John Lennon wasn’t always the type of fellow prone to amazement. In truth, being a bloody blasé bastard was almost a tenet of his artistry. He might have once held Elvis Presley as a hero, but as soon as he thought his hip-snaking was growing stilted, he turned away from him and set about showing what liberation truly looked like in the 1960s.
While he might have heaped praise upon The Beach Boys and admitted the vast influence Bob Dylan had over him, Lennon wasn’t often falling head over heels for a fellow creative in the competitive sphere of the counterculture scene. However, he simply couldn’t help but admire the brilliance of one of the peers he got to work with as he mellowed into the 1970s.
By 1974, Paul McCartney had scored three number-one hits in the US, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had two apiece, but John Lennon was yet to top the tree. You’d love to say that such a vapid thing barely registered, but you know full well that egos were itching, and Lennon wanted to join the chart party. In truth, his lack of commercial success could be pinned to his rather more avant-garde stylings, but it didn’t stop the lack of a hit from sticking in his craw.
Thus, when Elton John entered the studio to assist Lennon with ‘Whatever Gets You Thru the Night’ and wagered that they achieve that elusive number one spot, the bespectacled former Beatle was quick to shake hands on the deal. In exchange for his assistance with the track, Elton John levied that if they got it to number one, then the ‘Smart One’ would have to make an appearance at his Madison Square Garden show for Thanksgiving in 1974. Lennon had been so impressed with Elton that it is likely he went to get his suit measured even before ‘Whatever Gets You Thru the Night’ was released.
John Lennon later recalled how the song was born, stating: “I was fiddling about one night and Elton John walked in with Tony King of Apple — you know, we’re all good friends — and the next minute Elton said, ‘Say, can I put a bit of piano on that?’ I said, ‘Sure, love it!’ He zapped in. I was amazed at his ability: I knew him, but I’d never seen him play,“ he recalled.
“A fine musician, great piano player,” he added. “I was really pleasantly surprised at the way he could get in on such a loose track and add to it and keep up with the rhythm changes — obviously, ’cause it doesn’t keep the same rhythm… And then he sang with me. We had a great time.” And they also scored that number one, which also led to the Beatle’s final performance on stage as part of their fateful deal.
In truth, their collision made a hit inevitable. Lest we forget that Elton won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, so he was raised around the best classical players of the day in his youth as somewhat of a prodigy, but he also knew pop like the back of his hand by 1974. Together with Lennon’s ability to make the complex easily palatable, they proved the perfect pair.
