The disappointing disbandment of The Beatles happened in 1970 because of several reasons. Their manager Brian Epstein’s died, the tensions between Paul McCartney and the other band members after his desire to be their leader got heated, and Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono damaged the band. Also, the late singer and songwriter John Lennon focused on collaborations more and more, especially a short time before the band’s break up.
It can be said that Lennon’s career included various projects other than his successful career with the legendary rock band, The Beatles. The singer founded a supergroup along with a band with his wife Yoko Ono and worked with different famous musicians as a part of them. In one of these collaborations, the musician regretted working with Eric Clapton after he had watched another guitarist playing.
When Did John Lennon And Eric Clapton Work Together?
Clapton and Lennon had known each other for a long time and teamed up with different performances and recording sessions. The two successful musicians played together in a supergroup named The Dirty Mac, including Keith Richards Mitch Mitchell. The band’s only notable appearance was The Rolling Stones’ TV special ‘The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus,’ and The Who, and Jethro Tull joined them for the show.
However, this short-lived supergroup wasn’t Lennon and Clapton’s last collaboration; the famous guitarist took place in The Beatles icon and Yoko Ono’s band The Plastic Ono Band, a conceptual art-based rock band founded in 1968. Clapton served as a guitarist for the band’s song ‘Cold Turkey,’ which was released on October 20, 1969, in the US, and the UK on October 24, 1969. Later the song took place in the band’s live album entitled ‘Live Peace in Toronto 1969.’
Why Did John Lennon Want To Work With Rick Nielsen Instead?
Even though the song got critical acclaim and became a famous post-Beatles work of Lennon, the singer realized that he chose the wrong guitarist while he was working on his fifth album with Ono, ‘Double Fantasy.’ Their producer Jack Douglas, who also had worked with Cheap Trick, offered Lennon to use Cheap Trick as a backing band for the record’s track ‘I’mLosing You.’ So, the band’s guitarist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos joined him in the studio.
In one of his interviews, Nielsen recalled these times while recording a version of the song, and the Beatles icon watched his performance. He revealed that Lennon admired his playing so much that he turned to Douglas and said he wished he had hired Nielsen for ‘Cold Turkey.’ Clapton was with them too, and according to the Cheap Trick legend, he was speechless after Lennon’s comment about him.
In Nielsen’s words, he said:
“I was in the studio, playing, and John looked at Jack Douglas and said, ‘God, I wish I’d had Rick on ‘Cold Turkey.’ Clapton choked up.”
You can listen to the song below.
