All language subtitles for Elton John Uncensored

[gentle music]

[upbeat rock music]

* I'm still standing

"Have a chat," said Sir Elton,
"in the South of France."

Who was I to say no?

Especially since it's
the only major interview

he's giving this year.

The only problem is

when it comes to talking
about a 50-year career,

where do you start?

* I'm still standing

[upbeat rock music]

* It's getting late
have you seen my mates *

* Ma, tell me when
the boys get here *

Lovely to see you.

Sir Elton John's in the
house, ladies and gentlemen!

[crew applauding]

He's in his house. [chuckles]

Born in 1947, young Reg
Dwight probably never imagined

that, turning 72, he'd
be part way through

an incredible 300-date
farewell world tour.

* Saturday

[Graham] Have received
France's highest award,

the Legion d'Honneur,

be celebrating "The Lion King"
being a box office smash hit,

and have released a
biopic of his life

along with his autobiography.

It's been wonderful.

[Graham] Growing up in Pinner,

young Elton could play
"The Skater's Waltz"

on the piano, aged just three.

[jaunty music]

[upbeat disco music]

Encouraged by his nan, he
went on to win a scholarship

at the Royal Academy of Music.

His first taste of performing

involved playing piano in pubs.

A couple of nights,
the fight would start.

So, I had to go out the window.

I'm not stupid, folks. [laughs]

[audience laughing]

No, no, no!

[Graham] Which later
led to playing organ

in the band Bluesology.

* Come back, baby

[Graham] But it was meeting
writing partner Bernie Taupin

that would change
Elton's life forever.

[audience applauding]

He's probably more
important than me

because he has to write the
words before I write the music.

* Oh, oh, oh

[Graham] Selling over
300 million albums,

he's won countless awards

including five Grammys, five
Brit Awards, oh, and an Oscar.

I never thought in my life

I would be holding one of these.

[Graham] Leading a life even
more colourful and outrageous

than his many costumes,
Sir Elton is a music legend

that's written the
manual on being famous

and has survived
to tell the tale.

* Love me again

[audience cheering]

I'd like to become a legend,
but I don't think I will be

because they're
very, very special.

Well, first of all,
Sir Elton John,

thank you very much for
inviting us to your home.

-Thank you for coming.
-I know!

Imagine living here. [laughs]

It strikes me, this must be
a very strange time for you,

'cause you are a very much,
what's next, kind of guy.

And here you are,

you're doing all this
kind of looking back.

How odd is it to be doing
all this looking back?

Yeah, you're right.

There's the farewell
tour, there's the film,

and, then, now's the book.

It's been fine.

I mean, I very rarely look
back, but I've had to.

Obviously, with a book,

you have to go right
back to the beginning

and it's been quite cathartic.

I'd suddenly realised
I've led an amazing life

because I live my life
at such a high speed

that sometimes you just go
from one thing to the next.

And, then, when I read
the book in its entirety

after it was done, I
went, "God Almighty!

"I could've filled another
300 pages with stuff."

But it's been very
gratifying to know

that, at 72, I can do
the book and the film,

and then move forward again.

And, I have to say,
the book, it's funny

and an extraordinary
amount of candour in it.

Are you, now that
it's all happening,

how do you feel about
strangers in the street

knowing all these
things about you?

I don't mind.

I did "Tantrums And
Tiaras" many years ago

and that was fairly
in your face.

I don't mind that.

The whole point of doing a
book, and the autobiography,

is to be as honest
as you possibly can.

I didn't wanna
sugar-coat anything.

And, yet, reading
about you as a boy,

it seemed so unlikely,

-that shy boy.
-Oh, I wouldn't say

boo to a goose.

I was frightened
of my own shadow.

I was frightened of
treading on eggshells.

No.

It all happened when I left
home for the first time

and I could wear exactly
what I wanted to wear.

It was suddenly like unleashing
the beast, as it were.

And I lived my teenage
years in my 20s.

Yeah.

My relationship with my
mother hadn't been the best,

but at least we reconciled
towards the endish.

And I wanted the
opportunity to say to her

that I did love her and
that I was appreciative

for everything she'd done,
and it was a difficult.

The two or three times
we saw each other

weren't easy, not for me

because she didn't change.

But, for me, it was about
telling her before she died.

If I hadn't had told her before
she died that I loved her

and I was grateful for
everything she'd done,

I would've felt really bad.

Yeah.

No, I must say,
just as a person,

I was so happy that
there'd been some sort of--

Yeah, there had to be.

I listened to someone talking
about their relationship

with her father and I
thought, "You know what?

"I have to reach out to my mom."

Things hadn't been
good but I reached out

and the olive
branch is necessary.

You have to forgive people.

Or you have to try and reconcile

with someone who was

very much there for
me at the beginning,

and who gave me a lot.

And, also, she was clearly
a very difficult woman,

but a woman of kind
of contradictions.

She could be so funny and
sweet, and then really vile.

Yeah, it's who she was.

I mean, I think more so
towards the end of her life

she got more difficult.

Why was that?

I don't know.

She didn't approve of
the civil partnership.

She didn't approve of David.

She didn't approve anyone who
was closer to me than she was.

[Graham] Was she jealous?

I don't know, I don't know.

The thing I was grateful
for both my parents was

that they separated after
a horrendous marriage

and they both found
people they love.

And that makes me happy

because my mom deserved
to find someone she loved,

and so did my dad.

And you did have a very
good time with her.

You took her on tour.

There's a story about
her on the Starjet

she was only interested
in watching one film.

Yes, "Deep Throat".

[Graham] [laughs] Why did she

-want to watch that?
-Well, she'd heard about it,

and, I said, "I can show
it to you if you want?"

"Yeah."

So, they were having lunch and
she was sitting there going,

-"Bloody hell, look at that."
-[Graham laughs]

My mom could be so much fun.

Yeah, I mean, my whole
family was based on laughter.

My uncle, my aunt, my
mom, my grandmother.

And, in fact, I wasn't
that close to them

when my mom was still alive but

now I've had children, my kids
are very close to my cousins

and their children because
family is important.

A lot of laughter
and a lot of music.

But you talk about watching
that scene in "Rocketman"

where they sing to each
other, which, you know,

I knew none of these
people and I was sobbing.

Yeah, I saw that in a very
early stage of the film

and I wasn't prepared.

Each one of those
family members,

my grandmother, my
dad, my mom and myself,

wanted a bit more
love in their lives

and wanted a bit more
peace and harmony.

