'' is a
1975 Album of late
1950s and early
1960s -era rock songs covered by
John Lennon . The recording of the album spanned a year and its dramatic sessions have since entered into rock music folklore. The title was a last-minute choice, coming from a
Neon Sign crafted for the album cover.
While still encumbered with the US government's attempts to have him deported, Lennon found himself threatened with a lawsuit, by
Roulette Records chief
Morris Levy . Lennon had admitted in an interview that his song "Come Together" both borrowed stylistically from
Chuck Berry 's "You Can't Catch Me", published by Levy, and re-used one line ("Here come old flat-top") from the song. Levy sued Lennon for infringement, but agreed to drop the suit if Lennon recorded at least three songs that Levy published, on his next album (after ''
Mind Games ''). Browsing Levy's
Music Publishing catalog, Lennon found so many of his old favourites that he decided to do a full album of
Cover Songs , by Levy's artists and others.
After splitting with
Yoko Ono in the fall of
1973 , and arriving in
Los Angeles with
May Pang , Lennon teamed up with
Phil Spector to record the album, working at both
A&M Records Studios and
Gold Star Recording Studios . Due to the boys-club nature of the sessions, the atmosphere quickly fell into disarray with alcohol, with Lennon in particularly aggressive form. After they were banned from the A&M lot, Spector disappeared with the session tapes and would not be heard from for several months. (Spector made one cryptic call to Lennon, claiming to have the "
John Dean tapes" from the recent
Watergate scandal; Lennon deduced that Spector meant he had the album's
Master Tapes . Lennon's return calls got him only stories that Spector had been in an accident, was in a coma, or had died. Lennon knew better, but could do nothing about the situation.)
In the meantime, having met up with singer-songwriter
Harry Nilsson and former bandmate
Ringo Starr in Los Angeles, Lennon put his own work on hold, produced Nilsson's album ''
Pussy Cats '', and contributed to Starr's album ''
Goodnight Vienna '', including its title song. As the months went by, Lennon began writing what became ''
Walls And Bridges '', and moved with May Pang back to New York during the summer of
1974 .
Just prior to commencing the ''Walls and Bridges'' sessions in New York, Lennon received a package from Spector — the missing masters, rescued by
Capitol Records then-president
Al Coury at a cost of $90,000. Not wanting to break stride, Lennon shelved the tapes, completing his own album first, then returned to the year-old recordings. Finding his work with Spector less than spectacular (Lennon's alcohol consumption showed in his singing voice, while Spector's recording work was laden with technical problems such as
Leakage ), Lennon recalled his band from ''Walls and Bridges'', cutting nine new songs in just a few days, and touched up the vocals to some of the Spector tapes.
With ''Walls and Bridges'' coming out first, Lennon made one nod on it toward his deal with Levy; a quickie version of
Lee Dorsey 's "Ya Ya", dashed off in the studio with son
Julian Lennon playing drums. While the album gave Lennon his second US #1 album and first #1 single with "
Whatever Gets You Thru The Night ", Morris Levy wasn't amused by the "Ya Ya" cover, and threatened to refile his lawsuit. Lennon explained to Levy what had happened, and that the covers album was indeed in the works, giving him a rough copy to review. Levy then offered to directly market the album via
Mail Order , through his own
Adam VIII record label, bypassing Capitol and
EMI and giving both Lennon and Levy a larger share of the album's profits. Lennon gave his assent, considering appearing in a TV commercial to promote the album, but knew he would need the approval of EMI, Capitol and
Apple Corps for the deal.
With so much money and time invested in ''Rock 'n' Roll'', neither Capitol, EMI nor Apple wanted to give it up, insisting Lennon release it according to his
Recording Contract , and turn Levy's proposal down. Feeling betrayed, Levy pressed an album titled ''Roots'', from the rough-mix tape Lennon had provided, using a stock photo of Lennon for the cover and marketing the record otherwise as planned, and proceeded to sue Lennon, EMI and Capitol for $42 million, for breach of contract. Lennon finished work on his version of the album, leaving several songs out of the final selection, and choosing an old photo from his early twenties in
Hamburg ,
Germany , for the cover. As
1975 began, Capitol Records prepared a rush-release, and Lennon reconciled with Yoko Ono.
''Rock 'n' Roll'' became another hit for John Lennon, reaching #6 in both the UK and US, where it soon went gold. "
Stand By Me " also proved a US Top 20 hit that spring. A companion
Songbook was issued, with original
Sheet Music versions for all the tunes, bios of the
Songwriter s, and Lennon's own notes and recollections. Unfortunately, the delay in completing the album took much of the novelty away; several other artists had by this time done their own oldies projects, cutting into potential sales for Lennon.
Not long after the album appeared, Ono discovered she was pregnant. Determined not to lose another baby after three consecutive miscarriages, Lennon decided to halt his musical career for his family.
Sean Lennon would be born that October (on his father's 35th birthday); following the release of ''
Shaved Fish '' (a best-ofs album), Lennon would not return with a new release until
1980 .
Going to court, Lennon, EMI and Capitol prevailed, with Levy having to accept a token payment for the infringement on "You Can't Catch Me", then having to pay a judgment of his own, including $42,000 to Lennon for "damages to his reputation", as termed by the court. Distribution of ''Roots'' was halted, with Lennon disappointed at how poorly the mail order setup had actually worked, having ordered his own copy as followup and waiting almost a month to receive it.
In
2004 , Yoko Ono supervised the remixing of ''Rock 'n' Roll'' for its reissue, including four bonus tracks from the ill-fated late-1973 Spector sessions. Other leftovers from the sessions had already appeared, as part of the ''
John Lennon Anthology ''
Box Set .
All tracks produced by
John Lennon , except where noted.
#"Be-Bop-A-Lula" (Davis/
Gene Vincent ) - 2:39
- ''The single's B-side , "Move Over Ms. L", was a non-album song written by Lennon.''
#"Medley: Rip It Up/Ready Teddy" (Blackwell/Marascalco) - 1:33
- ''Two songs famously recorded by Little Richard , who had toured with the Beatles.''
#"You Can't Catch Me" ( Chuck Berry ) - 4:51
- ''Lennon met Fats Domino during a Las Vegas visit late in 1973 ; both were reportedly starstruck by one another.''
#"Do You Wanna Dance" ( Bobby Freeman ) - 3:15
- ''Produced by Phil Spector''
#"Slippin' and Slidin'" (Penniman/Bocage/Collins/Smith) - 2:16
- ''Planned as the second single from the album (with "Ain't That A Shame" as the B-side), but cancelled before its release.''
#"Peggy Sue" (Allison/Petty/ Buddy Holly ) - 2:06
- ''Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were Buddy Holly fans; McCartney purchased Holly's song copyrights in the late 1970s .''
#"Medley: Bring It On Home to Me/Send Me Some Lovin'" ( Sam Cooke )/(Marascalco/Price) - 3:41
#"Bony Moronie" (
Larry Williams ) - 3:47
- ''Produced by Phil Spector''
#"Ya Ya" (Dorsey/Lewis/Robinson) - 2:17
- ''A brief version appeared on '' Walls And Bridges '', featuring eleven-year-old Julian Lennon on drums.
#"Just Because" (Price) - 4:25
- ''Produced by Phil Spector''
- ''Lennon speaks before the fadeout, saying "I'm just gonna have to let it go," and adding "Good night from the Record Plant East, New York... Goodbye." He said in a later interview that he was consciously bidding farewell to the music business. (His later song "Watching The Wheels" includes the line "I just had to let it go.")''
