Birthdays hit different when you’ve been a global icon for six decades. And as Elton John just turned 78, he’s thinking about more than cake.
During a new episode of the Smartless podcast, the music legend opened up about the emotional moment he broke down while recording “When This Old World Is Done With Me” — a track from his upcoming album Who Believes in Angels? with Brandi Carlile.
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“I wrote a song at the end of the album and I just get the lyrics, Bernie Taupin’s lyrics,” John explained as reported by The Mirror on Tuesday, March 25 . “I’m writing the verse, like, ‘Oh, this is really pretty.’ And then I get to the chorus and of course it’s about my death.”
That realization hit hard.
“When you get to my age, which is near 100, you think, ‘How much time have I got left?’” the “Rocket Man” singer said. “You’ve got children, you’ve got a wonderful husband, you just think about mortality. And so when I got to the chorus, I just broke down for 45 minutes — and it’s all on film.” (John shares two sons — Zachary, 14, and Elijah, 12 — with husband, David Furnish, whom he’s been with for over 30 years.)
Carlile, 43, who witnessed the moment, said, “[Elton] cried hard.” Carlile added, “I want everybody to see it because it’s really human, deeply flawed and embarrassing. And the kind of s*** that you do when you forget that there is a camera on is what’s really interesting.”
The full recording process was filmed for Elton John: Never Too Late — a new documentary that captures the behind-the-scenes making of the collaborative album, which drops Friday, April 4.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.