John Lennon's No. 1 Hit 'Whatever Gets You Thru The Night' Was Inspired by Reverend Ike

Though John Lennon reached the highest levels of musicsuccess with The Beatles, the prolific singer-songwriter only topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart once while he was alive. Lennon’s 1974 song, “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” was put together with an assist from another major player in the music game, Elton John, and was inspired by an unexpected television show.

The song made its debut on September 28, 1974 and made it to the top of the chart by November. American Songwriter reports that the song’s title and message came from Lennon’s late-night channel surfing habit.

May Pang, who was his wife Yoko Ono’s personal assistant and who was in a romantic relationship with Lennon (approved by Ono!) at the time he wrote the song, told Radio Times, “One time, he was watching Reverend Ike, a famous Black evangelist, who was saying, ‘Let me tell you guys, it doesn’t matter, it’s whatever gets you through the night.’ John loved it and said, ‘I’ve got to write it down or I’ll forget it.’”

The song eventually made its way onto Lennon’s 1974 album, Walls and Bridges, with a little help from Elton John. While recording the album, Lennon leaned on his friend to give the song an extra boost, with John eventually adding in piano, organ, and vocal harmonies.

The duo famously made a bet that if the song made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Lennon would join John onstage at a concert for a live version, and the Beatle kept his word, taking to the stage at Madison Square Garden in November 1974.

In addition to their Billboard hit, Lennon also performed “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” and “I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles. American Songwriter notes that this was the last major live performance from Lennon before he died in 1980.

After his death, Lennon once again made it to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “(Just Like) Starting Over,” which spent five weeks at number one beginning on December 27, 1980.

Source: Gabriela Arevalo/yahoo.com