* Me I carry too much baggage

* Oh, God, I've seen
so much traffic *

* But I want love

* Just a different kind

* I want love won't
break me down *

* Won't break me up
won't fence me in *

* I want a love that
means something *

* That's a love I want

* I want love

[gentle music]

There's some obvious people

who have influenced
your performing style,

like Little Richard
and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Talk to us about
Winifred Atwell.

Winifred Atwell was incredible,
she was my first idol.

And she was this
beautiful, beautiful.

I think she was
Bajan, I'm not sure.

She was a West Indian lady.

She bought this real
upright honky-tonk piano

for nothing in a junk shop.

And then she would
play something like
ragtime on the piano,

she was a very good
ragtime piano player.

[upbeat piano music]

And she'd had this wonderful
face and she would smile at you

and I loved her to death.

And I got to meet
her in Australia.

Oh, wow!

And we met at an airport.

And she gave me a koala bear,
not a real one, of course.

[Graham laughs]

And it was wonderful to meet her

and tell her how much
that she meant to me.

And she played classical
music, semi-classical music,

but then she played pub songs.

And she used to have
all these records, like,

"Let's Have A Party, Volume
One, Two, Three, Four".

And, of course, when
I played in the pub,

I was very grateful for
that because I used to copy

all those kind of
Al Jolson songs,

"Down at the Old Bull and Bush".

Why was there a
piano in the house?

You weren't rich people,

and a piano seems like a very
kind of high-status thing.

No, it was an upright piano.

My auntie played the piano

and there was always
music in the house.

So, at a very early age,

I tried to copy what
I heard on the radio.

I don't know why it was there.

And I'm glad it was there
because if it hadn't have been,

I wouldn't have turned
out to be who I was.

[gentle upbeat music]

[Graham] Young piano playing
Reg Dwight changed his name

to Elton Hercules John in 1967,

choosing Hercules after the
horse in "Steptoe And Son".

[upbeat rock music]

* Loving you, baby

[Graham] Despite his
1968 debut solo single,

"I've Been Loving You" failing
to set the charts alight.

* Daniel you're a star

[Graham] The early
'70s saw Elton's career

go stellar in just four years.

We now wanna declare this
week Elton John Week!

[audience cheering]

[Graham] He released 12
studio albums that decade

including "Madman Across
the Water", "Honky Chateau",

and "Captain Fantastic and
the Brown Dirt Cowboy",

along with a string
of classic hits.

[gentle upbeat music]

* Hold me closer tiny dancer

* Count the headlights
on the highway *

* I remember when
rock was young *

* Me and Susie had so much fun

* I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch

* Oh, the bitch is back

* Stone-cold sober,
as a matter of fact *

* I can bitch, I can bitch
'cause I'm better than you *

* It's the way that I move
the things that I do, oh *

[Graham] His showmanship,
and unique sense of style

fast became legendary at
huge, sell-out concerts

cementing his place in
rock and roll history.

And all by the age of 25.

* Woo

* And I think it's
gonna be a long *

[Graham] In private, Elton
began a turbulent relationship

with his manager John Reid,
seen here playing guitar,

in this previously lost "Top
of the Pops" performance,

unseen for 47 years.

* I'm a rocket man

* Rocket man burning out
his fuse up here alone *

* And I think it's gonna
be a long, long time *

The rocket man had landed.

All thanks to an ad placed
in NME by Liberty Records.

There's a lot of
things in the book

where you talk about
the randomness of
life, the what-ifs.

Because it's not like
you met Bernie Taupin,

like you bumped into him, even,

it was even more
random than that.

It was kismet.

I answered an advert in NME
which said Liberty Records,

who were an American record
company starting up in England,

it was on Albemarle Street.

They want singers
and songwriters.

Now, I was in a band,
Bluesology, and I was fed up.

I thought, "I didn't
become a musician to play

"to people eating
fish and chips."

I was fed up with it.

But I went along to this
meeting with Ray Williams,

who was the guy I
met, and I said,

"I can sing and I
can write songs,

"but I can't write lyrics."

And, of course, there were
no cassettes in those days,

it was all reel-to-reel
tapes in piles of envelopes.

And he could've given
me any envelope.

Of all the envelopes,
I get Bernie.

It could have been
some terrible tosser

[Graham laughs]

from Portsmouth
or some wherever.

I got this brilliant
guy from Lincolnshire.

And there's been so
many moments in my life

where that kind of
thing has clicked in.

Meeting David, getting
sober, having children.

It's quite astonishing
how many times

that's happened in my life,

where it's just if I hadn't
have made that decision,

my life wouldn't have
turned out the way it had.

And, I always assumed,

talking to you about the
music writing process

because he does
write all the lyrics,

that somehow you were singing
about things he was feeling,

or he experienced.

But, in fact, he
has written for you.

I mean, "Someone Saved
My Life Tonight",

"All the Nasties", "White
Lady White Powder".

How often does he do
that, focus on your life?

Every now and then, of
course, the whole the

"Captain Fantastic and the
Brown Dirt Cowboy" album,

every song was about us,

and that's why it's one
of my favourite albums.

But he does, yeah, he
writes about me quite a lot.

It's brilliant because I
never know what I'm gonna get.

And I don't want to
know what I'm gonna get

until I get the
lyric in front of me.

And then I put my hand on the
keyboard, then away we go.

That has never changed in over
the 50 years we've written,

and that's what keeps
it so interesting to me.

Let's talk about "Your Song",

which was a song that
changed both your lives.

Did you know the minute
you'd written it,

this is something else?

Yeah, I thought we'd, you know.

We'd written "Skyline Pigeon",

which was a really lovely
song from "Empty Sky".

But this one.

And in the film, it was a
pretty accurate description

of how it was done.

And I called him in, and
went, "Listen to this."

* And you can tell everybody

* This is your song

* It may be quite simple
but now that it's done *

* I hope you don't mind,
I hope you don't mind *

* That I put down in words

* How wonderful life is

* While you're in the world

It's extraordinary, that
gave us the confidence,

and it was it was
definitely a turning point.

We didn't know it
was gonna be a hit,

but we knew that we
were on to something.

And does it bother you, though?

'Cause so many people
cover that song.

Do you like people
covering that song?

I love anybody
covering our songs.

We started off as pretty awful
songwriters for other people.

And, so, when people cover
your songs, it's a compliment.

I can be in an elevator
and hear "Daniel"

and think, "Oh, I wrote that!"

[Graham laughs]

Or "Who is the asshole
that wrote this?

"Me!"

But it's always a compliment.

If you write a song
and someone records it,

no matter how good or bad it
is, I get a thrill out of it.

You did your own share of
covers, Marble Arch Records.

[Elton] Yes.

-Tell us some the unlikely--
-Oh, it was so funny.

