The Troubled History Of John Lennon

Publish date: 2024-05-04

Being titans of rock and pop innovation, the Beatles aren't the first group you'd suspect of plagiarism. If anything, one would assume they're the ones being plagiarized in any given situation. Nevertheless, 101.5 WPDH tells us John Lennon was once accused of getting a little too "inspired" by another song. The song that drew plagiarism accusations wasn't just any old B-side filler track, either. It was "Come Together," a standout track on Abbey Road and one of the Fab Four's most famous songs. 

According to the lawsuit by music producer Morris Levy, Lennon straight-up plagiarized "Come Together" from Chuck Berry's 1956 song "You Can't Catch Me." While Lennon did admit he drew inspiration from Berry's song, Levy said that Lennon had actually just slowed down "You Can't Catch Me" and presented the end result as his own. Allegedly, Lennon even stole some of the lyrics, as both songs contain a very similar line. Lennon's version goes, "Here come ol' flattop, he come groovin' up slowly," while Berry's is, "Here come a flattop, he was movin' up with me." Hmm. 

Lennon settled the lawsuit out of court, and he spent the next few years law-feuding with Levy over specifics in the agreement. Levy took Lennon to court for failing to record one of the three songs the settlement agreement required the Beatle to record for Levy, and Lennon later returned the favor when Levy released a bootleg album featuring his old recordings. 

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