Born in Berlin in 1942, Voormann studied classical guitar before picking up a bass guitar in the band Eyes, in 1964. While performing in the trio Paddy, Klaus & Gibson, and shortly before replacing Jack Bruce in Manfred Mann, Voormann met and befriended the Beatles in Hamburg. Their relationship eventually led to the band’s request that he apply his graphic art skills for the cover of Revolver. Notes Klaus, “My main bass influence was [Motown’s] James Jamerson, and then [reggae greats] Aston Barrett and Robbie Shakespeare. I adored Paul’s bass lines, but I just don’t play like that.” Calls from John Lennon to play on the Plastic Ono Band’s Live Peace in Toronto [Apple/EMI, 1969], and from George Harrison to do the Concert for Bangladesh [Apple/EMI, 1971], meant covering McCartney lines and more—which led to a permanent slot with Lennon and much session work with Ringo Starr. Klaus offers, “Ringo is a fantastic drummer, with a great, loose feel and subtly brilliant creativity.”
Voormann can be heard on such John Lennon classics as “Imagine” and “Instant Karma,” but the 1974 goodtime ditty “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” from Walls and Bridges [Capitol] is what earned Lennon his first No. 1 solo hit. The track also features a let-it-all-hang-out syncopated spin from Klaus. New York’s Record Plant was the setting for the summer ’74 session. Present for the live track were Lennon and Elton John on (scratch) duet lead vocals, drummer Jim Keltner, saxophonist Bobby Keys, guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, and percussionist Arthur Jenkins. Lennon also played guitar, and John later overdubbed piano. Voormann plucked his sunburst ’64 Fender Precision with La Bella flatwounds, recorded both direct and through a miked Ampeg B-15, and he had no chart. Klaus candidly laughs, “We started at a slow tempo and it was a happy song, so I thought, I can play a nice hop-along part. But as the session wore on, people were heading to the bathroom and sniffing stuff, and the tempo got to be almost twice as fast! The part ended up sounding so busy, even Keltner said to me, ‘Klaus, that’s a little much you played there.’”
The track begins with Keys’s sax-solo intro and Voormann’s galloping bass. The first chorus, at A, contains some key Klaus concepts: the overall syncopation, the drop down from C to open E in bar 10, and the climbing figure in bar 11—a recurring motif throughout. In addition to these Jamerson-esque moves, Klaus plays a bluesy Cn against the A chord in bar 13—another riff that reappears. “I’m not sure what my inspiration was,” he reveals. “I tried a few ideas until John looked at me with his usual little grin that meant, ‘Nice—carry on!’” He continues, “It was a complete take, but I thought we could have done a better one; you can hear us all getting lost in spots [his D downbeats in bars 57 and 61?], although I made no fixes.”
Following a second chorus, at B, another sax solo (C) sees some interesting use of chromatic passing tones by Klaus in bars 36 and 37, a device employed in the same sections later on. The quirky form continues in a seemingly whatever-gets-you-through-the-tune way, with a bridge at D, followed by a sax solo (E), a chorus (F), yet another sax solo (G), a repeat of the bridge (H), and—what else?—a sax-solo out, at I.
Throughout the tune, Voormann’s subtle variations foster the part’s development, even while restating main motifs. “The essential aspects of the part are the movement from the root either up or down to the 3rd, and the way the melodic lines lead to the next chord or downbeat. Other than that, it was a real trip laying it down, so jump in and come along for the ride.”