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[Alexis]
It's a real pleasure to,

obviously-- I have gotta say,

it's a real pleasure
to talk to you.

It's not a difficult thing
at all.

[Elton] I regard you
as a great friend, and it's like...

[Alexis] It doesn't feel
like an interview,

though I am sitting here
with a pad and pen, you know?

[Elton] ...one
of my best friends, right?

- And that's how it should be.
- [Alexis] Brilliant.

- [Elton] That's fantastic.
- [Alexis] Thank you so much.

[Elton] You're kidding me.
No. Thank you.

[Alexis] Okay.

[Elton] Right.
Where are we now, my love?

[Alexis] We are, um, '70s today.

[crowd chanting] Elton! Elton!
Elton! Elton! Elton!

[♪ pop music playing, Elton John
"Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"]

[crowd cheering]

♪ It's getting late
Have you seen my mates? ♪

♪ Ma, tell me
when the boys get here ♪

♪ It's seven o'clock
and I wanna rock ♪

♪ Wanna get
a belly full of beer ♪

♪ My old man's drunker
than a barrel full of monkeys ♪

♪ And my old lady
she don't care ♪

♪ My sister looks cute
in her braces and boots ♪

♪ A handful of grease
in her hair ♪

♪ Oh, don't give us none
of your aggravation ♪

♪ We had it
with your discipline ♪

♪ Oh, Saturday night's all right
for fighting ♪

♪ Get a little action in ♪

♪ Get about as oiled
as a diesel train ♪

♪ Gonna set this dance alight ♪

♪ 'Cause Saturday night's
the night I like ♪

♪ Saturday night's all right
all right, all right ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

[♪ song fades]

[Alexis] Let's talk about
this period in the mid-70s.

You're the most famous popstar
in the world.

There's been an ascent,
an ascent, and ascent

- and ascent...
- [Elton] Yeah.

...and it reached its pinnacle
at the Dodger Stadium.

[Elton] The biggest gig
of my life.

I knew it couldn't get
any bigger.

♪ I was justified
when I was five... ♪

[reporter 1 chuckles]
Once-in-a-lifetime concert event,

Elton John live...

[reporter 2]
Tickets are sold out,

as Elton John is set
to play at Dodger Stadium

in front of 110,000.

[reporter 3]
Elton making history once again.

No solo artist has ever put on
a live stadium show.

[Elton] I was nervous
about Dodger Stadium.

I've never played
to that many people before.

♪ ...that's all right ♪

♪ I even like steak
on a Saturday night... ♪

Bob Mackie, who makes
all of Elton's clothes,

made this one out.

Just like a Dodgers suit,
only it's all...

- sequined up.
- [interviewer] Quite fitting.

[woman] Yeah.
And then he's got this hat.

[interviewer] I quite like that.

♪ ...I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch
oh, the bitch is back ♪

♪ Stone cold sober... ♪

[Elton] I've always been able
to pull off the big occasions,

but it's a big occasion,
so you get worked up about it.

♪ ...better than you ♪

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

[Elton] Everyone thought
my life was so perfect.

[Alexis] You can see,
you're... you're really charming

and you're funny
and all that kind of thing.

But you can see
there's something

there's--
You look quite out of it.

[Elton] Yeah.

There was an emptiness
within me.

I could have great fun,

but when I went home at night,
it didn't really satisfy me.

The only thing in my life
at that point was work.

I couldn't have anything apart
from my success and my drugs.

My soul had gone dark.
I had gone dark.

I wasn't a joy to be around.

I desperately didn't want to be
the Elton that I had become.

I wanted to be the person
that I was before that.

[♪ anthemic piano ballad
playing, Elton John "Curtains"]

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

[♪ song fades]

[♪ gentle piano music playing,
Elton John "Levon"]

♪ Levon wears his war wound
like a crown ♪

♪ Calls his child Jesus... ♪

[♪ song fades]

The Queen isn't waving,
by the way.

Should she be?

No. She should be, yeah.

