The Disco Track That Made John Lennon Jealous and Inspired His Final Hit in 1974

When you think of John Lennon, your mind doesn’t immediately go to disco. Nevertheless, one song from the genre was so envied by the former Beatle that he said he would’ve given anything to have written it. Moreover, it helped inspire one of his final hits before his death. Find out which disco song had this big an impact on Lennon below.

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[RELATED: 4 Rock Acts Who Scored Big With Disco-Flavored Hits in 1979]

The Making of the Disco Hit, “Rock Your Baby”

Before his namesake band, KC And The Sunshine Band, really took off, Harry Wayne Casey earned a massive hit for another artist, “Rock Your Baby.” This mid-tempo disco number remains a selling point for the genre decades after its release.

Casey penned this song alongside fellow Sunshine member Richard Finch. When the vocal line was deemed too high for Casey, they passed the song to George McCrae. The three collaborators eventually earned a hit, putting all of their names on the map.

Casey kind of stumbled upon this song, coming up with it on the spot after playing around with a Lowrey organ.

“I just hit one of those buttons,” Casey once said. “And then in my normal way of writing, these chords come out. I remember playing it back and thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is amazing.’ It just had such a great feeling.”

“[McCrae] started singing the melody that I gave him, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, this is the voice for this song,’” he continued.

John Lennon’s Jealousy of “Rock Your Baby”

Despite the simplicity of both this song and its creation, it proved to be a runaway success for all involved. It was so popular and well beloved that even Lennon, who had written countless hits at this point, was jealous of it. “I’d give my eyetooth to have written that,” Lennon reportedly said.

This song was so influential on Lennon that it helped inform the creative process for one of his final hits, “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night.”

“I learned recently that John Lennon said that ‘Rock Your Baby’ is the one song he wished he would have written,” Casey continued in the same interview. “And that it did influence his song ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night.’”

Lennon wasn’t the only artist to be influenced by this disco hit. “’Rock Your Baby’ influenced ABBA to write their song Dancing Queen,” Casey pointed out. “I can hear the progression right in the song. Absolutely.”

The influence of this song is readily apparent across music history. Revisit “Rock Your Baby” above.

(Photo by Steve Morley/Redferns)