A new preview from Elton John’s Disney+ documentary Elton John: Never Too Late has been posted online that looks at his famous mid-1970s collaboration with John Lennon. The two stars worked on a number of tracks together while Lennon was making his 1974 studio album Walls and Bridges, most notably the hit duet “Whatever Gets You thru the Night.”
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The video clip features archival interviews with Lennon and John, as well as a new conversation with Elton, explaining how the collaboration came about. It also touches on the historic guest appearance the Beatles great made at a November 1974 concert by John at Madison Square Garden in New York after “Whatever Gets You thru the Night” became a chart-topping hit.
The clip begins with footage of an interview Lennon did with BBC presenter Bob Harris, who commented to John that he seemed to enjoy working with Elton during his time in Los Angeles.
“Oh, yeah,” Lennon responded. “Well, Elton and I are very close.”
We then hear an archival audio clip of John recalling details of his collaboration with Lennon, accompanied by photos of them during the sessions.
“He played some rough cassettes of Wall and Bridges. You know, just the rough tracks,” Elton noted. “We immediately flashed on ‘Whatever Gets You thru the Night.’ So he asked me would I come down to the studio and do some backing vocals. So I said, ‘Yeah.’ We listened to the track back on the big speakers and I said, ‘Ooh, it could do with a bit of piano it, actually.’ So he said, ‘All right, go ahead.’ And then he said, ‘Well … let’s sing it as a duet.’”
On How Elton Got Lennon to Perform with Him
In a new interview segment, Elton then shared how excited he’d been to get to work with Lennon.
“I was very nervous, but for me, it was a dream come true,” Elton said. “I could have died and gone to heaven, you know? I cycled to Hatch End [a London neighborhood near his childhood home] to get The Beatles’ album, and here I am playing on his record, and having the greatest time, and having the best fun with him.”
Elton then recalled the famous circumstances that led to Lennon joining him at his Madison Square Garden concert.
“I said, ‘Listen … this is a No. 1 record.’ And he went, ‘No, no,’” Elton remembered. “And I said, ‘Listen, if it gets to No. 1, you’ve got to come on stage with me.’ And he never thought in a million years that it would get to No. 1. And then, when it got to No. 1, he didn’t try and shirk out of it.”
“Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on November 16, 1974. Elton’s concert took place on November 28. At the show, Lennon joined Elton and his band to play that song and two Beatles classics—“I Saw Here Standing There” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”
This would be Lennon’s final public performance ever.
Interestingly, Elton’s studio cover version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which featured contributions by Lennon, went on to top the Hot 100 in January 1975.
More About Elton John: Never Too Late
As previously reported, Elton John: Never Too Late will get its TV premiere on December 13 on Disney+.
The movie follows John as he prepares to play the final North American concert of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. The show took place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on November 20, 2022.
The movie also features Elton looking back on his life and his extremely successful career. The film captures John reflecting on the various highs and lows of his career, including his battle with drug abuse and addiction and his happy later-in-life chapter as a husband and father to two sons.
In addition to in-depth interviews with John, Never Too Late also features previously unseen archival footage and photos.
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