"Snookeroo" is a song written by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English songwriter, singer and visual artist. He is best known for his long-term collaboration with musician Elton John, a songwriting partnership that is one of the most successful in history. Ta ...

and released by

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

on his 1974 album ''

Goodnight Vienna ''Goodnight Vienna'' is the fourth studio album by Ringo Starr. It was recorded in the summer of 1974 in Los Angeles, and released later that year. ''Goodnight Vienna'' followed the commercially successful predecessor ''Ringo'', and Starr used m ...

''.

Writing and release

The song, which concerns a happy-go-lucky lout from northern England, was written about Starr himself. Bernie Taupin backs this up by calling it "a simple biographical thing". Elton John recalled, "Bernie wrote really simple lyrics, very Ringo type lyrics and I tried to write a simple sort of melody to it". Elton John also plays piano on the track and provides the count-off. The title refers to the

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

game

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...

. Charting as a tag-along with " No No Song" in the US, it reached number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On the '' Cash Box'' chart, which listed single sides separately, it "bubbled under" at number 105. The UK version of the single was released on 21 February 1975 with "Oo-Wee" on the B-side,; both tracks were taken from the album ''Goodnight Vienna''.

Reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described "Snookeroo" as "a perfect Ringo type cut" that is "an uptempo, happy song" with good use of horns and string instruments. '' Cash Box'' said that "it shares ohn's and Taupin'susual hit qualities" ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Dave Swanson rated it Starr's 8th greatest solo song. The record failed to chart in the UK.

References

; Footnotes ; Citations Ringo Starr songs Apple Records singles 1975 singles Songs with lyrics by Bernie Taupin Songs with music by Elton John Song recordings produced by Richard Perry 1974 songs {{Beatles-song-stub