Some of the unlikely
songs you sang!

I used to earn a lot of
money playing on sessions.

I played on The Hollies, "He
Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".

I played on Barron Knights
records, Scaffold records,

Tom Jones records, I sang on.

And then I used to do this
thing on Marble Arch Records

which used to do cheap
versions of all the pop hits.

And we used to do it at
Pye Studios at Marble Arch,

and we used to
have to do covers.

One of the first things
I did was "Back Home",

the England World Cup.

* Back home

You'd start singing and
fall on the floor laughing.

I did "Saved by the
Bell" by the Bee Gees

where I couldn't get the
voice right, so I went.

-* Saved by the bell
-[Graham giggling]

And by the end of this take,

my neck was about
five-inches wider.

And they were some of
the nicest memories

that I treasure, actually.

Something I didn't understand.

I know it's in the film,
but your big success

came in America.

I went to the
Troubadour club in L.A.,

and I played there, I
got an incredible review

in the L.A. Times
from Robert Hilburn,

which kind of spread
around the country.

* Senorita play guitar

* Plays it just for you

* My rosary has broken

* My beads have all
slipped through *

It helped me so much, it
gave me a turbo boost.

-You didn't wanna go.
-I didn't wanna go.

No, I thought it
was too early to go.

I've made many foolish
decisions like that in my life

and I'd thought, "It's
the wrong time to go,"

'cause we were just
getting a reputation

and playing in England,
but I was wrong.

But I love you getting
out of the plane at LAX

and realising that the Americans
were really going for this.

Yeah, but we were met
by London Transport bus,

an old one, a double-decker,
which took about four hours

to get to Sunset Strip and
we'd been flying for 14 hours.

And I thought, "I'm gonna get

"in a lovely Cadillac,"
or something.

No!

It was a great idea, and it
got us a lot of publicity.

But, as soon as we got to
Sunset Strip, it was magical

because it looked
just like it did

on "The Beverly Hillbillies".

-Thank God I went.
-Yeah.

And it seems like this huge
rush in your life where suddenly

you're successful, you're
famous, and then you're in love.

Nothing in my life seems
to have taken a long time

once I started to be successful.

It was like a nuclear
bomb going off.

We did so much work.

We did tours, we did
so many albums a year.

We did radio shows, TV shows.

It was a lot of work,
but we loved it.

And the work was not
a problem for me.

Momentum and adrenaline
gives you so much.

And when you're on the crest
of a wave you go with it.

And because you were very
openly in love with John Reid

and in a relationship
with John Reid,

what was the industry
reaction to that like?

Were they kind of like,
"Uh-oh," or did they think,

"Well, if you keep quiet
about it, it'll be fine"?

Nobody ever wrote about it.

In fact, when I was
interviewed by Cliff Jahr

in Rolling Stone in 1976,

he said, "I'm gonna ask you
a question, but, if you want,

"I'll turn the
tape recorder off."

And I said, "I know what
you're gonna ask me."

And he asked me the
question, I said, "Yes."

I think I chickened out a
bit and said I was bisexual.

But I think everybody in
the industry knew I was gay.

I went to gay clubs.

I was friends with Divine.

John Reid was a legendary
gay guy in London.

When I first moved in with
John, people in London said,

"God, you might as
well put a neon sign

"on the top of
Buckingham Palace."

We were a very famous
gay couple at that time,

and it was a miracle nobody
wrote about it before.

And yet you were open
with your family.

I really like your, well,
you're coming-out story,

and you had to make a choice.

The night you were gonna
come out to your parents,

you had tickets--

To see Liberace, and I
didn't go, John went.

Which would would've
been like coming out,

-surely! [laughs]
-I know, but I didn't.

I just wanted to get
it over and done with,

and I called my mom and
the conversation, had that.

And, then, of course,
Liberace was. [chuckles]

It was the Palladium,

he was doing a concert at
the Palladium, he was going,

"Elton John, I know you're here!

"Stand up, put the lights on.

"Let's see where he is!"

And it's, like, I'm not there.

I was like, "Oh, my," and
John Reid came home and said,

"Oh, you left me in
the shit tonight!"

[Graham laughs]

But it was something I just
wanted to get out of my way.

And as much as I loved Liberace,
and I did love Liberace,

I just thought, "I'm
gonna stay home tonight

"and get this over
and done with."

But you did meet Liberace
later, didn't you?

Oh, I loved Liberace,
he was fantastic.

We did the Royal
Variety Show together.

And I had two fabulous
Lurex tail coat suits made.

I thought, "I'll show him.

"I'll show him."

And, so, I'm sitting
there and he comes in.

And, before he comes in,

there was trunk after trunk
after trunk of clothes.

[upbeat music]

[audience laughing]

Talk about blowing
me out of the water.

And he was so brilliantly funny,
and so sweet, and so nice.

And when he signed
his autograph,

it was in the shape
of a grand piano.

-That's classy. [laughs]
-It's fantastic.

And he played with rings on,

I can never play with
a ring on my finger.

And he and Fats Domino were
two people that always played

with a lot of rings on.

I can't do that.

But he did and I'm just,
"How did he do that?"

And was he a style influence?

Was he one of your
style influences?

Not at the time but, obviously,
people would always say,

"God, look, he's very Liberace."

Listen, I was stuck at a piano.

I wasn't Mick Jagger,
I wasn't Rod Stewart,

I wasn't David Bowie,
I wasn't Marc Bolan.

So, having had the freedom
to do what I wanted,

as far as clothes went,

I had to be a little bit more
spectacular in my costumes,

and I wanted to be.

Not that Bernie wanted me to be,

and a lot of people thought
it took away from the music

'cause the music was very
serious, and it was great music

but I was just having a ball.

And, so, I suppose there can
be a similarity drawn between

his flamboyance
and my flamboyance.

And, of course, the costumes
got more and more outrageous

as time went on.

I graduated to Bob
Mackie in the end.

And then it was full
pedal to the medal.

Tell us about your entrance
at the Hollywood Bowl.

'Cause you really
pushed the boat out.

Well, playing the Hollywood Bowl

was a huge moment in my career,
and we planned this before.

There was gonna be
five grand pianos,

mocked-up grand pianos,

and they would have E, L,
T, O, N when they opened up.

There were doves inside.

And I thought it'd be great
to have Linda Lovelace

introduce me.

-Your mother's friend.
-My mother's friend, yes.

[laughs] "A great
coach," as they say!

[Graham laughing]

And, so, my friend Tony King,
he introduced Linda Lovelace.

And then I came in with this
huge marabou feather outfit

down the stairs,
it was very camp.

