The Beatles cover that John Lennon loved

The Beatles were active for only 10 years but they wrote some of the most important and successful songs of all time during only one decade. A crucial part of their songwriting was certainly John Lennon, who formed with Paul McCartney, the greatest songwriting duo in history, that changed the course of music forever.

Their songs were almost perfect but as expected, thousands of artists covered their songs and some of those versions were quite good. There is one in particular that Lennon liked a lot.

The Beatles cover that John Lennon loved

Curiously, John Lennon was part of the song he mentioned in an interview with Spin in 1975. It was Elton John’s talke on “Lucky In the Sky With Diamonds”, released as a single back in 1974. Lennon recorded guitar parts and backing vocals on Elton’s version, however, he was credited in the single as “Dr. Winston O’Boogie”.

“I love it. I was thrilled he (Elton) was doing it. People are afraid of Beatle music. They are still afraid of my songs. Because they got that big image thing: You can’t do a Beatle number … You can’t touch a Lennon song; only Lennon can do it… It’s garbage! Anybody can do anything. A few people in the past have done Beatle songs.”

He continued:

“But in general they feel you can’t touch them. And there are so many good singles that the Beatles wrote that were never released. Why don’t people do them? It’s good for me; it’s good for Paul. It’s good for all of us. And Elton would have had a No. 1 record without me; he didn’t need me. And anyway, I was only Dr. Winston O. Boogie on it … ’cause they weren’t sure; and we didn’t have time to get real permission…,” John Lennon told Spin.

Also in 1974, Elton John was part of the recording of Lennon’s famous song “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” from the album Walls and Bridges. He played the piano and organ in that song on one condition, that Lennon would later be part of his “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” version. So that’s how, the Beatle ended up playing in Elton’s single.

His final performance was with Elton John

After they recorded the cover, Elton John made a deal with John. The Beatle would have to play the song live with him in concert if it became a number one hit single. Not long after the release, the single peaked at number one in the United States and Canada. On November 28, 1974, Lennon joined Elton on stage at his thanksgiving show at the Madison Square Garden and performed three songs. They played Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” and The Beatles’ tracks: “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and “I Saw Her Standing There”. It was Lennon’s final major concert since he would be murdered six years later, at the age of 40.

Although he was one of the most influential songwriters of all time, Lennon once said that he envy the Elton John and Bernie Taupin partnership. Because Elton would received the lyrics and the create the music and Lennon had to usually do both things. “Usually. It’s better. I like that. The music is sort of easy. I sometimes envy Elton John. Bernie Taupin sends him a big stack of words, and he writes all the songs in five days. I could do that. But I am too egocentric to use other people’s words. That’s the problem. So it’s my own fault. I still like black music, disco music,” Lennon told Spin.