Angel in Disguise

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Angel in Disguise” is a song co-written by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr that was never released. The song was intended for Ringo’s 1992 Time Takes Time album. However it did not make it on the album, and therefore remains an intriguing, never to be heard, piece of Beatles history. Had it been released in 1992 it would have been the first-ever McCartney-Starkey composition on record, although there were Beatles songs that were credited to Lennon–McCartney–Starkey and Lennon–McCartney–Harrison–Starkey.

McCartney sent Starr an unfinished demo of the song, to which Starr added an extra verse. Backing tracks for the song were recorded on 9 September 1991 at Conway Studios, in Los Angeles, produced by Peter Asher.

There have been several documented mentions of the song.

From Rolling Stone Magazine, 1992: “Working with (Peter) Asher, Starr recorded a cover of The Posies’ “Golden Blunders” and a version of a previously unfinished Paul McCartney composition, “Angel In Disguise”, to which Starr added a new verse.“

From Alan Clayson’s biography of Ringo Starr titled “Ringo Starr: Straight Man Or Joker?“: Among tracks short-listed were a (Jeff) Lynne original (“Call Me”), Rick Suchow’s “What Goes Around” – picked as the singalong finale — a version of Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel”, and songs written by Ringo either alone, with Paul McCartney (the remaindered “Angel In Disguise”), or with Johnny Warman.” It appears that the song written by Rick Suchow (“What Goes Around”) was the last song picked for the album, and as a result the McCartney–Starkey song was shelved, and subsequently never released.

You see, they expected that because it’s McCartney and Starr, anyone in their right mind would put that on. It just didn’t fit the space we needed on the album… this is my best shot, in my opinion, of my album.

Ringo Starr, interview in Beatlefan Magazine, 1992

In May 2020, a cassette tape with two versions of “Angel In Disguise” was auctioned. One of the versions is a rough demo with vocals sung by McCartney ; the other one is a mixed version featuring other musicians & backing vocals, and Ringo Starr’s vocals. Those twos versions are a cassette tape which was owned by Radio Luxembourg DJ Tony Prince. At the time in the nineties, he was asked to find artists to record alternative versions of the song, after Ringo Starr rejected the track.

Last updated on May 30, 2020