[makeup artist]
All right. There you go.

[chuckles]

I wonder what's gonna happen
to all this stuff when I finish.

- [makeup artist] I know, right?
- Well...

This is the latter time
in my life.

I don't know how much time
I have left.

And you think about that more
when you get to my age,

you think about, um,
life and, uh...

and death.
And you think, well...

I just want to be
where I want to be now.

I don't have to work
after this tour.

I don't wanna do anything.

I'll be working doing records
and putting radio shows together

and doing other things,
but travelling takes it

so much out of you.
Um... It's very tiring.

I'm used to it,
and I'm a veteran at it.

And I'd--
You know, I'm enjoying it

so far on this tour,
which is good.

But this is where you start
to think about mortality.

[Alexis] And kids make
you think about mortality too.

- I find.
- [Elton] Yeah.

- [Alexis] Right?
- [Elton] Yeah.

They think about my mortality.

They worry about my mortality,

because they know how old I am.
Not so much David but me.

Yeah, they love their daddy,

so they want me
to be around forever.

Um... And I would love
to be around forever.

I wanna see them have children
and get married

and-- But I don't think
I'm gonna be around for that.

Who knows? You never know.

Um, so that's why
I wanna weigh the best time,

best... best of my time
while I'm around for them

Time together is so wonderful
and so precious.

[Alexis]
Let's just sort of begin

at the beginning,
with your childhood.

[crowd applauding]

[host] Winifred Atwell.

- Of course it is.
- [crowd cheering]

[♪ jazz piano music playing]

[Elton] As a child,
I used to watch

Winifred Atwell on television.

She just was my hero,
and she had two pianos.

She would play grand piano,

and that she would say,
"I'm going over to my other piano now,"

which was an upright
honky-tonk piano.

It's your own piano.

Your special one, what are
you gonna play first on that?

Well, I thought the kids
would like Poor People Paris.

[Elton] I loved her.
She loved what she did.

And I think,
I took a lot of that with me

when I became Elton John.

She was my first big influence,
without question.

I remember starting to play
the piano when I was very young.

We had an upright piano
at the house.

My father and mother,

I don't know if they were ever
in love with each other.

There were lots of arguments.

Both of them,
I was frightened of.

They were abusive.
They were violent.

They were physically violent.

- I used to walk on eggshells...
- [Alexis] Yeah.

...in case I did anything wrong.

My mother,
when I was a year old,

she beat me till I bled
with a wire brush

to make me potty trained.

My dad,
when I was playing football

and the ball went on the garden
instead of on the grass,

there was hell to pay.

My mom said,
"It never did you any harm,"

and I said,
"God, you have no idea."

To be reprimanded,

walloped on the street
in front of people,

it stays with you.

My whole childhood
was full of fear.

I was Reg.
I hadn't become Elton.

I hated being called Reg
so much.

I always hated the name.

[indistinct argument]

I spend a lot
of my time in fantasy land

while my parents were arguing.

I cherish the things that I had.

[Alexis] You have
this record collection.

[Elton] Yeah.

It was a pristine
record collection.

Initially 78s,
then of course 45s.

I used to hold them,
caress them.

Look at them, study them.

Playing the piano,
I got approval.

That was my way of getting
into the good books.

If I heard something
on the radio,

I could go to the piano
and play it verbatim.

It gave me a sense of pride.

Social occasions
or such was like,

I was kind of wheeled out.
People loved it.

Um, I went to the Royal Academy

from the age of 11 to 15
every Saturday morning.

I really enjoyed playing Mozart,
and Bach, and Beethoven,

all the melodic stuff.

When it got to things
like Bartók,

I didn't know whether I was playing
the wrong thing or the right thing.

I just couldn't tell.

I didn't have the hands for it.

I didn't have
the technical ability

to be a classical pianist.

I wanted to play
a different kind of music.

