Tina Turner is rightly regarded as one of the finest performers the world has ever known. Famed for her complete devotion to her craft, Tina Turner never let herself down when she stepped on stage. Below, we’re digging into the Far Out vault to revisit a mesmerising performance from the singer as she takes on The Beatles classic ‘Come Together’ back in 1971.
Accompanied by her ex-husband like Turner on the stage, Tina delivers a simply spellbinding rendition of the Abbey Road song. A classic in its own right, Turner takes the song to a whole new level with her pulsating performance. It’s a joy to behold from start to finish.
The song is a remarkable reminder of the songwriting talent at the command of The Beatles. The song was initially penned by Lennon as part of a campaign for Timothy Leary, as he attempted to become Governor of California. However, with a keen ear, Lennon quickly realised the song was too good to be wasted on a political push.
“Come Together’ was an expression that Tim Leary had come up with for his attempt at being president or whatever he wanted to be,” Lennon told David Sheff in 1980 of the song. “He asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t come up with one. But I came up with this, ‘Come Together,’ which would’ve been no good to him — you couldn’t have a campaign song like that, right?”
Lennon even went as far as to proclaim the song one of the favourites of his own repertoire: “Leary attacked me years later, saying I ripped him off. I didn’t rip him off. It’s just that it turned into ‘Come Together.’ What am I going to do, give it to him? It was a funky record — it’s one of my favourite Beatle tracks, or, one of my favourite Lennon tracks, let’s say that.”
Tina Turner clearly caught the funk at the heart of the track and delivers quite possibly the defining performance of the song. Given that The Beatles were no longer touring when the track was created, Turner’s performance could well be the best. It’s not the only time Turner has picked up a song from the Fab Four.
On several occasions, she has covered their songs. However, nothing quite matches up to this 1971 performance of The Beatles’ ‘Come Together’.
🎥 On Tina Turner’s birthday, here’s her storming rendition of The Beatles Come Together from 1971! pic.twitter.com/GZHJpIGvM6
— Far Out Magazine (@FarOutMag) November 26, 2021
