One Great Cover looks at the greatest cover songs ever, and how they got to be that way.
Let’s get one thing out in the open at the start: Elton John’s version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” did not make our list of the 75 Best Beatles Covers Ever. The list favored fresh discoveries over the tried-and-true classics, so the omission is not too surprising. More surprising is that over twenty readers responded to that post, and not one mentions Elton’s version either, though many of the comments included suggestions as to which covers should have made the grade.
But make no mistake, this is clearly one great cover. It is the only Beatles cover to reach #1 in the US, which must count for something. It’s a little ironic that the original “Lucy” was never released as a single–in fact no track from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released as a single.
When the cover came out 50 years ago, Elton John was at a creative peak and, at age 27, was the most commercially dominant artist in the music industry. John Lennon, meanwhile, was at a creative low, and was soon to call it quits as a performer, preferring to retreat (or upgrade, if you like) to house-husbandry and child-rearing.
For Lennon, the collaboration with Elton was a rare highlight in his times of trouble, the 18-month period known as “The Lost Weekend.” The ex-Beatle was feeling adrift without his old pal Paul McCartney, and more importantly he had separated from Yoko Ono, his muse, manager, and co-conspirator. He decamped to LA, where he was involved in a contractually-obligated album of covers called Rock ‘n’ Roll, produced by the gun-firing and master tape-stealing maniac Phil Spector. Worse, Lennon’s 1974 album of original material, Walls and Bridges, met with mixed reviews, while Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings was that year’s commercial triumph.
Walls and Bridges did have one highlight, thanks in part to Elton’s piano/vocal contributions: ”Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” Elton knew instantly that it would top the charts. Lennon didn’t even consider it worth issuing as a single, and literally bet against it. (The bet was that if it did reach number 1, he’d do the unthinkable: perform it live with Elton.)
As for Elton, the collaboration with Lennon was a peak too, but it was a peak situated in a mountain chain of even taller peaks. Though Elton was between tours, and between best-selling studio albums, taking some rest probably didn’t cross his mind. With Bernie Taupin, Elton wrote songs for other performers, like “Snookeroo” for Ringo Starr, and “Let Me Be Your Car” for Rod Stewart. And he and his band recorded two glammed-up covers of songs by writers he had idolized as a teen: “Lucy,” of course, and also “Pinball Wizard” by Pete Townsend. (Years later The Who covered “Saturday Night‘s Alright for Fighting” for the Elton tribute album Two Rooms.) He became something of an impresario and producer for Kiki Dee. Somehow he wrote and released “Philadelphia Freedom” in this time too, as if to prove he was not just an album artist but a singles artist as well.
As over-the-top and (by his own account) coke-fueled as Elton was in this same period, the Rocket Man must have seemed a safe harbor for Lennon, someone the ex-Beatle could relate to as a friend, and treat as an artistic equal. Lennon flew to Caribou Ranch in Colorado to record with Elton once more.
It had been Elton’s idea to cover one of Lennon’s songs, but it was Lennon’s suggestion to do “Lucy.” He felt the song had been overlooked by other artists. (Could it be that he didn’t think much of William Shatner’s version of “Lucy” recorded in 1968?) The song choice also reveals that Lennon was letting go of his strange bitterness toward the Beatles legacy. He was even thinking of writing with Paul again.
Elton felt no pressure to come up with a fawning remake, but took the song for a heady spin in his own flashy fashion; his high-flying band and producer Gus Dudgeon leapt in full force, too. The cover is twice the length of the original. Elton went theatrical rather than trippy, and chose an upbeat reggae feel for the choruses. There’s a hard-driving instrumental break, and a joyous extended outro that recalls “Hey Jude” more than anything from Pepper. The cover has little patience for the languid dream-like psychedelia of the Beatles version–blame the cocaine, or Dudgeon’s multi-layered glam-pop sheen. Whatever the alchemy and chemistry involved, the song worked and soon topped the charts. We know Lennon contributed backing vocals and rhythm guitar because he appears on the credits (as “Dr. Winston O’Boogie”), but he is hard to detect in the mix. For the b-side, incidently, they recorded the John Lennon-penned “One Day (At A Time)” and then called it a night.
Months later Lennon joined Elton on stage at Madison Square Garden. He was physically sick with nervousness, but he had to live up to his part of the friendly bet between them. The roar of the crowd when Lennon was introduced moved Elton to tears. Together they performed ”Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” followed by “Lucy.” Then Lennon took the lead on “I Saw Her Standing There” (a Lennon/McCartney composition that was mostly McCartney’s). He introduced it by saying that “we thought we’d do a number of an old estranged fiance of mine called Paul.” It was to be Lennon’s final public performance.
Backstage at MSG, and at the after-party, John reunited with Yoko. Within a year Sean Lennon was born; Elton John was named Sean’s godfather.
(See Sean’s 2020 interview with Sir Elton John for more details about the Elton John/John Lennon partnership.)
Unsure I should admit, but I have never heard this before. Through misguided prejudice more than ignorance. It isn’t too bad!