The Starkeys were then joined in France by Harrison and the latter's wife, Pattie Boyd, for the Monaco Grand Prix. This period coincided with Starr's first success as a solo artist, with the Harrison-produced single "It Don't Come Easy", although he continued to focus on his career as a film actor, beginning with a role in Blindman (1971). Another guest on the Marala was Cilla Black, singer and a friend of the Beatles since the 1960s. She recalled Starr and Harrison playing "Photograph" during an evening get-together, with "everyone on board" contributing ideas for the lyrics. As with Starr's two singles over 1971–72, "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back Off Boogaloo", Harrison helped write the melody, although "Photograph" marked the first time that he was credited as a co-writer with Starr. In her autobiography, Step Inside Love, Black says she had hoped to record the song for a single later in 1971, only to be told by Starr: "No, it's too bloody good for you. I'm having it myself." The lyrics to "Photograph" are centred around lost love, with the singer having only a single picture by which to remember his absent lover. The photograph reminds him of their former happiness together, while also enforcing the reality that "you're not coming back any more". Author Ian Inglis comments on the familiar subject matter in the conventions of pop songwriting, but identifies an atypical aspect in the lyrics' "absence of any hope that love might be rekindled". Starr expresses resignation at what the future holds, in the lines "Now you're expecting me to live without you / But that's not something that I'm looking forward to". The song is in the key of E, with what Inglis terms an "easy melody" that allows for Starr's limitations as a singer. According to authors Roy Carr and Tony Tyler, Harrison's "distinctive composing style" is particularly evident. Starr later said of Harrison's role in their collaborations over this period: "I only know three chords and he'd stick four more in, and they'd all think I was a genius." Recording Starr continued to pursue his film career until the end of 1972, while also participating in musical projects such as Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh. Late that year, Starr and Harrison recorded an early version of "Photograph" during the sessions for Harrison's Living in the Material World album. With Harrison producing, this recording took place at