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General discussion

Where are Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney these days?

Feb 2, 2004 11:04PM PST

They decided to sell out the rights of the Beatles' songs to Michael Jackson for xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx amount of bucks. Where are they today? Are they still proud of it? I hope not! Lennon said several times that he would NEVER sell the rights to the songs and as soon as he was murdered they sold them and one of the best songs even got to be the tune of Maxwell Coffee ("Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head Found my way downstairs and drank a cup" from "A day in Life" 1967).
John must be turning around in his grave...

Discussion is locked

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Please recheck your facts, Charlie.
Feb 2, 2004 11:14PM PST

1. Yoko and Paul did not sell the rights to Michael Jackson or anyone else. They have never owned them. They were outbid by Michael Jackson the last time the song catalog was up for sale. Since buying the catalog, Jackson has re-sold half the rights to Sony.

2. John's remains were cremated.

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Who owned them?
Feb 2, 2004 11:30PM PST

Didn't Yoko inherit John's part of the songs? And Paul had the other half of the rights? If not, who owned them?
I may be wrong, and in that case I apologize for being so, but it was my understanding that the songs were sold to MJ and what he did with them later is of no interest. The only thing I am p'd off about is the fact that they were sold out...

Regarding John and turning around in his grave, it is a Swedish saying when somebody does something that the founder wouldn't like, no matter if he/she was cremated or not.

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Re:Who owned them?
Feb 2, 2004 11:42PM PST

John and Paul never owned the rights to the Lennon/McCartney catalog. The publishing was originally owned by a company called Northern Songs, Ltd. which sold them to ATV Publishing in 1969. John and Paul tried and failed at that time to buy the rights. There's a book called "The Longest Cocktail Party" that goes into some detail about this.

http://www.beatlemoney.com/beatles6870negotiation.htm

ATV put the catalog up for sale in the 80s, and there is some controversy over how they ended up in Michael Jackson's hands. Yoko says they were simply outbid and that Michael Jackson was able to come up with more cash than they could, but Paul claims that Yoko tried to play hardball to keep the price down and it backfired on them. His relationship with Yoko, never good, got even worse after this, and his friendship with Michael Jackson ended.

The fact that they never owned the publishing rights to their own songs was a lifelong sore point for John and continues to be one for Paul.

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Thanks Josh!
Feb 3, 2004 12:00AM PST

Really informative link and post! I thought I knew more than I did... LOL! Maybe I should have asked my brother before posting. He is a living encyclopedia just as you when it comes to The Beatles.

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You're welcome
Feb 3, 2004 12:06AM PST

There are a couple of songs that touch on this stuff, by the way. One is "You Never Give Me Your Money" from Abbey Road, and another is George's "Only a Northern Song." The title refers to the publishing company, and if you listen to the words, you'll catch onto what George is doing.

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GREAT!!!!
Feb 3, 2004 1:23AM PST

I love these things about The Beatles since I am a big fan of their. I wish I had my brother closer to me... I think you two would have heck of a lot to talk about. He was born in 53 and has read almost everything that there is to read... And he has all the original vinyls, not only from Beatles but also fro Lennon. He's a fanatic Lennon fan who cannot see that Dylan is just as good... LOL!