The Australian singer and guitarist Rick Sprinfield, famous for hits like “Jessie’s Girl”, “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and “I’ve Done Everything For You”, revealed in an interview Amoeba Records (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar) that he owns the rare Beatles album “Yesterday and Today” (1966) that has the controversial “butcher” cover. His version was a prototype that was signed by John Lennon and Ringo Starr, being previously owned by Lennon himself.
Rick Springfield reveals he’s got a rare Beatles album
“I actually have John Lennon’s original butcher cover – the prototype of the butcher cover that he signed. There was no back to it because it was a prototype, and he did a drawing on the back and he signed it to a guy named Dave – who I got it from. I’m a collector of obscure Beatles shit.”
“It’s the only one signed by the Beatles. It was hanging up in John’s apartment in New York, and there’s actually in the movie ‘Above Us Only Sky’ a shot of them in the living room of the apartment and you can see John’s cover on the wall.”
He continued:
“Dave met him at a studio when he was recording after the Beatles, and he had a copy of the Decca Tape. And back then – before the Internet – you couldn’t get. John was like, ‘Oh my God! That’s our audition for Decca! I’ve got have that – what do you want?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know. What d’ya got?’ And he said, ‘Well, I got my ‘Sgt Pepper’ outfit or I’ve got my personal copy of the butcher cover that I can sign to you.’ Dave said, ‘Well, take that.'”
“So, he sent a messenger back to his apartment, grabbed the butcher cover, and signed it to Dave – right there and dated it. And then he’s talking, and he does this amazing drawing on the back of this kid with a dog. And then Dave got Paul to sign it and Ringo to sign it. And Dave had a divorce unfortunately and lost it in the divorce…and I ended up with it,” Rick Springfield said.