John Lennon and "Rock 'n' Roll"

A dominant issue in class has been the misrepresentation of black musicians in the development of Rock 'n' Roll. From Chuck Berry to Big Momma Thorton, these artist's hits would be taken and covered by white musicians or in the case of the former, ripped off by Beach Boys. Although Chuck Berry gets credits and own the rights to the song (begrudgingly from Brian Wilson) for "Surfin' USA" and "Sweet Little Sixteen".

Another less known dispute came from John Lennon and his song "Come Together" and the similarity of that song to "You Can't Catch Me", a Chuck Berry song. The song even has the same lyrics "here come old flat-top" in it. Like most of the early Rock and Roll artists from Britain, Lennon was heavily influenced by Berry, Waters and others so this addition was very much a tribute.

Facing a lawsuit, Lennon and the publisher Chuck Levy made an amiable agreement in which Lennon would cover an assortment of 50's-60's rock music. While recording and producing would be another story all together (creating a rift between the two), the album "Rock 'n' Roll" covered the likes of "Stand By Me", "Ain't That a Shame" and maybe a little, ironic, "Sweet Little Sixteen". An album worth checking out.