"You're Sixteen" is a song written by the Sherman Brothers ( Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman). It was first performed by American

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

singer

Johnny Burnette John Joseph Burnette (March 25, 1934 – August 14, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter of rockabilly and pop music. In 1952, Johnny, his brother Dorsey Burnette, and their mutual friend Paul Burlison, formed the band that became ...

, whose version peaked at number eight on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in December 1960 and number 3 in the UK in 1961. The song was covered by

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

in 1973 and this version reached number one in the US.

In popular culture

The version by Burnette was included on the soundtrack to the 1973 film ''

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat ...

'', directed by

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

The personnel on the Johnny Burnette version included: *

– vocal * Bobby Gibbons – guitar * Vincent Terri – guitar * Red Callender – bass *

Ernie Freeman Ernest Aaron Freeman (August 16, 1922 – May 16, 1981) was an American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger. He was responsible for arranging many successful rhythm and blues and pop music, pop records from the 1950s to the 1970s. B ...

– piano *

Jerry Allison Jerry Ivan Allison (August 31, 1939 – August 22, 2022) was an American musician. He was best known as the drummer for the Crickets and co-writer of their hits "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue", recorded with Buddy Holly. His only solo cha ...

– drums * Alvin Dinkin – viola * Stanley Harris – viola * Dave Berman – violin * Herman Clebanoff – violin * Harold Dicterow – violin * Ben "Benny" Gill – violin * Irma Neumann – violin * Joe Stepansky – violin * Darrel Terwilliger – violin * Gerald Vinci – violin * Bill Tobin – backing vocals

Ringo Starr version

's version was released as a single in the United States on December 3, 1973, and in the UK on February 8, 1974. In January 1974, the song, taken from the album '' Ringo'', hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The performance reunited Ringo Starr with his former

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

bandmate

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

. Although McCartney is credited on the liner notes of the album '' Ringo'' as having played the solo on a

kazoo The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that modify the player's v ...

, reviewer Michael Verity has quoted the song's producer Richard Perry as revealing that it wasn't actually a kazoo: "In fact, the solo on 'You're Sixteen,' which sounds like a kazoo or something, was Paul singing very spontaneously as we played that track back, so he’s singing the solo on that." Starr's version remains one of the few No. 1 singles to feature a 'kazoo-sound' solo.

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

sang backing vocals on Starr's version;

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...

is heard playing the piano, including going up and down the scale in the instrumental fade of the song. In Ringo's version, the melody and the chords were different in the bridge section, which led to a minor key, while the original version used only major keys. The ending featured Starr singing the chorus from Clarence "Frogman" Henry's hit song " (I Don't Know Why) But I Do" before breaking into a chorus of " What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?" at the fade. Its 1978 music video, an excerpt of Starr's TV movie '' Ringo'', features

Carrie Fisher Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the Star Wars original trilogy, original ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983) and reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The F ...

as Starr's love interest.

Critical reception

Upon release, a reviewer for ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called Ringo's version "fantastic and perfect for the '70's," going on to say that "not only is the vocal perfect, and steady, for this delightful easy going rocker, but the music is the perfect complement." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that the "background vocals by Nilsson add just the right spice." Some retrospective commentary on "You're Sixteen" condemned it for sexualizing a teenager. In 2021, Troy L. Smith of Cleveland.com wrote "In his defense, Ringo Starr did not write 'You're Sixteen.' His hit is a cover of a Johnny Burnette song written by the Sherman Brothers. Of course, that doesn’t excuse Starr’s judgment as a 33-year-old man releasing a song about a love for a 16-year-old girl." In 2019, Tom Breihan of ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' reviewed the song negatively, writing that, as it relates to musicians courting or having sex with teenagers, "Ringo Starr wasn't the worst offender of his era, and there's plenty of plausible deniability built into 'You're Sixteen.' But it's still a gross song. And even if it wasn't gross, it's not like it has any real musical merit. Maybe people thought this shit was cute then, but it's not cute now, and I won't be sad if I never hear 'You're Sixteen' again."

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

; Footnotes ; Citations {{Ringo Starr 1960 singles 1973 singles 1974 singles Johnny Burnette songs Ringo Starr songs Songs written by the Sherman Brothers Apple Records singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Song recordings produced by Snuff Garrett Song recordings produced by Richard Perry London Records singles Liberty Records singles 1960 songs Songs about teenagers Obscenity controversies in music