Inspired by the Chuck Berry tune "You Can't Catch Me",[2] it bore a melodic resemblance to the original—and Lennon took the third line of the second verse ("Here come [old] flat-top") for the new lyric.

[1] Publisher Morris Levy brought a lawsuit for infringement,[2][3] and the case was due to be heard in a New York court in December 1973.

It was later settled out of court, with the agreement that, according to an announcement by Levy, Lennon had to "record three songs by Big Seven publishers on his next album".

[4] In the meantime, Lennon had separated from Yoko Ono and was living in Los Angeles with his personal assistant, May Pang.

[8] Spector once showed up dressed in a surgeon's outfit and shot a gun in the ceiling of the studio, hurting Lennon's ears.

[6][12] On another occasion, a bottle of whiskey had spilled on the A&M Studio's mixing console causing future sessions to be banned from the facility.

In mid-1974, Lennon returned to New York with Pang and began writing and recording a new album of original material, Walls and Bridges.

[8][15] Shortly before these sessions began, Al Coury, then-head of A&R/promotion for Capitol Records retrieved the Spector tapes.

[17] A cover of the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" remained unreleased until 1998 when it was included in the John Lennon Anthology box set.

[9][17][20] Lennon wanted the musicians to stay close to the original arrangements of the songs, apart from "Do You Wanna Dance?".

[15] Levy took the tapes and pressed his own version of the album called Roots: John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits[20] on his record label, Adam VIII, then proceeded to sue Lennon, EMI and Capitol for $42 million for breach of contract.

[36] Lennon promoted the song by appearing on the BBC TV show Old Grey Whistle Test, which also featured an interview by Bob Harris.

[37] Lennon also appeared on Salute to Sir Lew – The Master Showman singing live again over backing tracks, this time for three songs: "Stand by Me", "Slippin' and Slidin'" and "Imagine".

[37] A second single, "Slippin N Slidin"/"Ain't That a Shame" (Apple 1883), was announced, and promotional copies pressed, but it was not released.

Determined not to lose another baby after three consecutive miscarriages, Lennon decided to halt his musical career for his family.

[nb 9][42] In 1981, Belgium[43] and France issued the album, along with the Beatles' Rock 'n' Roll Music, as part of a box set.

[44] In 2004, Yoko Ono supervised the remixing of Rock 'n' Roll for its reissue, including four bonus tracks from the ill-fated Spector sessions.

These leftovers from the sessions had already appeared, as part of 1986's Menlove Ave.[nb 12] (a collection of outtakes) or the John Lennon Anthology box set.