[♪ rock music playing, Elton John
"Rock and Roll Madonna"]

♪ If anyone should see me
making it down the highway ♪

♪ Breaking all the laws
of the land... ♪

[Elton] I was 15
and started playing in the pub.

I used to get a pound a night.

I saved up, and I got
a microphone and an amplifier.

♪ Well, that's my rock and roll
Madonna... ♪

[Elton] My father
hated rock 'n' roll.

- Hated it.
- [Alexis chuckling]

[Elton] You cannot be involved
with-- Look at this.

You know, the way they dress,
the way they act.

He instilled in me,

the desire to prove that
rock 'n' roll wasn't a shit.

♪ But the freeway
is the only way she knows ♪

[Alexis] And you went down
well in this environment?

- I mean, you--
- [Elton] Yeah. Like a storm.

I mean, if you can play there,
you can play anywhere.

[♪ jazz music playing,
Bluesology "Come Back Baby"]

♪ Come back, baby ♪

♪ Come back to me, yeah... ♪

[Elton] I was beginning
to get a band together.

We did a tour
with the Ink Spots.

We backed them.

The Drifters, the Temptations,
Patti LaBelle.

It was a great learning curve.

My life was all consumed
by music. It was my sex.

All I cared about was playing.

[Alexis] When you changed
your name, did that change you?

[Elton] Yes, without question.
Kind of shedding my skin.

It made me feel
as if I could make it.

Reg was never gonna make it.

"Here he is, Reg Dwight."
Like, boring!

- [Alexis laughs]
- [Elton] But Elton John?

- [Alexis] Yeah.
- [Elton] That's different.

I just wanted
to become a songwriter.

And that's when I went
and answered

- the Liberty advert.
- [Alexis] Sure.

[Elton] That advert, I thought,
"Wow, songwriters wanted."

"Well, maybe I can--
I've written two songs,

"but they-- the lyrics
weren't very good.

"But maybe I can get
a lyric writer."

- [traffic whizzing]
- [indistinct chatter]

[Elton] I cannot believe
I had the courage to answer it.

But I did. And I did it
without telling anybody.

And I was shaking
when I went into the office.

[telephone ringing]

[Elton] I said, "I've written
my lyrics and I don't like it.

"They're not very good,
but I love writing melodies."

It ended up by him giving me
an envelope

with Bernie's lyrics.

He hadn't even
looked at the lyrics.

[Alexis] Right.

- [Elton] It boggles the mind.
- [Alexis] It really does.

[Elton] My life wouldn't be
the same. If I hadn't had that,

we wouldn't be sitting here
talking about it.

[Alexis] No, no, no,
absolutely not, no.

[Elton] It was the biggest piece
of serendipity

that I could possibly have.

Bernie was the-- He was the link
to what was gonna happen,

whatever was gonna happen.

[♪ soft piano music playing]

- [Elton] Hello, Olly.
- [Olly] Hey, Elton.

[Elton] Do you play guitar?

[Olly] No, I tried to learn
the guitar when I was younger.

- [Elton] It's so difficult.
- [Olly chuckles] I-- Yeah,

I couldn't get my head
around it.

[Elton] I just-- I just can't

- wrap my head around it.
- [Olly chuckles]

[Elton] Plus my hands
are so small.

I just can't...

[Olly] But that help-- I think that
helps you stylistically, though.

'Cause when your hands
bounce around the piano,

- it's mesmerizing.
- [Elton] Right.

Well, it's such
a different instrument,

it's such
a percussive instrument,

the piano rather
than the guitar.

It's-- You write simpler things
on a guitar,

- which I'd love to do.
- [Olly] Yeah.

The piano, because of the way
it's structured,

you write more
complicated chord structures.

- [Olly] Yeah, it's nice.
- Um, which I don't mind,

but it would be nice to be able
to play another instrument

so you can get another crack

- at writing in a different way.
- [Olly] Yeah.

Do you... Do you
write lyrics first and then--

I don't-- No,
I don't write lyrics at all.

- I just write to lyrics.
- [Olly] Just write to lyrics.