[fanfare music]

[audience cheering]

And, then, of course,
the doves, by that time,

had all fallen asleep.

So, I remember John Reid going,

"Oh, my God, the
doves aren't ready!"

[Graham laughing]

And these poor doves were
shoved up into the air,

half asleep, they
woke up mid-air.

But it was a big
point in my career,

and it was the real start

of the flamboyant
shows that I did.

Looking back, are
there any outfits

you regret or any outfits
you particularly love?

I don't regret any
of them, actually.

There was some that
were too over the top.

But I remember an
Australian tour,

when I did the orchestral tour,

and I came out for the
second half of the orchestra,

dressed as Mozart, and the
first half with a punk wig

and, no, it was all
part of the process

of me finding out
who I was, basically!

Things make no sense.

I think it was in Central
Park, the Donald Duck outfit.

You'd never tried it on?

No, I didn't, I didn't
have a run through it.

So, I'm going off-stage

and I'm changing into
Donald Duck for the encore.

And Bob Halley,
who was very funny,

my personal assistant
at the time,

great sense of humour.

I put my arm through
the leg hole,

by which time we were
crying with laughter.

And, then, I finally
got the flippers on

and I sat down at the piano
and the bum was so big

that I couldn't really
sit at the piano properly.

And then I got up from the piano

to walk across the stage
and strut on my flippers.

It was a complete.

You know, it's one
of those things

you have to have a trial run.

I didn't, but it makes
the story even better

because we were
crying backstage.

Someone was going,
"Hurry up, hurry up,

"they'll all go away!"

There was 500,000 people there.

"They'll go away,
they'll go away!"

And the more we
tried to get it on,

the more I couldn't get it on.

And we were crying
with laughter, and
eventually I came out.

It was very, very funny.

I was panicking, but
laughing as well.

Now, in terms of your look,

one of the things that
is addressed in the film,

in a very funny
way, is your hair.

Was that a decision
to kind of go,

"Right, I'm going
to talk about this."

In the film, my mother says

that I'd be bald when I was 20.

Well, I wasn't quite bald by 20

but at more or less
30, it was going.

And I don't like being
bald, I look like Shrek,

and I don't like it.

So, I had hair transplants,
which didn't work.

That was in the
early Louis Pasteur

-version of hair transplants!
-[Graham laughs]

There was a tabloid
story, wasn't there,

that you put it upside down

-or something?
-Yes, yes, oh, my God.

And then that
didn't really work.

But I'm sure the drugs
didn't help them either.

And, so, I decided
to wear the wig.

First wigs I had were
so bad, I remember

the review when I came out for
the Freddie Mercury Concert

at Wembley, said I came out
with a dead squirrel on my head.

But, looking back on it,

it did look like a dead
squirrel, actually.

More like a dead mole.

And it's gotten
better over the years.

And I got teased a
lot, mercilessly in
the paper about it.

I'm very happy with it now.

It looks good, I'm
very happy with it on.

Yes, I am bald, but I
don't like being bald,

and, so, I wear a toupee.

You tell a story about you
thought there was a break-in.

-I think you were in Atlanta.
-Oh, my God.

I was in my
apartment in Atlanta.

And took my hair off
and put it by my bed.

And I fall asleep, and
suddenly I can hear noises.

And I went, "Oh, fuck,
I'm gonna be burgled."

So, I put the light on and I
rushed out into the corridor.

And as I was getting
in the corridor,

"Ah, I haven't got my hair on!"

So, I went back and I put it
on, and there was a water leak.

I mean, there's two maintenance
guys from downstairs.

But, then, when I got back,
and I went to the bathroom

and I looked at myself,
I put it on upside down,

or not upside down,
but back to front.

And I looked like Frankie Howard

on a really, really bad day.

So, God knows what
they must've thought

'cause I was just
wearing underpants

and a back to front wig.

And I thought, "Oh, my God."

So, yes, it's what it is.

[Graham] It's the first
thing you get in a fire.

-Yes.
-Yes.

Dolly Parton does
that don't she?

In every hotel, it's
right by there with her.

I pray to it every night, yeah.

-[Graham laughs]
-Oom, oom!

There are so many famous people

scattered through your story.

Are you nervous about any
of them reading this book?

A bit.

There's not many nasty stories.

I put the records straight.

Tina Turner and I had a falling
out at the VH1 Divas thing.

She went and did
"The Oprah Show"

and kind of bad-mouthed me and
said I was a spoiled child.

And, in fact, I wanted to
put the record straight

on what really happened.

I think, at the end of the
day, we were both culpable of,

you know, I shouldn't
have done what I did

but she drove me to it.

[laughs] So, it was her fault?

Billy Joel, who I love and
toured with three times,

fell asleep at the piano,

at Madison Square Garden
during "Piano Man".

[Graham] I learnt
more about Rod Stewart

in this book than I--

Oh, Rod Stewart and I were
always so much fun together.

We were rivals in the sense
that we were both happening

at the same time, he a
little bit before me.

And we've always had a great
sense of humour with each other.

We've always played practical
jokes on each other,

and we've always
had such a laugh.

I mean, I've had
more laughs with Rod

than anybody else, probably.

I'm not touring with
you dressed like that,

I can assure you.

-Why not?
-With that on?

I'm not going with that hat on.

Why not?

-look at you.
-I'll just stay in my--

Looks like Dusty
Springfield in a nightmare!

-[audience laughing]
-[audience applauding]

But it goes quite far.

The Earls Court blimp.

Well, he had a blimp
because he was playing

Earls Court for
about five nights,

which I wasn't happy about,

the fact that he was
playing for five nights.

And I was staying at
the Inn on the Park,

which is now the Four
Seasons in London.

I could see it
hanging in the sky.

So, I rang up John
Reid and said,

"Rod's got a blimp above Earls
Court, can we get it down?"

And I didn't say anything else
and he mysteriously got it,

I think, shot down.

[Graham laughing]

-Different times!
-The next time I looked.

The next day, it wasn't there.

So, I rang Rod up and
I said, "Oh, dear.

"Can you see your balloon,
your blimp from where you are?"

"Oh, yes, dear, I can,
isn't it fabulous?"

And he looked out the window
and he said, "You bastard."

[Graham laughing]

And, then, the next
year, I played Olympia,

and I had a big banner
right across the road,

where Olympia is.

And, I swear to God, it was
up for about 30 seconds,

and his road crew had it down.

It went up at two
o'clock in the morning,

it was down by two
o'clock and 30 seconds.

[Graham laughing]

Wonderful memories.

He and I have laughed
so much over the years.

He has a great sense of humour.

We've both got the
same sense of humour.

