Ramrod

Song facts

“Ramrod” was written by Al Casey, and was a hit for Duane Eddy in 1958. From Wikipedia:

Alvin Wayne “Al” Casey (October 26, 1936 – September 17, 2006) was an American guitarist. He was mainly noted for his work as a session musician, but also released his own records and scored three Billboard Hot 100 hits in the United States. His contribution to the rockabilly genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Casey began working at the age of six as a steel guitar player. He began a longstanding association with Lee Hazlewood while living in Phoenix, Arizona. His guitar is prominent on Sanford Clark’s hit 1956 version of Hazlewood’s song “The Fool”, featuring a lick borrowed from the song “Smokestack Lightning”, and on many other recordings by Clark. He was also part of the backup for Duane Eddy‘s recordings, playing bass, piano, and rhythm guitar. Casey wrote one of Eddy’s earliest hits, “Ramrod” (1958), as well as co-writing another Eddy hit, “Forty Miles of Bad Road” (1959). […]

“Ramrod” was part of the early Beatles’ repertoire, and appears on a home recording from 1960, which has reached us under the name of “the Braun Tape”. Here is what RollingStone says about this version:

The George Harrison show resumes with some fast-paced fretwork on this pacy instrumental. You want to know why Lennon let him into the band? This is why. Kid could play better than the others, as he would have had to in order to hang with this older lot. It’s a Duane Eddy number, and too little has been made about his influence on Harrison’s style, almost as if Eddy, with his clean image and clean-sounding licks, wasn’t hip enough to associate with wannabe Teddy Boy badasses. Which is bullshit if you listen here.

It has also been recorded during the Get Back sessions in 1969.