Sir Elton John moves onto a new song if he can’t nail a melody in an hour.
The prolific ‘Rocket Man’ singer, 77, has spent decades putting music to lyrics sent to him by his writing partner Bernie Taupin, 74, and has now stressed how tunes usually flow effortlessly out of him and onto his piano keys as he reads his long-time collaborator’s words.
He told Time magazine – which has named him its 2024 ‘Icon of the Year’ – “I know people think, ‘Oh, God, he doesn’t work that hard’.
“But it’s really effortless. If I get a lyric and I look at it, the song comes straight out.”
Elton’s Time interview profile to mark his award from the publication said “impatience” was part of the singer’s gift.
It added: “He likes to write fast—if he can’t get a tune for the lyrics he’s given in an hour or so, he moves on to new ones.”
Bernie wrote the pair’s ‘Your Song’ hit over breakfast when he was 19 and living with Elton’s family – sleeping in bunk beds in the budding singer’s room. He told Time it only took his roommate 30 minutes to put music to the words, adding: “We have a telepathy between the two of us. He seems to know what I want, and I seem to know what he wants. It’s really unusual and it’s very spooky.”
Elton has performed around 4,500 concerts over half a century and even though he retired from touring at the end of 2023 he is still working on music projects.
He has written the music for and co-produced two new musicals – ‘Tammy Faye’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’.
Elton also has a podcast/radio show ‘Rocket Hour’, which promotes young musicians and this year his hit ‘Rocket Man’ hit a billion streams on Spotify 52 years after it was released.