"I'm the Greatest" is a song written by John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 for Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...

; both former members of the music group The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

. It was released by Starr on the 1973 Ringo

Ringo (album)

Ringo is the third album by Ringo Starr, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It peaked at #7 on the UK Albums Chart and #2 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, it reached #1 on the RPM national albums chart...

album and 4 compilation and live albums.

On this track, Starr is lead vocalist and plays drums, Lennon plays the piano and sings harmony vocals and George Harrison

George Harrison

George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

 plays electric guitar; Billy Preston

Billy Preston

William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...

 on organ and Klaus Voormann

Klaus Voormann

Klaus Voormann is a German Grammy Award-winning artist, noted musician, and record producer. He designed artwork for many bands including The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Wet Wet Wet and Turbonegro. His most notable work as a producer was his work with the band Trio, including their worldwide hit "Da Da...

 on bass. It's one of just a handful of non-Beatles songs to feature three members of the band. Richard Perry

Richard Perry

Richard Perry is an American music producer. Perry began as a performer in his adolescence, but shifted gears after graduating college and rose through the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a highly successful and popular record producer with over a dozen gold records to his credit by 1982...

 produced the recording.

At this point after the end of The Beatles as a band

The Beatles' breakup

The Beatles' break-up describes the events related to the break-up of The Beatles, one of the most popular and influential musical groups in history. The break-up has become almost as much of a legend as the band itself or the music they created while together...

, three of them—Starr, Lennon and Harrison—in addition to Voormann and Preston (sometimes referred to as "Fifth Beatle

Fifth Beatle

The Fifth Beatle is an informal title that various commentators in the press and entertainment industry have applied to persons who were at one point a member of The Beatles, or who had a strong association with the "Fab Four" during the group's existence...

s"), appear on this record. It sounds very much like something from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...

, with its texture, lyrics (using "Billy Shears", Ringo's alias on Sgt. Pepper) and public noises insinuating "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is a song written by Paul McCartney , and first recorded and released in 1967, on the The Beatles' album of the same name. The song appears twice on the album: as the opening track , and as "Sgt...

". Not surprisingly, when word of that session hit the media, furious Beatles reunion rumours (the first of several) began spreading.

Parts of the lyrics, which hint at The Beatles:

I was in the greatest show on Earth,

For what it was worth.

Now I'm only thirty-two;

And all I wanna do, is boogaloo!

...

Yes, my name is Billy Shears,

You know it has been for so many years.

Now I'm only thirty-two;

And all I wanna do, is boogaloo for ever!

...

"I'm The Greatest" is the only record which matches the line up of a post-Beatles group "The Ladders", which George Harrison intended to install with his two former band mates and other fellow musicians like Voormann and Preston. The Traveling Wilburys

Traveling Wilburys

The Traveling Wilburys were an English–American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, accompanied by drummer Jim Keltner...

 in the late 1980s was another effort of Harrison to create a supergroup with friends.

A version with John Lennon lead vocals appears on 1998's John Lennon Anthology

John Lennon Anthology

John Lennon Anthology is a box set of home demos, alternative studio outtakes and other unreleased material recorded by John Lennon over the course of his solo career from "Give Peace a Chance" in 1969 up until the 1980 sessions for Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey.The anthology was divided by its...

. Many Lennon bootlegs include a version of this song with only piano, bass, drums and Lennon on lead vocals.