The Beatles were quite an original outfit. That originality contributed to their massive international fame, after all. However, the Fab Four were also the subject of a bit of controversy through the years when it came to plagiarism. Some fans are convinced that at least three of their songs were directly lifted from other musicians’ famous tunes. So, did The Beatles actually rip off other artists? We’ll let you be the judge.
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1. “Run For Your Life”
“Run For Your Life” is a John Lennon original from the 1965 record Rubber Soul. It’s a bit of an underrated hit among the Fab Four’s other songs, especially from that particular album.
Some fans believe that “Run For Your Life” is a rip off of Elvis Presley’s “Baby Let’s Play House”. And it’s hard to argue with that. The Quarrymen (a.k.a. the original version of The Beatles before they became The Beatles) recorded a cover of the Arthur Gunter-penned song. And in “Run For Your Life”, Lennon directly uses the super creepy lyric “Well, I’d rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man” verbatim.
2. “Come Together”
Few songs by The Beatles are as memorable as “Come Together”, but some believe the song is a rip off of Chuck Berry’s “You Can’t Catch Me”. We certainly understand why. Chuck Berry was a huge inspiration for the Fab Four, and he even occasionally collaborated with them. And Paul McCartney himself basically admitted that Lennon ripped Berry off.
“[John Lennon] originally brought [‘Come Together’] over as a very perky little song, and I pointed out to him that it was very similar to Chuck Berry’s ‘You Can’t Catch Me’,” said McCartney. “John acknowledged it was rather close to it. I suggested that we tried it ‘swampy’ [and] we took [the tempo] right down.”
3. “Yesterday”
The idea of “Yesterday” being a rip off is heartwrenching for any fan of The Beatles. However, some believe that the iconic often-covered hit was lifted from a Nat King Cole classic called “Answer Me, My Love”. Even Paul McCartney himself said that his subconscious must have come up with the song after listening to his father’s old jazz albums.
One particular jazz buff named Spencer Leigh said that he believed McCartney was inspired by (or possibly directly stole) Nat King Cole’s “Answer Me, My Love”. One can’t deny that the songs are pretty similar, right down to a few of the lyrics.
Photo by John Rodgers/Redferns
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