Artist:Elton John
Song:Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Album:Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume 2
Elton John's cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds topped the charts for two weeks in 1974. The big thing is that John Lennon appears on the record. Also it was only released as a single which makes it a discography orphan. And it doesn't appear on many Elton John comps. The thing that complicates matters is John's albums get different releases in different countries. The genesis of these two appearing together was when John appeared on Whatever Gets You Through the Night on Lennon's 1974 album Walls and Bridges. In return, Lennon agreed to appear on John's upcoming Madison Square Garden show. But Lennon also agreed to appear on a couple of Beatles covers. He is billed as Dr. Winston O'Boogie. Winston was Lennon's middle name. It was released only as a single and it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. The first album it appeared on was the soundtrack for the 1976 film All This and World War II. This was a WWII documentary using Beatles songs on the soundtrack. When getting Beatles songs was too expensive, the producers decided to use Beatles covers including Elton John's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Though the film bombed, the soundtrack album sold well. MCA could have put Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds on the 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. But they didn't though it was added as a bonus track on the 1995 reissue of that album. The song does appear on the 1977 comp Elton John's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 so that's the album I recommend. It also may appear on the 2007 comp Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits but it appears mainly on the US/Canada release and I couldn't tell if that edition is available on Amazon. So I'm sure recording with John Lennon was on Elton John's bucket list and it should be on his fans' list too. Here's Elton John performing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
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