And, now, some people
who aren't still around.

I didn't realise you were
very close to John Lennon.

Yes, I met him when he was
just finishing his crazy phase

and going into his
laughing phase.

I mean, he'd just done
the "Rock 'N' Roll" album,

which was a very hard album for
him to do with Phil Spector.

And I think he had a lot
of issues at that point.

He was with May
Pang at the time,

he'd be broken off with Yoko.

And we more or less
hung out together

for a year and a
half, two years.

And he sang on my records,

I played on his, we did
a lot of drugs together,

but we had so many laughs.

Him and Rod Stewart
are the two people

I've probably laughed
with the most.

And Freddie Mercury.

There's very New York story

about you and him holed
up in a hotel room.

Oh, yeah, we were doing cocaine.

And it was like
1:30 in the morning

and there was a ring
on the doorbell.

And I thought, "Oh, who's this?"

So, it took me about 10
minutes to creep over

to the eye hole ad
look through the door.

It was at the
Sherry-Netherland hotel

and I went to him,
"Andy Warhol!"

And John said.

[Graham laughs]

And, so, we didn't
answer the door.

And I said, "Why didn't you
wanna let Andy in?" he said,

"He's always got a
bloody camera with him."

He said, "Nothing's safe,
nothing's private with Andy."

So, I thought, "God, he
wouldn't let Andy Warhol in."

But that's because we
were high as a kite.

Now, you talk about some
of the duets you've done,

in the book.

Obviously, George Michael,

"Don't Let the Sun
Go Down on Me".

That song you genuinely did
not like, you didn't rate.

When I wrote it for
the "Caribou" album

I didn't like it.

In fact, I told my
producer, Gus Dudgeon,

to send it to
Engelbert Humperdinck.

And if he didn't like it,

then to tell him
to send it to Lulu.

[Graham laughing]

And I remember playing
it to Rod in the car.

I was driving Rod into London.

We were going to
London together, and
I played it to him,

and it takes a long time
to get to the chorus.

He said, "Ballad, is it, dear?"

* Don't let the sun

* Go down on me

* Although I search myself

* It's always someone
else that I see, yeah *

* I'd just allow a
fragment of your life *

* To wander free, baby

* Oh

* Cause losing everything

* Is like the sun
going down on me *

Mr. Elton John!

"Bennie And The Jets" was
another one I didn't see,

and "Sacrifice".

Three songs that I
would never have put out

if I'd have had the choice.

And "Don't Go Breaking My
Heart", obviously, you wrote.

You came up with the
title for that one.

I did, I was in Barbados.

I was on holiday in Barbados.

And Bernie was in
Toronto doing an album.

And I rang him up.

I said, "I've got this."

Played him the melody
over the phone.

And then I said,
"I've got this line,

'Don't go breaking my heart.'"

And that was it.

And then he wrote it,
and then he came down

to join us in
Barbados on holiday.

And I wrote the song there.

And you wrote it for Kiki Dee?

I wrote it for Kiki, yeah.

[upbeat groovy music]

* Woo hoo

* Nobody knows it

* But when I was down

* I was your clown

* And right from the start

* I gave you my heart

* Whoa, oh

* I gave you my heart

And then there was
an alternative,

which I think was called
"I'm Always on the Bonk"?

The B-side was "I'm
Always on the Bonk".

[Elton speaks in
foreign language]

"I don't know where I'm going,
don't know who I'm blowing.

"I'm always on the bonk."

And, of course, that
was a big. [chuckles]

[laughs] It's not too late to
include it in the new show!

I think it could've been
the A-side, actually.

I think "Don't Go
Breaking My Heart"

has fallen by the wayside
for "I'm Always On The Bonk".

And, so, of course, we
got our knuckles slapped

by the record label and we
called it the "Snow Queen"

in the end, but it's really
"I'm Always On The Bonk".

[Graham] Elton's already
extensive song book

expanded even
further in the 1980s.

* Blue eyes

* Baby's got blue eyes

* Oh, Nikita is the other side

* Of any given light in time

* And I guess that's why
they call it the blues *

* Time on my hands could
be time spent with you *

* And I guess that's why
they call it the blues *

[Graham] He also added a
further 11 studio albums

to his back catalogue,

including "Too Low for
Zero", "Ice on Fire",

and the multi-platinum
"Sleeping with the Past".

* Another passenger

[Graham] But it wasn't
just hits he was scoring.

* Wanna to get on

[Graham] Along with
manager, Graham Taylor,

he took his football
club, Watford FC,

from the fourth to
the First Division,

including a place in
the 1984 FA Cup Final.

* Wanna get on

There's only ever been
one club in my heart

and I would never get so
involved with anything

unless it was Watford.

[upbeat music]

[Graham] But the
highs of the '80s

weren't without the lows.

* Turn on those sad songs

[Graham] Elton's career
came under threat

from cysts on his vocal cords.

My whole life was
in such a crisis.

I had no voice, and I was
physically tired and emotional.

* Sad songs say so much

* Ooh, la, la

[Graham] A surprise
wedding hit the headlines

* I wanna kiss the bride, yeah

[Graham] And the divorce courts.

And his drug and
drink addictions

were spiralling out of control.

Is it 29 years you've
been sober now?

It is, yeah.

29 years, congratulations.

And the bad stuff was
about 16 years of you--

-Doing stuff.
-Doing a lot

of coke and other things.

Not all the time but,
yeah, generally 16 years.

And it's funny, you know,
here we are in Nice,

and it's the scene of,
I suppose like a lot of,

I don't know if you would
call them good stories,

good drug-use stories, it's a
story that's been told to you.

The night with
Duran Duran in Nice.

Oh, I was doing the "I'm
Still Standing" video.

Yeah.

And I'd been up since
about 4:30 in the morning.

I shot a lot in Cannes, and
then we came back to Nice

to film at The Negresco

for the last evening shots
and the inside shots.

I'm totally knackered.

And I meet Duran
Duran in the bar,

and I haven't really
met them before.

And they said, "Have
you ever had a martini?"

I said, "No," I
said, "I'm so tired."

Said, "I have a martini."

So, I had one, then another
one, then another one.

Then, I had a line of coke,

and then I don't
remember anything else.

I woke up the next morning.

I went into Bob Halley's room,

and it was just sticks
of furniture left.

And je had this
fabulous cowboy hat

which was flat as a pizza.

[Graham chuckles]

And, apparently, I just
lost it and had John Reid,

who was wearing a clown
outfit and make-up,

and I had a big fight with John.

He left, took my car,
and drove to Calais

in the clown's outfit
with the make-up on.

Got on the ferry, he got to
Dover, and then it broke down.

