Exceptional John Lennon deposition

RR Auction is known for dealing with a lot of items related to the music industry. Over the years, the Boston based auction house has managed to sell anything from autographs, autographed pictures of musicians, musical instruments rare albums and even documents signed by famous artists.

Speaking of documents signed by musicians, back in September 2016 they held a lot sale that included a deposition signed by none other than John Lennon. As stated by RR Auction, the lawsuit this deposition was used in was intended by Big Seven Music Corporation against Maclen Music, Inc., Northern Songs, Ltd. and Apple Records. The deposition is dated on April 13, 1971 and it is quite an important piece of music history, especially since it shows bits of John Lennon’s amazing personality.

According to RR Auction, the lawsuit was settled in 1973, two years after John Lennon gave the above mentioned deposition. For fans who are not familiar to the story, it turns out that the reason Big Seven Music Corporation sued Maclen Music is the fact that they believed Lennon had plagiarized one of Chuck Berry’s songs. It was believed that the Beatles “Come Together” was inspired by Chuck Berry’s “You can’t catch me”. As it is mentioned by RR Auction this lawsuit or, better said, the settlement, was not excessively costly for the artist as he agreed to record three more Big Seven Songs on his next album, including “You can’t catch me”.

Apart from the deposition, according to RR Auction, the lawsuit also included an examination made by counsel M. William Krasilovski. As a matter of fact, when sold, the deposition also came with a letter of provenance from Krasilovski’s daughter, as well as letters of authenticity from Jeff Gold and Frank Caiazzo. Although John Lennon states that he considers himself to be the sole writer of the “Come Together” hit, he admits the familiarity between the two songs. In part, the deposition reads: “ever since I was in my teens I was acquainted with the works of Chuck Berry whom I consider one of the original rock and roll poets. I heard his recording of You Can’t Catch Me at this time and spent many hours in generally [sic] listening to his general catalog.”

The deposition was estimated at $4,000 but was in the end sold for $6,500 which once again proves just how big of an impact John Lennon and the Beatles had on the music industry. Similar items can be viewed on RR Auction’s website or in their online catalogue. Collectors might also want to keep an eye on their social media which is regularly updated with the latest items and lot sales.