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TL;DR:

  • John Lennon noted that one of The Who’s songs was originally by an American artist.
  • John felt The Beatles’ covers of songs by American artists weren’t always so good.
  • The Who’s cover song had a major connection to a few Elvis Presley hits.

John Lennon didn’t like one of The Who’s songs. Despite this, he liked a version of the song by another artist. Notably, John didn’t think The Beatles always did a good job covering other artists’ songs.

John Lennon felt 1 of The Who’s songs was a subpar cover that was emblematic of the time

The book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations With John Lennon features an interview from 1974. During the interview, John discussed Swinging London. “There was a discotheque scene in London, and the main club we all went to was the Ad Lib,” he said. “There was a couple more, but they were never as big: Bag O’Nails, but we used to just go in there and dance and talk music, and generally get drunk and stoned and high. 

“And one of the records we always played was in the Ad Lib itself, folks, with all of us sitting there, listening and dancing, looking super stoned, and the record was called ‘Daddy Rollin’ Stone’ by Derek Martin, which The Who later did a sort of version of, like the English usually do of these great records, not too good, that’s including us,” he said. Notably, The Beatles covered songs by American artists such as Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly & The Crickets, and Barrett Strong. 

John Lennon said English bands from that time period only played American songs

John was asked if “Daddy Rollin’ Stone” was an American song. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “Another great American record. That’s all we ever played, American records. There’s no such thing as English records, those days.” John wanted The Who’s fans to know that they weren’t the band behind “Daddy Rollin’ Stone.”

John was correct that Martin’s “Daddy Rollin’ Stone” was an American record. The tune was penned by Otis Blackwell. Blackwell was an American songwriter most known for writing Elvis Presley hits such as “Return to Sender,” “All Shook Up,” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” as well as Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire.”

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How The Who’s ‘Daddy Rollin’ Stone’ performed on the pop charts

The Who issued “Daddy Rollin’ Stone” as the B-side to “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere” in the United Kingdom. The Official Charts Company reports the tune peaked at No. 10 in the U.K. and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks. “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere” appeared on The Who’s album The Ultimate Collection. That record reached No. 17 in the U.K. and remained on the chart for 10 weeks.

On the other hand, “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere” did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, The Ultimate Collection climbed to No. 31 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 11 weeks.

John liked “Daddy Rollin’ Stone” — he just didn’t enjoy The Who’s cover.

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