John Lennon likely never would have chosen to perform a Beatles song years after the band’s breakup without the encouragement of one British musician.
The Fab Four parted ways in 1970 due to a series of creative differences, four years after Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had already pressed pause on their touring career.
Lennon, in particular, experienced burnout from life on the road and became anxious about taking the stage. According to Far Out Magazine, the touring landscape for artists in the ’60s and ‘70s was vastly different than it is today. Record sales were so high that the “Imagine” icon didn’t need to prioritize ticket sales, and, frankly, had no desire to.
Yet, despite all of this, Lennon performed a Beatles track, his last, at Madison Square Garden in 1974. But why, exactly, did the star decide to end his live hiatus, and who convinced him to sing a beloved Beatles tune years after the Fab Four’s farewell?
THE ICON WHO MADE IT HAPPEN
Lennon did not sing a Beatles song during his final live performance. Fans practically begged him to play a Fab Four track amid his three-song set at “A Salute to Sir Lew – The Master Showman,” a 1975 TV special honoring producer Sir Lew Grade, but he refused. In fact, the former Beatle was only present as a requirement of a legal settlement involving the ownership of the group’s catalog.
A year prior, Lennon had asked fellow British musician Elton John for help with a track called “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” The Rocket Man graciously stepped in, and their collaboration transformed into a friendship that would play a major role in Lennon’s last live performance of a Beatles song.
Elton made a bet: if the song hit No. 1, Lennon would join him on stage at MSG to perform it. In 1974, after the track (unsurprisingly) topped the U.S. charts, Lennon joined the “Bennie And The Jets” artist on stage as promised.
LENNON’S LAST LIVE BEATLES SONG
Much to the crowd’s astonishment, the duo rocked the venue with “I Saw Her Standing There,” Lennon’s last-ever performance of a Beatles song. The moment was truly full circle, as the tune was the opening track of the Fab Four’s debut album, Please Please Me; a track Lennon and McCartney had actually crafted together in the front parlor of McCartney’s house during their school days in Liverpool.
Not long after, Lennon revisited his hiatus to raise his son, Julian; a hiatus that tragically became permanent following his murder in 1980.
Would Lennon have gone on to tour again and perform more Beatles tunes? Sadly, the world will never know. But what we do know is that Lennon started and ended The Beatles with the same song, a very poetic conclusion to a very poetic career.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mentalfloss.com ’
