Elton John has lived it all. Over the course of a career spanning an incredible seven decades, the venerable British pop-rock singer has sold more than 300 million albums, been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994, and racked up an incredible 35 Grammy nominations.
Additionally, as of last year (when John picked up an Emmy Award for a live concert film), he finally nabbed the coveted if informal “EGOT” crown, named for artists possessing wins for the top awards across the mediums of film, television, stage, and music.
This awards cycle, John picked up another honor when nominations for the 97th Academy Awards were announced on January 23. For the eponymous song from the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, which premiered last September at the Toronto International Film Festival, John and fellow songwriters Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin and Andrew Wyatt were nominated in the Best Original Song category, where their competition includes Sing Sing’s “Like a Bird,” The Six Triple Eight’s “The Journey,” and two songs from Emilia Peréz. The awards ceremony will take place on March 2, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
At a recent special “THR Presents” Q&A event, sponsored by Vision Media and moderated by the Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner, the 77-year-old legend spent some time answering questions alongside his collaborator and close friend, American singer-songwriter Carlile. Excerpts from the conversation follow, condensed for the sake of clarity and brevity:
Question: Brandi, tell me how this started. Because I’m told that you saw an early cut of the film and were inspired to just start writing.
Brandi Carlile: I did. I saw an early cut of the documentary, as a massive Elton John fan since I was really young girl. Elton’s been my hero since I was 11. So, this archival footage for a girl who didn’t have an inch of bedroom wall not covered with an Elton John poster was pretty incredible to see, and it just landed on me in a really beautiful way — getting to sort of enjoy this trajectory from turmoil.
A lot of success, but a lot of turmoil too, and a lot of loneliness, to this latter-day serenity that Elton has now, as a husband and a dad. I came away really inspired, and I wanted to sort of chronologically, musically document it. It’s the first lyric I’ve ever written for Elton, and it was inspired by that beautiful film.
Elton John: And it really says everything about what happens in the film. So I was absolutely thrilled, because I think when you write a song for a film, it’s got to be something to do with the actual process of the film or the making of the film or the content of the film.
So I was thrilled, and I found it very easy to write the melody, because it was such a great lyric. And, you know, we had a lot of help from Andrew and Bernie as well. Putting their thoughts in this whole thing has been a true collaboration — not just this track, but the whole album.
I’m just thrilled with the way it kind of fit into the film. The documentary was originally going to be called Farewell Yellow Brick Road, as was the tour, and I thought that was a bit boring, but I didn’t have any alternative except when she wrote this song.
We changed the ending to “Never Too Late” and the film to Never Too Late, so it fit in. She changed everything.
Question: Elton, you mentioned writing the melody, but what was that moment like, when Brandi handed you those lyrics? You have a lot of experience working that way, but I’m not sure every time is the same.
Elton John: Well, the lyrics are so good. I’m used to writing to great lyrics because I’ve been writing with Bernie for over 50 years. But these were wonderful lyrics too. They were easy, and I knew that it was going to be a ballad, obviously. I think you wanted it to be in six-eight time originally.
I said no way, I’m just writing it in four time. So it was a pretty easy song to write, because it was about me. It was just like the Captain Fantastic album was easy to write, because all the songs were about Bernie Taupin and myself.
So, this being about me, I got it very quickly and it was a wonderful moment when we actually finished the song. Then, of course, we had to record it, but I felt really happy after I’d recorded it, because the song nails exactly what the film is about.
Question: I think what’s so special about it is the lyrics of the song speak to so many relevant themes in an artist’s life, and just to anyone’s life, really, in terms of self-reflection and resilience. There’s a little bit of humor in there, too. But for you, as artists yourself, what themes most resonated?
Brandi Carlile: I think the thing that resonated with me the most, aside from just being a John super-fan, is just the way that it landed on me as a gay person, married to a woman with kids and seeing the way that Elton and (his husband) David have paved for all of us.
Not many people know this, but the first gay couple I actually ever saw in my life on television was Elton John and David Furnish. And I remember feeling so hopeful about that as a young person. Just that there’s any way that I’m involved in documenting that now as an adult is so surreal. So that was important to me.
The other thing I love about being a part of the process of this documentary is watching Elton have to self-reflect, because he’s usually so forward moving. He doesn’t really like taking compliments.
He doesn’t really like listening to people talk nice about him or spending a lot of time dwelling on these kinds of things. And here he has to watch this beautiful film and sing this song about himself. So I think it’s been beautiful to have that to follow.
Elton John: It’s been very great. It’s been really great for me, actually. Yeah, it’s gotten me to look back at the things that were in the film, the music and everything like that.
I don’t look at myself very often and I don’t reflect, but I think this was a great moment to reflect on what happened and what beautiful processes came out of chaos and unhappiness — all to get me to a point of incredible happiness.
You have to look back and say, I did it. And in the lyric, it says, “You’re an iron man, baby.” And I’ve been through so many things in my life, and I’ve picked myself up and I’ve gone forward again. So she nailed it completely.
I am an Iron Man, baby. Yes, baby! (laughs)
Question: We have to talk about Bernie and Andrew, too. Elton, you mentioned them both. There are two of you sitting here today, but there are two other collaborators. What was this experience like with the two of them?
Elton John: I’ve never entered an album having four people collaborate before. I wanted to do it, and I wanted to make an album with Brandi for a long time. And I wanted to include Bernie, and I wanted Andrew Watt to be the producer — and it was from the word go.
This is a four-equal-partnership record. One. Two. Three. Four. We’re in this together. It was a struggle for me at first because I was really exhausted and tired, and I had so much self-doubt, which led to a few… well, you see the video for the “Never Too Late” single.
I was very, very on the edge the whole time because I wanted the album to be so good, and you can never predict how an album is going to turn out. So I think I put the other three through the wringer, to be honest with you, for about four or five days. And then I finally got over it and I finally saw the light. And from that point on, it was just like a freight train, a very fast freight train. We wrote 14 songs in 25, 20 days and we kept ten. And that’s pretty quick.
Question: It’s surprising to hear you say that you were filled with so much self-doubt. How did you work your way out of that?
Elton John: Very slowly. I had a lot of help from the other three. The other three were going, “Oh my God, what’s wrong with him?” They were on the phone to David saying, “I don’t understand what’s wrong.” I was very afraid.
I was really afraid because I wanted this to be a special record. Anyway, we finally got out of it, and it was through the help of everyone else being very understanding. But also, I know they were saying, “What the hell is going on with him?” (laughs)
Brandi Carlile: He remembers it as more of a burden than it was. I think it was more like, especially in retrospect… it’s refreshing seeing somebody act how they feel.
If you have self-doubt, if you’re feeling insecure, yeah, you’re going to throw the headphones once in a while. Big deal. You know, seeing somebody be human is, I think, what the world needs so much more of.
Elton John: Yeah, I hated making a mistake. And that’s why, if I couldn’t do it properly, [I got upset]. Brandi is like a first-rate vocalist. It’s like, “God, I wish I could do that.” And I was fed up with myself because I’m a perfectionist. But in the end, it’s good. As Brandi says, it’s human to be upset. Once you’ve been upset, you get over it and you carry on.
Question: Elton, finish the sentence for me: “It’s never too late for…”
Elton John: It’s never too late to make amends. Forgive yourself, forgive other people. Move on. That’s the best thing you can do. There’s no point in going through life with resentment.
