumbling, forward-pulling momentum. This motion is reinforced when the kick returns on the “and” of four, once again paired with the bass, propelling the groove into the next measure. The result is a pattern that highlights the offbeats, complementing the syncopation of the bassline while softening the usual backbeat emphasis of rock drumming.
When the groove changes in measure nine, Ringo shifts to four quarter-note strikes on the ride cymbal, sustaining momentum while the other instruments give space by holding whole notes. After a short snare fill to signal the next section, he moves into a more traditional rock beat, with steady eighth notes on the hi-hat and the snare articulating beats three and four. The kick continues to ground beats one and three but maintains syncopated strikes on the “and” of three and four, preserving the offbeat character that runs through the song. This balance between steadiness and syncopation mirrors the reflective tone of the arrangement, keeping the groove both grounded and subtly unsettled.