Watch John Lennon play ‘Stand By Me’ on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975
John Lennon had a problem in the mid-1970s: he was being sued. Lennon had been sued before, but this was a particularly irksome lawsuit that wouldn’t go away. Morris Levy, an American businessman who owned the publishing rights to Chuck Berry’s ‘You Can’t Catch Me’, was suing Lennon for using the line “Here come ol’ flattop” as part of The Beatles song ‘Come Together’.
The lawsuit was a very public thorn in Lennon’s side, but he agreed to an out-of-court settlement in 1973, with the only stipulation being that Lennon had to include covers of three songs owned by Levy on his next LP. That’s when Lennon first entered the studio in October of 1973 to begin recording an album full of classic rock and roll cover songs that eventually became Rock ‘n’ Roll, the final solo album of his career.
Then, another problem arose: producer Phil Spector disappeared with the session tapes, making the completion of the project impossible. Lennon decided to begin recording for his next LP Walls and Bridges, which included a cover of the old-school rock tune ‘Ya-Ya’ that was owned by Levy. However, when Levy saw that Lennon had only fulfilled one-third of his promise, he was ready to refile his lawsuit.
Lennon explained the situation and promise Levy that the covers album was still in the works. A year after the initial sessions, Lennon entered the studio once again to knock out as many classic covers as he could, including the songs that would complete his fulfilment to Levy. Ben E. King’s ‘Stand By Me’ wasn’t one of those songs, but it did happen to be the most successful of all the mid-level recordings that Lennon produced during the sessions. When Rock ‘n’ Roll was finally released, ‘Stand By Me’ was the album’s lead single, and Lennon dutifully promoted it with an appearance on the British programme The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Somewhat unwittingly, Rock ‘n’ Roll would come to represent the end of Lennon’s ‘Lost Weekend’, the extended separation between him and Yoko Ono that ended the same month that Rock ‘n’ Roll was released. Nine months later, Lennon’s son Sean was born, and with no lawsuits or record company requirements left for him to fulfil, Lennon began a five-year hiatus from music.
Check out footage of Lennon singing ‘Stand By Me’ down below.
