Westerly Wood
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Awesome!
What? Beatles Come Together was a Chuck Berry song?
- Thread starter Westerly Wood
- Start date
Awesome!
Yes, that is true. Lennon was sued over it, and settled out of court. It wasn't Chuck Berry who sued him, he didn't own the rights.
In 1956 Chuck Berry recorded the song "You Can't Catch Me" for the movie Rock, Rock, Rock. Lennon says he used the song as an inspiration while writing "Come Together" in 1969 for the Abby Road album. Lennon was eventually sued by Morris Levy, a music producer who owned the rights to "You Can't Catch Me". According to The Beatles Bible, Levy argued that Come Together, which contained the line "here come old flat top" plagiarised Berry's song.
The lawsuit maintained that Lennon simply slowed down Berry's song, otherwise it was the same tune. One of the main pieces of evidence used against Lennon was the fact that he even kept some of Berry's original lyrics. In "Come Together", Lennon sings "here come ol' flattop, he come groovin' up slowly" and in the Berry song, the lyrics go "here come a flattop, he was movin' up with me."
Lennon eventually settled out of court. Part of the agreement forced Lennon to record and release three songs that were owned by Levy. Two of the songs wound up on Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll, including a cover of "You Can't Catch Me". The third song was never released and led to another lawsuit by Levy. Lennon was eventually found in breach of contract and Levy was awarded $6,795.
Lennon took Levy back to court a few years later after Levy released an album called Roots that consisted of old Lennon bootlegs. The Beatle won $84,912.96 in that judgement.
In 1956 Chuck Berry recorded the song "You Can't Catch Me" for the movie Rock, Rock, Rock. Lennon says he used the song as an inspiration while writing "Come Together" in 1969 for the Abby Road album. Lennon was eventually sued by Morris Levy, a music producer who owned the rights to "You Can't Catch Me". According to The Beatles Bible, Levy argued that Come Together, which contained the line "here come old flat top" plagiarised Berry's song.
The lawsuit maintained that Lennon simply slowed down Berry's song, otherwise it was the same tune. One of the main pieces of evidence used against Lennon was the fact that he even kept some of Berry's original lyrics. In "Come Together", Lennon sings "here come ol' flattop, he come groovin' up slowly" and in the Berry song, the lyrics go "here come a flattop, he was movin' up with me."
Lennon eventually settled out of court. Part of the agreement forced Lennon to record and release three songs that were owned by Levy. Two of the songs wound up on Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll, including a cover of "You Can't Catch Me". The third song was never released and led to another lawsuit by Levy. Lennon was eventually found in breach of contract and Levy was awarded $6,795.
Lennon took Levy back to court a few years later after Levy released an album called Roots that consisted of old Lennon bootlegs. The Beatle won $84,912.96 in that judgement.
BTW, it was originally going to be a campaign song for Timothy Leary!
In early 1969, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, held nonviolent protests against the Vietnam War, dubbed the Bed-ins for Peace. In May, during the Montreal portion of the bed-in, counterculture figures from across North America visited Lennon, including American psychologist Timothy Leary, an early advocate of LSD, whom Lennon admired. Leary intended to run for Governor of California in the following year's election and asked Lennon to write him a campaign song based on the campaign's slogan, "Come Together – Join the Party!". The resulting chant was only a line long: "Come together and join the party". Lennon promised to finish and record the song, and Leary later recalled Lennon giving him a tape of the piece, but the two did not interact again.
In early 1969, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, held nonviolent protests against the Vietnam War, dubbed the Bed-ins for Peace. In May, during the Montreal portion of the bed-in, counterculture figures from across North America visited Lennon, including American psychologist Timothy Leary, an early advocate of LSD, whom Lennon admired. Leary intended to run for Governor of California in the following year's election and asked Lennon to write him a campaign song based on the campaign's slogan, "Come Together – Join the Party!". The resulting chant was only a line long: "Come together and join the party". Lennon promised to finish and record the song, and Leary later recalled Lennon giving him a tape of the piece, but the two did not interact again.
The first time that I heard Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step" I instantly thought "Oh my god! This is the Beatles 'I feel fine'"!
Charlie Bernstein
Senior Member
Haven't looked at your video yet. It always sounded like "You Can't Catch Me" to me. Am I warm?
And while we're on the subject, did you ever hear the Blues Project's version? As usual, Danny Kalb was on fire:
And while we're on the subject, did you ever hear the Blues Project's version? As usual, Danny Kalb was on fire:
Last edited:
ReevesRd
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The early bluesmen considered it an honor for another blueman to use one of their lines or riffs.
Westerly Wood
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Aren't most feet below the knee?
Teleguy61
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The tale of lawsuits is interesting.
Early Beatles success was based on the band having the two best white rock singers around--Paul could do Little Richard, and John
could do Chuck Berry.
See: John doing Rock 'n' Roll music, Paul doing Long Tall Sally.
I have also long felt that later Lennon lyrics were Chuck Berry on acid--John had reduced the words to pure rhythmic
expression.
Early Beatles success was based on the band having the two best white rock singers around--Paul could do Little Richard, and John
could do Chuck Berry.
See: John doing Rock 'n' Roll music, Paul doing Long Tall Sally.
I have also long felt that later Lennon lyrics were Chuck Berry on acid--John had reduced the words to pure rhythmic
expression.