[Elton] Yeah. Soon as I see
the written word,

I can visualize the whole thing.

- [Olly] You can see it.
- [Elton] Like a film or a movie.

- Am I on?
- [Olly] Oh, yeah, you are.

[crowd cheering]

[Elton] My intuitiveness
about not being able

to write lyrics was right
on the money.

I wanted to be part of a team.

And I thought I need
to have someone to write with,

'cause I can't do it on my own.

[♪ Elton John "Thank You
for All Your Loving"]

♪ It was I on my own
with no need to belong ♪

♪ And I wanted to die
That's when you came along... ♪

[Elton] There was a magic
that happened

when I saw Bernie's lyrics,
that made me write the songs.

I knew that
I was getting somewhere.

I have to have the kickstart

and the inspiration
of the written word.

I'm hopeless without it.

Bernie was just
as enthusiastic as I was.

When I played him some
of the songs,

he loved them,
and we got on straight away.

I had someone to go
to films with,

to go to the pub with,

to lie on the floor
and listen to the records with.

I'd never really had
a best friend,

and it was really,
really great for me.

♪ It's hard to say what I feel
when I'm by your side ♪

♪ You're there when... ♪

[Elton] We just moved into the--
my bedroom in Pinner,

which was minuscule,
that had double bunk beds,

one on the top,
one on the bottom.

And one night, I told him
that I loved him...

when he was on the top bunk
and I was on the bottom bunk

at my parents' apartment.

And he said, "Well, I think
you should see a doctor."

But I never meant it physically.

I felt really rejected,

but I didn't have
the wherewithal

to tell him that it wasn't
that kind of love,

you know, I just--

And I did love him,
I loved him so much,

but it wasn't, you know,
I couldn't be without him

'cause he was my other half.

But I-- It wasn't sexual.

I was still very naive.
I didn't know I was gay.

I didn't know I was anything.
I hadn't had sex with anybody.

[Bernie] We had two,
I think two years

of where we didn't
really get anywhere.

We were more or less bludgeoned
into writing very commercial,

uh, ballads for à la Engelbert Humperdinck
and Tom Jones.

And it just wasn't
our sort of field, um...

We were asked to write those
sort of songs,

and at the time
we were very certainly novices

and we were green. And, um...

that's what we thought
we had to do to be successful

until, um...

certain people came along
and said, "Look, if you're going

"to be successful,
you should be writing

"the sort of material
that you enjoy writing."

Just remember that Steve Brown
joined as a pro--

new promotion man, as a plugger.

I'd heard him do
some other things

that he'd written more recently.

Things that he enjoyed doing
but hadn't recorded

because he didn't think
they were commercial.

And I suggested that he should
continue writing in that vein,

rather than just trying
to write top 20 hits.

So that's why we sort
of took a turn

and started writing
for ourselves.

[♪ soft music playing,
Elton John "Skyline Pigeon"]

♪ Turn me loose
from your hands ♪

♪ Let me fly to distant lands ♪

[Alexis] When you make
Empty Sky, it comes out

and very little kind of happens.

[Elton] Empty Sky paved the way
for the next set of songs,

which was so much more cohesive

and just a whole
different league.

Steve Brown produced
Empty Sky.

He said, "Right. Next album,
you need a good producer."

"What record do you like?"

And I said,
"Well, the best record

"I've heard is
David Bowie's 'Space Oddity.'"

"Whoever did that."

We had a meeting
with Gus Dudgeon

and Paul Buckmaster,

one of the most innovative
arrangers that ever was.

Gus and Paul
were just fantastic.

It was planned
to record it live.

Four sessions,
three songs a session,

like an army procedure,
that album,

live with the orchestra.

- The only thing I did on it I--
- [Alexis] Fucking hell.

[Elton]
Now I was shitting myself.

[Alexis]
I bet, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Elton] I had never played
with an orchestra before.

It was like the first experience
in my life that I really

had to step up to the plate
and make sure I did it.

