The New York tale of John Lennon, Elton John, a hotel bed, a bag of drugs and Andy Warhol
People will often talk about ‘odd couples’, and how certain pairings of people are far from the sorts who would attract one another, but quite often, these polar opposite personalities can end up forming the most special of bonds.
Say what you like about the union of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but there’s one relationship that the former Beatle had in his life that, on paper, seems to be much more difficult to imagine.
The relationship in question wasn’t a romantic one, but his close personal friendship with Elton John, and while picturing the two might not come easily, they forged a close connection while the latter was in the ascendency. Perhaps it was all down to them sharing the same sense of humour, or a love of the same music or partaking in the same hobbies – you know, the things that make normal friendships work and last a lifetime.
Or, perhaps it was all down to the fact that they both had an insatiable taste for taking gear at the time, and finding that if they got completely off their faces together, then the conversations and antics would naturally start themselves. Yes, allegedly, many a night was shared with both songwriters huffing as much blow as they possibly could, and casually chatting until the early hours of the morning.
You have to bear in mind that this was during the 1970s, when drugs were a huge part of the culture of the music industry, and so the fact that any musician developed a coke habit shouldn’t have been at all surprising. However, the stories that John has to share about his memories of powdery nights with Lennon are considerably more surprising, and seemingly full of drug-fuelled capers that the famous pianist still laughs about to this day.
In an interview with broadcaster and comedian Graham Norton for the documentary, Elton John: Uncensored, he shared the story of how the two became close, and recounted an amusing occasion where they received an unwanted visit from an icon of the art world. “I met him when he was just finishing his crazy phase and going into his laughing phase,” John recounted. “He sang on my records, I played on his, and we did a lot of drugs together. But we had so many laughs.”
He continued, referring to one memorable night in particular: “We were doing cocaine. It was like, 1:30 in the morning, and there was a ring on the doorbell, and I thought ‘oh, who’s this’. It took me about ten minutes to creep over to the eyehole and look through the door. It was at the Sherry-Netherland hotel, and turned and mouthed to him ‘It’s Andy Warhol!’, and John just said [mimes throat-cutting action]. So, we didn’t answer the door, and I asked him why he didn’t want to let Andy in. He said, ‘He’s always got a bloody camera with him, nothing’s private with Andy’. I thought to myself, ‘God, he won’t let Andy Warhol in’, but that’s because we were high as a kite.”
While their shared druggy paranoia around this scenario is funny to picture, you can’t help but get the feeling that Lennon’s assertion was absolutely right. Given Warhol’s commitment to documenting every situation he was in, the duo’s cocaine escapades wouldn’t have remained a secret for long, and the world would certainly have been scrutinising their deviances, which is the last thing you want when the paranoia levels are already as high as you are.
