One of the first fan stories I recall hearing when first became a Beatles fan in the 1980's is also one that is hard to believe. But it did indeed happen! It is the story of a teenage Beatles collector in the early 1970's named Dave Morrell. I found this article about Dave's butcher cover album that was once owned by John Lennon, in the September/October 2003 issue of Beatlology magazine. It was written by Paul Garfunkel.
The question that comes to my mind is why did Dave make a tape copy of the bootleg album that he bought from the company in California? I know it was rare, but it couldn't have been THAT rare if he ordered it through a mail order. Why didn't he just buy a copy for John? It seems like he was being a tad bit sneaky. But then again I am insanely jealous of this guy, so I cannot say.
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| Dave meets Paul in 1986 and asks him to sign the album |
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| John's doodleo n the reverse of the butcher jacket |
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| Yoko Ono with Julian, Sean and Dave |
John Lennon’s Butcher Cover
By Paul Garfunkel with Bruce
Spizer
In early 1971, Dave was working in the Paramus Mall for a
department store called Bamberger’s in their jewelry department. It was during this time when he had his first
encounter with John Lennon. After this
one particular evening he knew it would be impossible to go back to work the
next day and tell his co-workers that he had actually spoken with John Lennon
on the radio the night before. So, he
decided not to go back there anymore and quit his job.
During this time, John and Yoko were regular guests on a
popular radio show hosted by Howard Smith on WABC-FM. One night they were on the radio wit him, but
they did not identify themselves as John and Yoko. They were really “on” and John was being very
humorous, using different dialects and really acting it up. He was in top form that night when he started
taking phone calls from listeners. He
wasn’t promoting anything, just acting crazy.
John and Yoko had been on the show a few times by this
point, and this particular night they just started talking funny. John was speaking in his regular Liverpudlian
accent though he didn’t talk about anything that identified him as John
Lennon. Anyway, Dave wanted to call the
station to try to get on the radio, hoping that John Lennon would pick up the
phone and he would get to speak with him.
Dave also wanted to make sure that his friends listening at home would
know that it was him if he did get through.
So he came up with a plan. He
would say, “Dave Marrell is the Great White Wonder,” firstly because he wanted
to get his name on the radio and, secondly, he wanted a connection with the Bob
Dylan bootleg of the same name. To this
day Dave does not know why he chose that phrase, but at the time, it seemed like
the right thing to have ready to say if John picked up the phone. When John
picked up the phone, he played along beautifully. He told Dave, “Oh, could you say it a little
bit slower please.” So Dave said it
again, “It’s Dave Morrell, the Great White Wonder.” John again asked, “Could you please say it
again, just a little bit slower please.”
This went on several more times, and then John said, “I think we’re
almost there, just once more a little slower.”
So he did it again even slower, and John finally said, “Thank you, you’ve
won Mayor Lindsey’s leg!” Hung up the
phone and went to another caller. That
was Dave’s first conversation with John Lennon.
Dave had been collecting Beatles records for a long
time. He had recently received a flyer
in the mail from Godzilla Records in California. Inside the flyer was a listing of bootleg
albums. Records featuring the Rolling
Stones “Liver Than You’ll Ever Be,” Dylan’s “Great White Wonder” and the
Beatles’ “Yellow Matter Custard.” This album
listed fourteen Beatles songs, all of which he had never heard except for “Slow
Down.” Dave ordered the bootleg
album. When it arrived he put it on his
turntable and was amazed that it really was The Beatles singing these
songs. Here were more than a number of songs that few people had
ever heard.
Dave then wrote a letter to New York Disc Jockey, Howard
Smith, asking him that when he sees John Lennon to ask him about these
songs. When Dave came home from school a
few days later, hismom said, “Howard Smith called for you.” Howard Smith, who also wrong for the Village
Voice, was returning Dave’s phone call.
Dave was overwhelmed. Dave called
him back and said, “hi, it’s Dave Morrell.”
Smith answered, “I got your letter.
I showed it to John and he wants to meet you. Can you come over?” Dave said “yeah!” and jumped in his car to
pick up Howard in front of the Village Voice and they drove to the Record
Plant.
Dave brought a chest full of Beatles memorabilia for John to
check out. It was an amazing experience
for Dave to go through this wooden door, knowing that John Lennon was on the
other side – something most people could only dream of. John was very warm and friendly, rushed out,
put out his hand and said, “Welcome. How
are you doing? Listen, have a seat.”