The energy and the fact
that I had to play live

sparked something in me.

[♪ orchestral music playing,
Elton John "Take Me to the Pilot"]

♪ Through a glass eye
your throne ♪

♪ Is the one danger zone ♪

♪ Take me to the pilot
for control ♪

[♪ jazz piano music playing]

[Elton] Something magical
happened in those sessions.

Nobody had really recorded
an album of funky

kind of or... orchestral stuff

with that kind of
arrangement before.

[♪ upbeat music playing,
Elton John "The Cage"]

♪ Where you live
to be whipped and be tamed ♪

♪ For I've never loved
in a cage ♪

♪ Or talked to a friend
or just waved ♪

[♪ soft music playing,
Elton John "The King Must Die"]

♪ No man's a jester
playing Shakespeare ♪

♪ Round your throne room floor ♪

♪ While the juggler's act
is danced upon ♪

♪ The crown that you once wore ♪

[♪ upbeat music playing,
Elton John "Bad Side of the Moon"]

♪ I'm a light world away ♪

♪ From the people
who make me stay ♪

♪ Sitting on the bad side
of the moon ♪

[♪ mellow music playing]

[Elton] The magic
of Gus's production

and Paul Buckmaster's
revolutionary arrangement,

the beginning of the '60s,

when the strings are making
that funny noise,

- like a swarm of bees.
- [Alexis] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Elton] He turned
to the string players and said,

"I don't know how
to describe this."

But I want you to make
a sound the equivalent of...

- [vocalizing]
- [Alexis laughing]

[Elton] And that's
what they did. Wasn't written.

[♪ gentle harp music playing]

[Elton] We edited that
onto the beginning,

when the harp comes on.

- [Alexis] Sure, sure, sure.
- [Elton vocalizing]

I didn't realize it,

but it was all my years
at the academy,

learning classical, that came
through in the song writing.

It was the fruition
of everything I'd done,

since I'd left school,
had come together on that album.

[Alexis] Did you know
that you'd nailed it?

[Elton] Yeah.

[interviewer]
What was the big break then?

Uh, well, the thing
that really happened for us,

we sort of-- things
happened gradually

until we went to America
for the first time.

And we played
the Troubadour Club

in Los Angeles and--
Which held to 250 people.

[♪ rock music playing,
Elton John "Sixty Years On"]

♪ You've hung up your great coat
and you've laid down your gun ♪

♪ You know the war you fought
in wasn't too much fun ♪

♪ And the future you're giving me
holds nothing for a gun ♪

♪ I've no wish
to be living sixty years on ♪

[♪ song fades]

[♪ gentle music playing]

[young Elton] It's just happened
on the first night

and next day
we got incredible press reviews

and it just spread
across America

and the album went soaring up
into the charts.

I wasn't ready for it.

I mean, I thought
we might be quite successful

in America,
but never as successful as that.

This is our 329th episode
coming up.

- [Alexis] Come on.
- [David chuckles] Yes.

[David] You're ready to go?

Yeah.

[♪ upbeat music playing,
The Beaches "Let's Go"]

Hi, I'm Elton John.

This is my Rocket Hour
on Apple Music.

Here are The Beaches
and The Lights.

♪ I'm just a girl ♪

♪ Who used to loaf
at a Toronto art school ♪

- You just sneaked it in there.
- [laughs]

The Linda Linda's
are an all-girl punk group

from Los Angeles.
They are Lucia, age 15,

Eloise, 14, Bela, age 17,
and Mila, age 11.

- Hi.
- Hi.

Welcome to the Rocket Hour.
You are such great fun,

and we love you so much.

I just-- I'm blown away
by your talent

at such a young age.
It's quite remarkable.

And Mila is the drummer.

How old are you?

I'm 11.

And she is absolutely incredible
as are all the other girls.

But listen, I just think
you're amazing.

- [Lucia] Oh, thank you.
- [Eloise] Thank you.

[Lucia] We never expected
to be here talking to you,

but we're really excited
that we are, though.

