Did John Lennon really steal music from other musicians? That’s been the hot subject of debate among Beatles fans for decades. Many of those accusations aren’t based in reality. However, when it comes to a few songs from back in John Lennon’s heyday, it really does seem like he stole at least part of some famous tunes. I’ll let you form your own opinion on that. Let’s take a look at three songs that John Lennon allegedly stole from other musicians!
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“Come Together” by The Beatles
This might just be one of the biggest songs of the 20th century. “Come Together”, released in 1969, is a blues-rock venture that went on to be one of the most-covered songs of all time. And according to lore, it wasn’t entirely John Lennon’s brainchild.
Some believe that “Come Together” boasts a very similar melody and overall song structure to rock and roll icon Chuck Berry’s tune, “You Can’t Catch Me”. In fact, Chuck Berry (or whoever owned the copyright to that song) even sued The Beatles over it. The suit was settled out of court without much fanfare, and Berry would later collaborate with Lennon. Apparently, there were no hard feelings there.
“Jamrag” by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band
“Jamrag” comes from John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s collaborative album from 1972, Some Time In New York City. This controversial album boasted a few infamous songs, though it didn’t produce many hits. One little hidden track among the rest is “Jamrag”.
The problem is that “Jamrag” was originally titled “King Kong”, and it was written by Frank Zappa. Zappa himself commented on the theft in interviews, saying that he did not receive a songwriting credit for the song.
“There’s a song that I wrote called ‘King Kong’,” Zappa said of a night in which he and Lennon worked on music together. “I don’t know whether it was Yoko’s idea or John’s idea, but they changed the name of the song to ‘Jamrag’, gave themselves writing and publishing credit on it, stuck it on an album, and never paid me.”
It’s not clear if this dispute was ever resolved, but Zappa did release his own version of the song in later years.
“I Feel Fine” by The Beatles
This one’s a bit of a Beatles deep cut, if any Beatles song could really be considered a deep cut. When you listen to “I Feel Fine” by The Beatles and follow it up with a listen of “Watch You Step” by Bobby Parker, it’s hard not to hear the similarities. And, apparently, John Lennon himself even admitted that he stole the song.
“‘Watch Your Step’ is one of my favorite records,” Lennon admitted in Anthology. “The Beatles have used the lick in various forms”.
Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
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