"An Old Estranged Fiancé of Mine Called Paul..."

Elton John’s “Philadelphia Freedom” is one of my all-time favorite songs, so it makes sense that my original copy of the single is one of the personal treasures in my record collection. I have no memory of whether I bought the record myself or asked someone to buy it for me.

“Philadelphia Freedom” was released on February 28, 1975 and quickly ascended to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. But the single has a strong connection to Thanksgiving 1974, which was 50 years ago today.

I mentioned in my last entry that I don’t remember much about my Thanksgivings as a child. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I have no memory of my 1974 Thanksgiving, which happened to be exactly 50 years ago today.

I do know this though: sometime during that evening, November 28, 1974, just about 100 miles north of my home, John Lennon walked onstage during an Elton John concert at New York City’s Madison Square Garden and played the last three songs he’d ever play to a large live audience.

Elton John was deep into his concert when he announced, “Seeing it’s Thanksgiving, we thought we’d make tonight a little bit of a joyous occasion by inviting someone up with us onto the stage…” Pandemonium ensued when the audience realized that the “someone” was John Lennon. He was settling a bet with Elton, who suggested that Lennon appear at a show if his Elton-assisted song, “Whatever Gets You Through the Night” hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

John and Lennon played that single, following it up with the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Times”, which Elton was releasing as a single. To close the segment, John Lennon noted that they were about to play something by “an old estranged fiancé” of his called Paul. Lennon and Elton John’s band then launched into an exhilarating version of the early Beatles’ classic, “I Saw Her Standing There.”

Exactly three months later, that live performance, which would turn out to be the last song John Lennon ever sang to a large, live audience, was released as the b-side to “Philadelphia Freedom.”

I listened to the “Philadelphia Freedom” single all the time in 1975 — it was my favorite rock star singing about my city! I seem to remember that my mom told me that my grandmother once chided her for how much I listened to the single, but that could be a false memory on my part.

Whether or not Grandma really said that, I am sure I played the a-side incessantly, but I flipped it to hear “I Saw Her Standing There” with at least some degree of regularity. Being nine/ten years old at the time, I knew more about Beatles solos songs than I did about their work as a groups, so hearing one of the Beatles playing and singing with Elton John, who was rapidly become my favorite rock star, was a huge deal. I heard this live Thanksgiving 1974 version of “I Saw Her Standing There” years before I ever got around to listening to the original Beatles version.

Tonight I listened to the a- and b-sides of my “Philadelphia Freedom”/”I Saw Her Standing There” single. The a-side sounds a bit crunchy, and there’s a quick skip that I might be able to clean out of the vinyl toward the end of the song. “I Saw Her Standing There” still sounds great, the live performance practically jumping off the turntable. I played it at just about the same time as Elton John, John Lennon, and the band performed it 50 years ago tonight.

Fifty-plus years of collecting has led to me owning many singles and albums that are great/cool/odd/beautiful/weird/etc. But I don’t think there are any other records in my collection that connect long-ago Rich to present-day Rich as completely as this “Philadelphia Freedom”/”I Saw Her Standing There” single does.