So, he's standing by the
whatever it is, phoning me up,

"I fucking can't." [mumbling]

[Graham laughing]

And, yes, that was from
the start of my martini,

and that became one of my
favourite drinks, unfortunately.

It was like rocket
fuel for rocket man.

And I used to have
six very quickly.

Six in half an hour.

I mean, I'm a drinker.

That's insane!

It is insane, yes.

Are you just built to withstand

-a lot of alcohol?
-I suppose so, I don't know.

But I enjoyed the
feeling it gave me.

But, of course, I couldn't
then remember what I'd said

the night before.

And that led to a lot of, it's
called a blackout, I think.

But Bernie would ring me up
and say, "Did you not remember

"what you said to
John Reid's mom?"

I said, "No."

I was like, "Oh, there she is

"with the same old
bloody hairdo!"

And it was like,
it was not good.

It was bad behaviour,
terrible behaviour.

-But it didn't stop me.
-No.

No, that's the bad
thing about it.

So, there was that
side of addiction,

but also with money,
your shopping addiction.

Well, that's never gone.

I wasn't gonna say anything,
but, yeah. [laughs]

You know, as a kid,

because my parents
argued all the time,

I used to run to my room

and play with my
toys and my records.

And I kept them in pristine
condition and because,

I know it sounds crazy,
but I found solace

in inanimate objects.

Because they couldn't hurt me.

So, I've always loved
collecting things.

And, as soon as
I made any money,

I started collecting Art
Nouveau, and Art Deco,

and I learnt about art
through collecting.

I'm just inquisitive by nature.

I'm a legitimate kleptomaniac.

I'm looking around.

Do you ever go to a shop and
go, "I'll have one of those"?

Well, yeah, when it comes
down to a painting, yes.

Okay!

But when it comes down

to buying a pair of
socks, probably not.

"I like that and I'll
have one in each colour."

[Graham] The range.

No, I'm not very good at that.

So, I multiple buy.

So, you were going through
this time in your life

where the drugs
are out of control,

and then The Sun decided to
have this vendetta against you.

Yeah.

Do you still to this day
know why that started?

[puffing] The story was
I'd flown by helicopter

to Billy Gaff, Rod
Stewart's manager's house

and given cocaine
to underage boys.

Rent boys, I think.

And I've never been
to Billy Gaff's house.

I've never flown in a helicopter

to Billy Gaff's house.

But they pursued and as
soon as I saw that story

I issued a writ.

And then it became a vendetta

with writs going
backwards and forwards.

And my auntie used to
work in a newspaper shop.

So, she got the brunt of it.

And it was pretty distressing.

And, in the end, Michael
Parkinson rang me up and said,

"Listen, you're not
saying anything.

"It looks as if you're guilty.

"You have to come,
I've got a talk show."

He was my friend and he said,
"Come and talk about it."

Oh, this summer, it's
like a horror story,

hasn't it been, the
last five months?

Unbelievable.

I can't really figure it out.

It has been the
worst five months

I've ever had to endure
but it can only get better.

It can't get any worse.

And then it became
a year and a half.

They followed me around the
world, they had my suite

at the Century
Plaza Hotel bugged,

which was Ronald Reagan's suite.

So, we had to have
the CIA, the FBI.

"Elton's Silent Assassins,"
was one of the headlines.

That I'd taken the voice box
from my German Shepherd dogs

so that no-one can hear them
coming when they were attacked.

And I wouldn't give in.

I was lucky enough to be
affluent enough to fight them.

And I will fight,
if I had nothing,

I would sell my last thing

because of the
injustice of it all.

And, eventually,
they buckled down.

I got the front-page apology,
"Sorry, Elton, we were wrong."

I got a huge sum of money,

which was a lot of
money in those days,

but, if I'd have sued
them, I would've got more

but I didn't want the
court process to go on.

I was just happy enough to
get the front-page apology.

And do you feel safe now

or do you feel like the press
could turn on you at any time?

They always turn on you.

But, you know, it is what it is.

Sometimes, they love you,
sometimes, they don't like you.

And we have an okay
relationship with the press.

But they know that if
they do write anything

or they do say something
that's untoward

that they'll get a rap
around the knuckles

'cause I won't stand for it.

Just going back, briefly.

The 16 years of excess,
why did they end?

-Was there a point?
-Yeah.

I mean, not only was
I was a drug addict,

I was an alcoholic.

I used to sit and
drink a bottle of

Johnny Walker Black every day.

I used to smoke reefers, joints.

And I was bulimic.

So, I'd go to sleep
for three days.

I hadn't eaten, then I'd
get up and gorge myself

and then throw it all up.

It was a very lonely existence.

And I just suddenly thought,

"Am I gonna die or
am I gonna live?

"What do you wanna do?"

And at the end of the day,

when you use drugs for
that amount of time,

they don't have the same effect.

You just take them
for the sake of it.

They're not making you happier,
they're making you worse.

And I just sat there
one night and said,

"This is ridiculous.

I couldn't ask for help.

People had told me time and
time again that I needed help.

All my closest friends.

I screamed and shouted at
them, "How dare you tell me?"

I wouldn't talk to
them for a year or so.

And at the end of the
day, I'd had enough.

And I asked for
help, and I got help.

And I went to a place in Chicago

which treated all
three diseases,

alcoholism, drug
addiction, and bulimia,

all at the same time.

Stayed there for six weeks,

came home to England, had great
aftercare, took a year off,

did all the things
I was meant to do.

Spent a long time working as
hard as I did getting sober

as I did to being an addict.

And group therapy.

I mean, just the
idea of Elton John

walking into group therapy

in some treatment
centre in Chicago.

I mean, you must have
caused a sensation?

Nobody treated me
as Elton John, star.

Once you start talking
about your life

and you listen to
other people's stories.

For example, I always thought

that I was the only person in
the world that did what I did.

And then when you hear other
people say, "Oh, I did this,"

and you think, "Oh, my
God, I'm not the only one."

'Cause you sit there sometimes
and you blame yourself,

thinking, "I am really the
worst person in the world

"because I'm doing this."

And so many other people
are doing the same thing.

So, I wasn't intimidated.

Once I had the knowledge
that I was gonna get well,

I went for it.

I went for it because it
was so much better than,

waking up at 6:30
in the morning,

getting a dog from the
Battersea Dogs Home,

taking it for a walk,
going to a meeting at 7:30.

I was so glad to be alive
instead of shutting the curtains

and shutting the day out.

My whole life just
changed round completely.

It's interesting,

whenever I've ever
been at an AA meeting,

people tell their stories

and it's as if they're
talking about an ex,

or a toxic relationship.

