On April 4, Elton John launched Who Believes in Angels?, a collaborative album with American musician Brandi Carlile. In it, one tracks stands out as one of the private of his profession, exploring themes of ageing, mortality, and love – each romantic and platonic.
In a latest interview with SiriusXM’s Howard Stern, Elton opened up in regards to the emotional weight of ‘When This World is Done with Me’ and the writing course of behind it.
Elton recalled the second he first sat all the way down to play the music within the studio. “I started singing, I started playing the verse and thinking, ‘This is really nice, I like this,’ and I was happy with the way the piano was sounding,” he mentioned.
“Then I got to the chorus, and when I finished the chorus, I obviously knew what [the lyrics were] about and I just… I just broke down.”
He added: “That’s never happened to me ever when I’ve written a song before. Really, never.”
Elton mentioned he was so moved by the lyrics and their message that he couldn’t proceed recording, having to return to the studio the following day to complete the music: “It was upsetting because I do think about passing away… and it just touched a nerve”.
The touching lyrics – “When this old world is done with me/Just know I came this far/Scatter me among the stars/When I close my eyes/Release me like an ocean wave/Return me to the tide” – had been written by Bernie Taupin, Elton’s artistic accomplice of greater than 5 a long time.
Elton described the music as being deeply tied to their long-running collaboration and friendship: “The lyrics are so lovely they usually’re nearly not simply me. I feel they’re about Bernie too. They’re about us – the connection we have had, the wonder that we have had”.
Despite the music’s give attention to mortality, Elton was fast to make clear that he’s in wonderful well being.
“It was upsetting because I do think about, you know, passing away – what’s going to happen [to] my children, and David,” he mentioned, referencing his husband David Furnish and their two sons.
“But I mean, I’m the fittest I’ve ever been. I’ve just had the most incredible medical test results. Um, so I’m not going to be passing away.”
He added: “Sometimes I think, ‘Oh, I don’t want to go. I want to be with my boys.’ And you don’t know when that’s going to happen. But for the time being, of course, I’m not going anywhere.”
https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/2039422/elton-john-sad-song-death