John Lennon & Elton John Rehearsal - I Saw Her Standing There

Bootleg audio recording of Elton and his band rehearsing with John Lennon in New York, just before the famous Madison Square Garden concert when Lennon came on stage as Elton's guest for three songs. 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 this song 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, Lennons 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 the final concert of Eltons 1974 American Tour, held at Madison Square Garden, New York City. 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. This little recording of some of the rehearsal is not the best quality - but a nice little glimpse into that historic time!