The 30 Minute Rule begins September 24 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By September 24 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
DS, one page, 8 x 10, October 15, 1968. Agreement between publisher Northern Songs Ltd. and the Performing Right Society regarding the division of performance fees for the Beatles song 'Cry Baby Cry,' providing that 6/12ths (the composer's share) be paid to Maclen (Music) Ltd. and the remaining 6/12ths (the publisher's share) to Northern Songs Ltd. Signed boldly in black felt tip by John Lennon as composer and in ballpoint by Neil Aspinall on behalf of Northern Songs Ltd. as director. Paul McCartney's name is typed beneath the blank author signature line, but he did not sign. In fine condition, with a tastefully trimmed bottom edge.
Neil Aspinall, one of the central figures of the Beatles' inner circle known as the ‘Liverpool Mafia,’ began as the band's road manager before serving as their longtime personal assistant, managing director of Apple Corps, and head of Apple Films. The document concerns 'Cry Baby Cry,' a Lennon composition written in early 1968 while the Beatles were in Rishikesh, India, studying with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Lennon later told biographer Hunter Davies that he drew the song's opening line from a television advertising jingle, ‘Cry baby cry, make your mother buy,’ and built the remainder loosely around the nursery rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence,’ recasting its king, queen, and courtiers into a stranger, more unsettling domestic scene.
The Beatles demoed the song at George Harrison's Esher home that May before recording it at Abbey Road in July 1968, sessions notable for engineer Geoff Emerick's departure from the White Album project; he walked out during the July 16th session for this very track, worn down by the band's escalating tensions, and would not fully return to work with the group until the following year. Discographical records place the song's final stereo and mono mixing session at Abbey Road on October 15, 1968, the same date as this agreement, suggesting the rights paperwork followed closely on the heels of the recording's completion. Lennon would later dismiss the song in a 1980 interview, calling it ‘a piece of rubbish,’ despite being its sole credited composer and, as this document itself confirms, the recipient of its full composer's share.
From the Mark Erbach Collection.
This item is Pre-Certified by Real
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$250.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
Third-party authentication service applies only to signatures and handwriting, and does not cover the addition of sketches, artwork, musical quotations, etc.
