The Beatles Was Once Accused of Plagiarism — What Happened?

The Beatles, despite being regarded as the most influential band, tasted plagiarism accusations during their active years, as well.

Throughout their decade of performances, The Beatles often received plagiarism accusations. Even the members' solo songs often received such claims.

Out of all the incidents, The Beatles only received one formal accusation after one of their nearly 230 songs reportedly showed similarities to another hit song.

The Beatles Formally Accused of Plagiarizing Chuck Berry's Song

Since their debut, The Beatles often listen to Chuck Berry's songs. John Lennon sang him praises by saying one could replace the name "rock 'n' roll" with the singer's name.

In return, Berry also loved the Fab Four that he once wished he had written their hit song, "Yesterday."

However, The Beatles' use of his "You Can't Catch Me" on their "Come Together" fired back. Both songs included the line, "Here comes old flat-top," which gave Berry's publishers a chance to enjoy an easy money by going after Lennon.

The late musician soon settled the plagiarism issue out of court, per Far Out Magazine.

Although the settlement looked like they admitted the issue, Lennon insisted they were innocent.

"'Come Together' is me-writing obscurely around an old Chuck Berry thing. I left the line 'Here comes old flat-top.' It is nothing like the Chuck Berry song, but they took me to court because I admitted the influence once years ago," Lennon continued. "I could have changed it to 'Here comes old iron face,' but the song remains independent of Chuck Berry or anybody else on earth."

George Harrison Also Sued Over Alleged Plagiarism

Aside from their group song, George Harrison was also hit with a lawsuit over "My Sweet Lord." After learning about the case, Lennon told Playboy that his bandmate could have just changed a few bars in the song so no one would dare touch him.

In response to the plagiarism case, Harrison confessed he did not feel guilty about it. In his autobiography "I, Me, Mine," he said he was aware of his song's similarities to "He's So Fine." However, he explained that the song was more improvised compared to the other song.

As for the reason behind his reaction, Harrison said he did not feel bad as the track saved many lives.

Harrison's solo career bloomed even more even after the controversy. He soon cut his career short after losing his battle against lung cancer in 2001.

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