Pee Wee Crayton: Do Unto Others (1954)

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Pee Wee Crayton: Do Unto Others (1954)

Elsewhere pompously prides itself on some rather arcane Beatles' knowledge but until someone recently posted this on a Facebook page we'd never heard of this connection.

Following Dyaln's famous phrase "amateurs borrow, professionals steal", John Lennon quite obviously filtched the intro of this for Revolution in 1968.

Crayton, an r'n'b singer and guitarist, was born in 1914 but lived long enough to hear Lennon's song because he didn't die until 1985.

What he thought of it we don't know.

But he certainly didn't get litigious.

Given the drum part in the intro, Ringo was clearly in on it too.

Theft, borrowing or homage? 

You be the judge.

Here's the Beatles.

Revolution (single version, B-side of Hey Jude)
 

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.

 

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