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Like most music fans, Elton John‘s life has largely been soundtracked by The Beatles. John was fortunate enough to have been born at the perfect time to witness their meteoric and historic rise in real-time rather than having to study their story after it had already unfolded.

While John wasn’t hanging around The Cavern Club in Liverpool before The Beatles springboarded into the consciousness of millions, they still played a transformative role in his teenage life. Across the best part of a decade, the Fab Four wrote a tale that will never be seen again in music and made an entire generation, John included, believe that anything was impossible.

uring his school years, Elton John was introduced to The Beatles, though at that time, he was still far from chasing his own musical dreams. By the early 1970s, however, Elton had become a megastar, suddenly finding himself in the same circles as the former members of The Beatles, who had by then parted ways. While he enjoyed the company of all four band members, it was John Lennon with whom he connected most deeply. Their bond led to a collaboration on the single ‘Whatever Gets You Thru the Night‘, which became a chart-topping hit in the United States. This achievement marked Lennon’s first number-one single since leaving The Beatles. As a gesture of gratitude, Lennon joined Elton onstage at Madison Square Garden for a rare and memorable live performance.

When The Beatles first found their way into his life, it would have been an inconceivable thought for John that he’d later become a collaborator of Lennon’s. Speaking to Sean Ono Lennon in 2020, Elton reminisced about his intense friendship with Sean’s father: “That was the kind of wonderful two or three-year whirlwind romance we had, and it was such an important thing in my life, Sean.”

He added: “It just really helped me. It gave me so much confidence. Your dad was as kind and as generous and sweet, and we just hit it off immediately.”

Although Elton John admires The Beatles with all his heart and is even the godfather to John Lennon’s son, he wasn’t immediately captivated by the Fab Four. While his close school friend was a devoted fan club member and tried to persuade Elton to join, it wasn’t until the release of ‘We Can Work It Out’ in 1965 that Elton realised he had misunderstood The Beatles all along. This song marked the moment when he fully appreciated their genius.

When Elton appeared on the BBC Radio 2 segment Tracks Of My Years, he named the 1965 single one of his all-time favourites. Interestingly, in the UK, ‘We Can Work It Out’ didn’t appear on any of their albums. Although, the track did fly to number one when released as a double A-side along with ‘Day Tripper’.

Explaining his decision to include the track in his selections, Elton confessed that it turned him into a Beatles fan after initially writing them off as a flash in the pan. The singer admitted: “I remember being at school and my friend Michael Johnson came with a 45 and said ‘I’ve just heard this band, they’re gonna be the biggest band in the world, and it was ‘Love Me Do’. I’ve listened and said, ‘It’s not bad, it’s not bad’.”

Despite not hating ‘Love Me Do’, John failed to see their potential, adding, “I couldn’t see that they would be the biggest band in the world, and he turned out to be right. I think he was number four in the fan club. So he spotted them a mile off”. Speaking specifically about his selection, John revealed why he chose a deep cut over one of their more widely treasured tracks: “‘We Can Work It Out’ is such a wonderful song. Stevie Wonder did an amazing version of it. I can’t even begin to think of how many people covered Beatles songs. There is so much I could have chosen.”

However, despite loving almost everything The Beatles ever produced and singling out Revolver as “a big part of my life”, nothing touches ‘We Can Just Work It Out’ in his mind. He concluded: “I just love the song.”

Admittedly, it took Elton John longer than most to recognise the talent of the Fab Four than his old school friend and countless others. However, rather than stubbornly continue rejecting The Beatles, he opened up his mind and conceded defeat. From that moment on, his life was never the same, and potentially, this would not have been the case if it wasn’t for ‘We Can Work It Out’.