Dave sat in front of the board, so he had to watch John
Lennon through this glass reflection behind him. David Peel’s session wasn’t going well. Peel actually had the sheer audacity to say
to John, “I don’t’ have the music for the next song,” and Lennon said, “Oh, for
crying out loud, go get it!” And sent
him home in a cab. John then came into
the studio, sat down at the piano and trying his best to play “In my life”
while Dave was watching through the glass.
John then came into the booth, sat down by Dave and asked, “What
have you got here?” Dave opened up the
chest which was full of Beatles stuff.
The first thing Dave pulled out for him was a bubblegum trading card
with a picture of what The Beatles would look like without their hair. He cracked up when he saw it and said, “Oh,
you’ve got to show this to Yoko. This is
so funny; I look just like a Japanese man!”
Dave very enthusiastically leaped out of his chair, ran to the door and
went to see Yoko. He told Yoko, “John
wanted me to show this to you,” at which point she said, “Oh, give it to me,”
ripped it out of his hand, autographed the front of it and handed it back to
Dave very quickly. She barely even
looked at it. Dave went back into the studio.
Dave then showed John his copy of the album “Best of the
Beatles” on Savage Records. The cover
was a picture of the Beatles taken by Astrid Kirchherr in Germany. The album was not in fact by The Beatles, but
rather songs by Pete Best’s band – and Best’s head is circled on the cover. Upon seeing it, Jon flipped out and whipped
it across the room like a Frisbee, where it hit a wall and bend the cover.
At this point John turned to Dave and said, “You know, I
really want to get those tapes that Howard said you have.” Dave had dubbed the “Yellow Matter Custard”
album onto a 7 ½ “reel to reel tape, so he would not have to hand John the
actual bootleg album. John offered his
Sgt. Pepper costume in trade. Dave
realized that he was just this kid from Kearny, New Jersey, who had no business
being with John Lennon in the first place.
He would probably never see John again so it seemed really unlikely to
get his Sgt. Pepper outfit, which John would have to retrieve from storage in
England. Dave said to him, “Actually I
collect Beatles’ records and the one that I’m missing is the Beatles “butcher”
cover. Dave had remembered an article in
the Newark Star Ledger that he had read, in the Arts and Leisure Section of the
November 7th edition, in which the contest of John’s apartment were
described. It mentioned that a butcher
cover was up on the wall. “I’d really
like to have that.” Dave said. John replied, “No problem.” John picked up the phone and told one of his
assistants to bring it over to the studio.
A few minutes later the assistant arrived with the record. John drew a big cloud on the front of it and
signed it, “to Dave from John Lennon December 7, 1971.”
The story of his butcher cover album could have ended with
this, but the same ambitious spirit that got Dave and John together persisted
in the years to come. Dave became a fixture
at Apple where he met Ringo and got him to sign the butcher cover. While still in his teens, Dave got into the
music business and landed a job at Capitol Records.
In the summer of 1986, Dave was working promotions for Paul
McCartney’s Press to Play album marking Paul’s return to Capitol Records. At a press junket at Radio City Music Hal in
New York City, Dave got Paul to sign the butcher cover as well.
This particular record is a blank jacket with a stereo ‘butcher”
slick affixed to it. The cover’s seam
has been split almost all the way around – the condition it was in when given
to Dave. The back cover is adorned with
a drawing of what appears to be a farmer and his dog standing in the path of
the setting sun. John incorporated tears
and stains into the artwork. The record
is a stock east coast mono record with the letters VIP on the left-hand side of
side 1.
While it is not known when, how or from whom, John got the
cover, it is almost certain that the cover was prepared by a Queens Litho
employee. IN 1966, when Capitol recalled the butcher cover, Queens Litho was
ordered to destroy all unused butcher slicks it had printed. Although the company dutifully destroyed
hundreds of thousands of slicks, it kept a few hundred. During the next couple of years, these slicks
were given out to employees, customers and friends of employees until one
weekend the remaining supply disappeared.
A small number of slicks were attached to blank covers as souvenirs. These blank back butcher cover jackets were
not authorized by Capitol and were not packaged with a record.
As for the tape copy of “Yellow Matter Custard,” John had a
few acetates pressed. John mistakenly thought
the songs were from the Decca audition although the recordings were actually
BBC radio show performances. He sent one
of the acetate copies to Paul.
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