John Lennon covered his ultimate idol, Chuck Berry, twice
Anybody with even a primitive knowledge of The Beatles could tell you that the mop-topped quartet altered the course of rock and roll forever, but, as John Lennon once declared, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry”.
One of the key harbingers of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution in the 1950s, Berry and his hollow-bodied Gibson were essential in developing the infectious sounds of R&B into the emerging rebellion of rock. A litany of utterly iconic, duck-walking anthems like ‘Johnny B Goode’ and ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ helped establish the guitarist on an international stage, but Berry’s legacy long outlived his heyday.
Although he had crafted an extensive discography of guitar-led masterpieces over the years, albeit repurposing a lot of the same riffs and melodies from song to song, the true power of the pioneer lay within the influence he passed down to later generations. The first age of rock was, in all honesty, fairly short-lived, and by the early 1960s, Berry was already at risk of becoming an artefact of the past, particularly when he earned a three-year prison sentence in 1961, for raping the 14-year-old Janice Escalanti.
Inevitably, his presence faded during the early 1960s, however, his musical legacy was carried forth by the next generation of rock and rollers, who had found inspiration in the trailblazing sounds of ‘Johnny B Goode’. The Beatles were at the forefront of that new generation, worshipping the likes of Berry and Little Richard, and exercising that adoration through the medium of cover songs.
Particularly during their early years, when the band were still finding their feet as songwriters, The Beatles routinely included cover versions of Berry during their live shows, proving so successful that they chose to include a version of ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ on their cover-ridden 1963 album With The Beatles. Even after the Fab Four had their psychedelic awakening in 1965, sending their sound into increasingly bold new avenues, worlds away from the comparatively archaic sounds of Chuck Berry, John Lennon never forgot the influence of the guitarist.
Lennon’s appreciation for Berry was so enduring, in fact, that it lasted long after The Beatles imploded in 1970. Famously, the pair met while performing together on a 1972 edition of The Mike Douglas Show, although the rock pioneer didn’t look too impressed with Yoko Ono’s typically avant-garde, banshee-adjacent vocals, and it clearly didn’t offend Lennon too much, as he recorded two covers of the guitarist for his 1975 album Rock ‘n’ Roll.
While Lennon’s love for Berry’s trailblazing rock and roll stylings certainly played a role in his decision to cover ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ and ‘You Can’t Catch Me’, there were other influences at play, too. Legally, he was being sued by Morris Levy, owing to sonic similarities between ‘Come Together’ and Berry’s ‘You Can’t Catch Me’. Levy owned the publishing rights to much of Berry’s catalogue, so Lennon reportedly included those covers as a means of appeasing out of the lawsuit.
Either way, the two covers remain highlights of that 1975 album, with Lennon’s obvious hero worship of Berry imbued throughout the performances, even if they were brought about by lengthy legal action against the performer.
