Did Elton John get John Lennon and Yoko Ono back together?

When The Beatles were flying over to America, I’m sure the excitement was palpable. Four lads from Liverpool, their song climbing the charts in the States, nothing before them except the rest of their lives and a world of opportunity. There couldn’t have been anything more endearing to the wannabe rock stars than the idea that they were only a short flight away from making their dreams a reality.

Well, while the Beatles were excited about coming to America, John Lennon was also very nervous about how he might be received by the American audience. The band already had to compromise so much when they came to America. They were wearing suits and had cut their hair to a more palatable length. Lennon felt as though he was under the microscope.

“We weren’t as open and as truthful when we didn’t have the power to be,” he said, “We had to take it easy. We had to shorten our hair to leave Liverpool. We had to wear suits to get on TV. We had to compromise.”

It’s only natural that if Lennon felt as though his hair and his suit might offend people, he would be especially worried about some of his interviews in the UK, where he expressed his support for communism. As the band flew over to the States, he grew worried that the American crowd would chastise him because of his views. They never did, but those initial worries seemed to stay with Lennon, as it wasn’t until later in his career that he felt as though he could properly express his views on politics and society.

A lot of people criticise Yoko Ono, saying that she changed John Lennon and was the reason the Beatles broke up. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Lennon had always been an activist; he was just put in a position early in his career where he felt as though he couldn’t express that activism. Ono didn’t just accept this side of him; she resonated with and encouraged it. The songs he wrote and the protests he took part in after meeting Ono will have been lingering under the surface for years.

How Elton John helped reunite John Lennon and Yoko Ono
As such, it’s unsurprising that Lennon became so devoted to Ono, and also unsurprising that he struggled so much when they initially separated. The separation came as a number of things that put too much stress on the couple, and this kicked off what Lennon called his “Lost Weekend”. The weekend was actually 18 months long, and it was a period where Lennon struggled to cope without Ono.

So, where does Elton John come into all of this? Well, during his Lost Weekend, Lennon was working on new music and enlisted the help of Elton John with his track ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’. John turned up to play piano and provide backing vocals, and when it was recorded, he loved the track so much, he promised Lennon it would be a number one.

True to his word, the song skyrocketed to number one, and as a thank you, John Lennon performed with Elton John at Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving night in 1974. The show was a success, but the reason why it was especially important for Lennon was because it marked the first time he spoke to Ono since their initial separation. He played ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ while she stood side of stage and watched on, they spoke after the show, and it wasn’t long before they had patched things.

It remains unclear whether Elton John ever received a thank you for the role he played in their recoupling.