File:Elton John & John Lennon LIVE - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Madison Square Garden 1974 November 28 (Thanksgiving). John Lennon came on stage as special guest at the Elton John concert and they did three songs together. We all know the story ......

When John Lennon was recording his "Walls and Bridges" album in 1974, he invited Elton to help him out on a couple of tracks - "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" and "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)". This was around the same time they also worked together on Elton's releases "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "One Day at a Time". Lennon said of Elton, "I was amazed at his ability. A fine musician, great piano player. 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". As Elton and Lennon were enjoying themselves greatly during the recording session, Elton asked Lennon if he would do "Whatever Gets You Thru" with him on stage. Lennon, who no longer performed live, jokingly promised to do so when the song became a #1 hit single. In November that year, it did hit #1, Lennon's only solo single to do so. Elton called him up and reminded him of the promise, and Lennon appeared on stage for three numbers at Elton's concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City in 1974. Lennon was terrified, and nearly backed out several times. Finally, as Elton introduced him, he suddenly turned to Bernie Taupin back stage, and said, "I'm not going on unless you go with me". Bernie walked him out to the stage, gave him a light push, and said, "You're on your own". When he came on stage, the audience of 18,000 rose to their feet and applauded for several minutes before they were able to perform the three songs, the final one being the old Beatles' hit "I Saw Her Standing There", which was a song Paul McCartney (not John Lennon!) had sung. It was the first time Lennon sang the song! Elton has said many times that this whole event was one of the high points of his career.