And you actually do
that in the book,

you write a letter to cocaine.

I was told to write
a lot of things.

And I thought,
"Where do I start?

"I can't.

"Where do I start?"

"How do I start writing about
all the things I've done?"

And then I started to
write 'cause I had to.

And it was just the most
brilliant thing that

they made me do, because
it was cathartic.

I was like having an enema with
a pen, and it all came out.

And then the farewell letter
to the cocaine was my idea.

I treated it as a love
affair with someone,

and it's printed in the book.

And it's one of the few things
I've ever written seriously.

And I'm very proud of
that letter, because--

It's very moving.

-It's a very moving letter.
-It's very moving.

And I treated the drug
in the third person.

I treated it as a person.

And I said, "We can't
ever meet again.

"I love you very much, but
it's the end of a love affair."

Now a post-rehab phrase I
haven't heard before this was,

the hole in the doughnut.

People leave and they
have a gap in their life.

The hole in the doughnut,

it means you have to fill
yourself spiritually.

I didn't believe in anything
when I went into rehab.

I didn't believe in God.

I didn't believe
anything like that.

I didn't believe
in a higher power.

I was, spiritually,
completely bankrupt.

As I got sober, took
me a year or two

to know what the hole
in the doughnut was.

It was fulfilling
and giving back.

Giving back, making
yourself feel fulfilled.

I started the Elton John AIDS
Foundation in 1992 in Atlanta

at my table in the kitchen.

The first year was spent
making sure I didn't relapse

and doing what I was told.

The second year was like, "What
do I do with my life now?"

And, then, it all came to me.

And that was my
hole in the doughnut

was to start the Elton
John AIDS Foundation.

And that's been an
extraordinary success.

We've given over
$450 million away

from a very small operation.

And when we started
the AIDS Foundation,

there were lots of AIDS
foundations all over the world.

Now, there's hardly any and
we've all worked together.

I thought I'd been so
lucky to not get HIV.

I was so lucky, being a gay
man, not to die of this disease.

Seeing so many of
my friends die,

that I wanted to do something
proper and not waste money.

I'd seen so many people
form foundations,

put on galas and
not make a penny,

and I said, "I'm
not doing that."

Everything will be underwritten.

All the money we
raise at the event

will go to the
people who need it.

And that's been my mantra,
and our mantra ever since.

And we've stuck to it.

* Are You Ready

[Graham] Elton's commitment

to raising money
for AIDS research

was rewarded in 1998 with
a knighthood for services

to charity and to music.

* For love

* Yes, I am

[Graham] The fourth
decade of his career,

the 1990s, saw no sign
of Elton slowing down.

The single, "Sacrifice",
saw him score his very first

solo UK number one.

* But it's no sacrifice

* No sacrifice

* It's no sacrifice at all

[Graham] But the '90s were
also marred by sadness.

Just six weeks after the
murder of his friend,

Gianni Versace, his close
friend Diana Princess of Wales,

also died.

* Your candle burned out long
before your legend ever did *

[Graham] The song,
"Candle in the Wind",

became the biggest-selling
single of the decade.

Elton also hit the headlines
with a very public bankruptcy.

[News Reporter] In 20
months, he managed to blow

40 million pounds, including
300,000 pounds on flowers.

[Graham] It would
take a residency

at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas
to help pay off his debts.

* She's got electric boots

* A mohair suit

* I read it in a magazine

* Oh, Bennie And The Jets

-[audience applauding]
-[audience cheering]

[Graham] Undeterred,
Elton found movies

and musicals beckoning.

* In the circle of life

[Graham] Writing the
scores for the stage

and screen versions
of "The Lion King".

The original film
has since taken

over $960 million worldwide.

* And can you feel
the love tonight *

[Graham] And the musical
has been running on Broadway

for 22 years.

* To rest

* It's enough to make
kings and vagabonds *

* Believe the very best

[Graham] This success later
led to further musicals

with "Aida" and "Billy Elliot".

-[audience applauding]
-[audience cheering]

* And I can't explain

[Graham] Elton also finally
found success in love.

* Something about the way

[Graham] His life
further changed

thanks to an introduction

to Canadian film-maker,
David Furnish.

* Oh, takes my breath away

Let's talk about your life now.

-Happily married to David.
-Yeah.

And, yet, there are bits,

at the beginning of
your relationship,

where I'm thinking,
"That guy should run!"

Like [laughs] the night you
were going to introduce him

-to your family.
-Right.

And you invited
someone else to dinner.

Well, it was a lunch

and my mother was gonna meet
David for the first time.

And it was at Woodside

and it was like 10
o'clock in the morning.

My mother was coming
down for lunch.

And that's a daunting
prospect for anyone,

especially the person
you're living with

and you're in love with.

Then there was a message
on my answer machine

from a counsellor,
who was counselling
me at the time saying,

"Well, I'm coming over for
lunch with Michael Jackson."

So I though, "Ah!"

So, David was like, "Oh, my God,

"I've got to meet your mother

"and Michael Jackson
on the same day?

"I don't know if I
can cope with that."

And we had our lunch with
Michael and my mother,

and the curtains were closed.

It was very bizarre.

My mom was saying, "You need
a bloody good meal, you do."

[both laughing]

"You need to bloody
eat something."

And it was a very sad
occasion, in a way.

He looked terrible.

I'd known Michael
since he was 13.

And looking at him as a
physical specimen then

as to was, he was this
beautiful, little boy.

But poor David.

Yeah, it was traumatic for him.

It was traumatic for me,

having David meet my
mom and Michael Jackson.

But, yeah,

well, in for a penny, in
for a pound, as they say.

Yeah, it was a distraction.

-Yeah, yeah, distraction.
-[Graham Laughs]

Yeah.

[Graham] And now the family.

You're now a dad, two,
adorable, little boys.

[Elton] Yeah.

You, for a long time, didn't
see children in your future.

Never in a million years.

There's a list in the
book of all the reasons

why you didn't want children.

I was too selfish.

Didn't want them to
get in the way of me

cavorting around the
world and doing something.

But, when you meet someone like
David, my attitudes changed.

But it wouldn't have happened

if we hadn't gone to the Ukraine

on an AIDS Foundation
visit to an orphanage.

And we went, and this
little boy called Lev

gravitated towards me.

I held him in my arms
for an hour and a half

and he had a brother
called Artemis.

And we did a press
conference at the end.

And one of the questions was,

"You seem very fond of this
kid, he seems very fond of you.

"Would you ever think
of adopting children?"

And I went, "You know what?

"This little boy is so great,
I'd love to adopt him."

