Alltop.com

In 1971, a New York Times columnist accused The Beatles of “ripping off” struggling black musicians who the band covered.

Journalist Craig McGregor claimed the Fab Four rode the coattails of the original artists, raking in money and fame without so much as a hat tip to the songs’ originators. John Lennon responded to McGregor in a handwritten note penned on American Airlines while flying across the Atlantic.

Lennon dismissed the claims, arguing that “It wasn’t a rip off, it was a love in.”

Via Letters of Note.

A heaping helping of history.