John Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” was the lead off single release from his October 1974 LP Walls And Bridges and features harmony vocals and piano from Elton John. Elton was so sure it was a number one hit that he made a bet with John that if it did top the charts, John would appear at one of Elton’s concert as a surprise guest. John had not had a #1 since he began his post-Beatles career and was just pessimistic enough to agree to the wager. On November 16, 1974, the song topped the Billboard singles chart and John ended up performing the song with Elton and band 12 days later at New York’s Madison Square Garden. He also accompanied Elton on two Beatles songs while he was on stage – “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and “I Saw Her Standing There.”

John’s inspiration for the song actually came from a quote by Reverend Ike (a famous black evangelist). John was watching him on television and he said “Let me tell you guys, it doesn’t matter. It’s whatever gets you through the night.” John loved the line and wrote it down as he often did, for later brainstorming on a set of lyrics. The studio recording of “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” featured here was made in July 1974 and aside from John and Elton, includes Klaus Voormann on bass, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar and Bobby Keys playing the exhilarating saxophone that in my opinion “makes” the record. We actually hear more of that sax during the outro on the video as it fades a little earlier on both the single and album version of the recording.

There are actually two promo videos in existence for the song. John designed one where he lip-syncs the song while walking through Manhattan. The one seen here, designed by Yoko Ono took a more creative approach and actually brings many of John’s animated drawings to life (and yes, those copulating rabbits were originally drawn by John).

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Walls And Bridges 2010 CD remaster of original 1974 John Lennon LP, including “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”.

2) Here & There 1996 expanded 2-CD edition of original 1976 Elton John live LP Here And There featuring live performances with John Lennon of “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” and “I Saw Her Standing There”.

3) Power To The People: The Hits 2010 remaster CD + DVD hits compilation set containing video seen here and CD w/”Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”.

4) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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George Harrison and his spiritual mentor, Ravi Shankar, organized the Concert For Bangladesh to relieve the country from a couple of big messes.

First off, on Nov. 12, 1970, a devastating tropical storm, known as the 1970 Bhola Cyclone, struck East Pakistan (currently Bangladesh). Equivalent in strength to a category 3 hurricane, it flooded the Ganges Delta and was responsible for the loss of 500,000 people in the region, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters of modern times.

Secondly, the Bangladesh Liberation War, according to many reports, had resulted in three million deaths and widespread violation of human rights by the Pakistan Army. Many civilians were killed, raped and tortured, and their exact numbers to this day are not known, but the genocide tactics used by West Pakistan against the Bengali and Indians of the region has been considered by many historians as comparable to the atrocities of World War II.

Beginning in the summer of 1970, George and Ravi organized both an afternoon and evening concert with a large array of musical artists, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Billy Preston and Badfinger. The event, held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. The initial monies raised for the show came to $243,400 and some change, and to this day, the ongoing sales of the Concert for Bangladesh albums, CDs, DVDs, etc. continue to go to UNICEF (to benefit children in countries devastated by war).

This video clip features a rehearsal duet between Bob Dylan and George recorded at a soundcheck made on August 1, 1971, before one of the shows. If Not For You is a Dylan composition that was featured on his 1970 New Morning album and had also recently been covered by George on his triple album, All Things Must Pass, also from 1970. Bob had also co-wrote the opener for All Things Must Pass with George (a song called I’d Have You Anytime), and George had played on a few tracks from Bob’s recent Self Portrait sessions. As the two were working so well together, it was only natural to invite Bob to be a part of the event.

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Concert for Bangladesh
– 2005 remaster DVD of the Concert for Bangladesh with bonus materials that include the If Not For You rehearsal seen here.

2) Concert for Bangladesh
– 2005 2-CD remaster of original 1971 album by George Harrison & Friends

3) All Things Must Pass [BOXED EDITION] – 2001 2-CD remaster of original 1970 album by George Harrison featuring his well-known cover version of If Not For You.

4) New Morning
– 2009 CD remaster of original 1970 album by Bob Dylan featuring original version of If Not For You.

5) The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 : Rare And Unreleased, 1961-1991 – 3-CD set of rare and previously unreleased Bob Dylan tracks including If Not For You with George Harrison on slide guitar.

6) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to this week’s Beatles Rarity Of The Week and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Perhaps the most memorable concert event of the 1990′s occurred on October 16, 1992 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. It was one of the biggest collections of artists ever assembled under one roof and included John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, Carolyn Hester, Nancy Griffith, Lou Reed, Edgar Winter, George Thorogood, Tracy Chapman, Eddie Vedder, Mike McCready, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Johnny Winter, Ronnie Wood, Richie Havens, The Clancy Brothers, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rosanne Cash, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Chrissie Hynde, The O’Jays, The Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Roger McGuinn and one ex-Beatle: George Harrison. I guess most of those reading this have already figured out that I am describing what Neil Young termed onstage as Bobfest, but officially was known as the 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. This was the show that celebrated 30 years of music from Bob Dylan. Each artist would come out and do one or two renditions of a Dylan cover in their own style and in the end, Bob himself appeared onstage to do a few songs with some of the others and solo. A double CD of the event was released in the summer of 1993 and later in the year a double VHS set was issued which contained 4 additional performances not included on the CD set. But even with these four exclusive songs, it was still not an account of the entire show. George Harrison’s performance of the Blonde On Blonde classic Absolutely Sweet Marie was included on both the CD and VHS sets but that was his second of two performances and his first performance was left off of both accounts of the show. George also performed If Not For You, which, as you probably know, had been covered by him before on his 1970 masterpiece triple album All Things Must Pass. Why was this track left off? Whose decision was that? I don’t know, but I am very happy to share it with you on now on BROW.

Cover art for CD edition of the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Celebration, 1992

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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