And, of course, within
two nanoseconds,

it was on the front
page of every newspaper,

on every website.

And we tried to adopt
him and his brother.

But, unfortunately, the rules

in the Ukraine
were very archaic.

Gay people were not
allowed to adopt kids.

I was too old.

And, also, the press, in
their lovely, nice way.

You know, his mother was in
prison, his dad was in prison.

They brought his mother to
the orphanage to see him,

which meant that
the clock went back.

Whenever a relative like your
mother or father comes back.

When you get to a year,
you're up for adoption.

So, the clock went back to zero,

thanks to the English press.

[Graham] But there
is a nice follow-up,

-you've seen them since.
-But the thing is,

we couldn't adopt him,
and we got him out

and we got him to his
grandmother, both of them.

And it's a happy ending,
because I saw them last year.

I saw them in the Ukraine
and it was wonderful.

And they're both
doing beautifully.

They remind me of our children.

But when we got them out
the orphanage, David said,

"Well, what do you wanna
do about children?"

I said, "You know what?

"I always said no to children."

I said, "But this
is my higher power,

"or God, telling me something
that this is nonsense.

"This boy gave me so much
joy in an hour and a half."

I said, "I can be a dad,
I'd like to be a dad."

So, we went the surrogacy route,

everything fell in place for us.

We got the best people.

The dominoes fell straight away.

We had Zachary, and
then we had Elijah.

And that was the greatest
decision that I ever made,

apart from meeting
David and getting sober,

was to have kids,

because, now, I've never felt
so much love for anything.

And they give us
so much love back.

And then, it's the
reason, hopefully,

that I can spend the
latter part of my life

being around them and not
gallivanting on the road.

Originally, I was
gonna die on stage.

Now I don't want to, I
wanna be with my kids.

And, actually, how are you?

Because you were iller than
I think any of us knew.

You had cancer, which
I don't think we knew.

-Nobody knows that.
-Yeah.

I had prostate cancer.

With horrible complications.

Yeah, and I got rid
of the complications.

Actually, it was so funny,
because I was on stage in Vegas,

and, about two weeks
after the operation,

I was in a lot of pain

because I had fluid
build-up under my colon.

It was excruciatingly painful.

And, so, I was literally
in tears backstage.

And I thought, "If I go
back to the hotel suite,

"I'm gonna just think about it.

"I might as well go
on and do the show."

So, I did the show, and I'm
walking across the stage,

and, of course,
you're wearing nappies

because it was very shortly
after the operation.

And I'm waving to the
crowd and they're cheering

and they're waving
back, and I thought

"If only they knew, at
this very particular minute

"that I am pissing myself,

"they wouldn't be
so enthusiastic."

[Graham laughs]

And then I got rid of that pain.

I had a procedure
which got rid of it.

And, then, I went to
South America and I
played in Santiago,

and I came home, my last
show in South America,

and I got to London
and I was very ill,

and I was rushed into
hospital, into intensive care.

I picked up an awful
bug from somewhere

and I was about 24
hours from snuffing it,

and we didn't tell people
that was going on at the time.

So, I had an annus
horribilis, as they say,

at the beginning of that
year for half the year.

I literally had to
learn how to walk again.

I was extremely sick.

And all I wanted to do as I
was lying in my hospital bed,

"Please, don't let me die.

"I wanna see my
children grow up."

And, luckily, I survived it.

I still did 90 shows
that year, by the way.

And now I'm fine,
I'm really good.

But there's very
few bits of me left.

There's no hair,
there's a pacemaker,

there's no tonsils,
there's no prostate,

there's no appendix.

I've had kidney stones.

I'm like the Bionic Woman.

-It's so slimming. [laughs]
-I know.

I'm like Lindsay
Wagner or Steve Austin,

whichever one you wanna call it.

You know, we're so
gender fluid now.

Why just settle on Steve Austin?

But now things like
that are life-changing

and having children
is life-changing.

So, you're changing your life.

You're in the middle of the
tour, sort of 2/3 of the way

-through the big farewell.
-I'm 1/3 of the way through.

-Only 1/3?
-Yeah.

I've got two years to do.

-Wow.
-Yeah.

Yeah, 'cause I went
to book in London

-and I realised it was 2020.
-2020, yeah.

-It's not this Christmas.
-No, not this year.

-No, no.
-Whoa, back off!

-Back off.
-[Graham laughs]

So, when that finishes,

what is life going
to look like for you?

Oh, I don't know.

I don't wanna go
anywhere for a long time.

I don't know, who can say?

You know, it takes an awful
long time to chill out

after you've done something.

You must know that, when
you've finished your series.

It's hard to wind down

because you've got so
much adrenaline going.

I have a couple of
musicals written.

I would like to make a record,

but I'd like to take
a whole year off

and just spend it
with my family.

And one of the
things that's coming

is "The Devil Wears Prada".

Is that really happening?

Oh, yeah, it's written.

All done?

No, well, it's written

and probably other
things to write for it,

because when you
write for a musical,

some things don't make it.

When I wrote for "Billy Elliot",

two of the best songs in
the musical didn't make it

'cause the plot changes,

and it's too long, and you
have to make sacrifices.

And I don't mind that.

I'm very, very happy with it.

It's some of the best
things I've done.

And David is in pretty
much control of that,

but that's very exciting.

Hopefully, it will
go to Broadway

maybe next year
or the year after.

But I'm very excited about it.

And what's gonna happen
to you, the performer?

I don't know, Graham.

'Cause that doesn't go away.

No, I would like to do,
eventually, as I said,

I would like to do a residency,

like Kate Bush did
at Hammersmith Odeon,

-which was wonderful.
-Amazing.

When I do that kind of thing

I will not be
doing all the hits,

and I will tell
people beforehand.

There is so much stuff that I
haven't done onstage before,

or enough, that I want to do.

I will have had enough of
playing "Crocodile Rock",

and enough of doing
"Bennie And The Jets",

and stuff like that.

I would like to give my
other repertoire a go,

and still do some of
the well-known songs,

but the ones that I'm
not so fed up with.

A residency appeals to me.

I don't know if I
can go back to Vegas,

because it means being
away from the children.

-Yeah.
-But if I'm in England

or in Paris, I'm nearer home.

-You're there.
-Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, long may you continue.

Sir Elton John, thank you so
much for sharing your time

-and your life.
-Thank you.

* I'm still standing
better than I ever did *

* Looking like a true survivor,
feeling like a little kid *

* I'm still standing
after all this time *

* Picking up the pieces of my
life without you on my mind *

* I'm still standing,
yeah, yeah, yeah *

* I'm still standing,
yeah, yeah, yeah *