Recommendations of the Editorial team
This is an archive text from November 2024.
In the BBC radio documentary about John Lennon, Elton John says that he had made John Lennon “physically sick” due to a bet of the couple. Elton John played the piano on Lennon’s song “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” and persuaded the former Beatle to publish him as a single in 1974.
Lennon promised Elton John, if the song was reaching the number 1 of the charts, he would be on stage with John. When the song became a hit, John finally held his word.
In the night of November 28, 1974, the ex-beatle arrived at New York Madison Square Garden to take part in John’s show. “I don’t think he has played in Toronto since the peace concert to be honest, and certainly not in New York-not since the Beatles,” said the musician in the upcoming BBC radio documentary “John Lennon AT 80”.
John Lennon roared the fear out of his body
“He was afraid,” recalled John. “I can tell them that he was physically ill – absolutely physically ill. When he came on stage, he was fine because of this kind of reconquest. I have never heard a noise, a roar like this. … We all get goosebumps when we think about it. Many of us cried and tears ran over the faces, because here was one of the four people of all times.”
Some time after his last big concert appearance, Lennon remembered things a little differently and said he had visited John’s recent concert in Boston to prepare for the New York experience.
When he was about to play “I Saw Standing There” as the last of his three songs, Lennon told the audience: “We tried to find a number with which I can finish so that I can get out of here and just lie down afterwards.”