[laughs]

We're gonna play your
new single, "Talking to Myself."

We hope you have a great day
at school.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you so much.

[Elton] Bye.

[♪ pop punk music playing
Linda Lindas "Talking to Myself"]

♪ When I talk to myself ♪

♪ I think about the things
that no one ever talks about ♪

♪ Like how life
just keeps on givin' ♪

♪ Despite all
my bad decisions... ♪

[both chuckle]

[Elton] I mean,
I am 64 years older

than the drummer
from the Linda Lindas.

[both laugh]

[Elton] Allison Ponthier

is an exciting singer
and songwriter

who I first started playing
on the Rocket Hour last year.

She's a pioneering
queer country star

and so let's give her
a call right now.

I don't like the word "queer."

- It's the...
- [Elton] It's what they--

- ...most politically correct.
- [Elton] Yeah? Okay.

[David] Well, I mean,
you and I grew up with it,

it was a derogatory term,
but now people...

- [Elton] Is that off now?
- ...really embrace it. No.

[Elton] Hi, Allison.

You are a very
interesting woman.

Not only do you write
your own songs and sing,

but you make sculptures
with little alien people.

- And you love--
- [chuckles] Yeah, I do.

[Elton]
And you love trashy movies.

Welcome to the club.

- [laughs]
- [laughs] Thank you, thank you.

I cannot believe how, like,

I don't know, like emotionally
touched I am right now.

I knew I'd be very excited
to talk to you today.

But I feel, like, I don't know.

Very, very lucky and very
grateful to be here. Um...

One of my first, like, records
that I really loved, my mom had

two of your greatest hits
records.

So, I feel very, very happy
to be here. Thank you.

I'm happy to be here
because that's an old record.

[both laugh]

Allison, you're...
you're an LGBT artist

um, and so we are both

on the-- in the same game here.
And you've done a lot of stuff

for LGBTQ folk,
homeless youths in Dallas.

Um, and I applaud you for that.

You have a new EP coming out,

and we're gonna play
"Autopilot," which is the first track.

Thank you so much
for joining us.

We are so thrilled
to have you on the show.

Keep doing what you're doing

and bravo for all the work
you do for LGBTQ people.

[♪ rock music playing,
Allison Ponthier "Autopilot"]

Thank you. It's a true honor.
I'm so happy to be here.

And this is, like,
one of the highlights

of my life.
So thank you for what you do.

Love you. Take care.

♪ Autopilot, autopilot... ♪

Okay. That ends Elton's
interview with Allison Ponthier.

- What a great girl.
- She's lovely.

- [Elton] I loved her.
- I know, I loved her energy.

[staff member] I don't wanna say
why do it but why do it?

Why do it?

I love it and if I don't do it,

then who's gonna be playing
this music,

you know, for...
for the acts that, you know,

that never got a chance
on formulaic radio.

Um, the stuff that I'm playing
should be on radio.

Should be on radio.
It should be, you know--

But they just play pap
most of the time.

Right now, I'm gonna play you
the record of the '60s.

And no, it's not The Beatles,
it's not The Rolling Stones,

it's not The Beach Boys.

Gary Brooker was a hero of mine.

I-- He used to be in a band
called the Paramounts,

and I used to go
and see them, locally.

Um, and he was the first guy

I ever saw play
an electric piano.

And then
the Paramounts broke up,

and they formed
a group called Procol Harum.

And Gary recently passed away,
which is such a tragedy

because he was a great singer,
a great writer,

and a great keyboard player.

Um, but his life and his songs

and his voice lives on
in this incredible record,

"A Whiter Shade of Pale."

[♪ mild music playing, Gary Brooker
and Procol Harum "A Whiter Shade of Pale"]

♪ We skipped
the light fandango ♪

♪ Turned cartwheels
'cross the floor... ♪

[♪ song fades]

[♪ soft music playing,
Elton John "Your Song"]

♪ It's a little bit funny ♪

♪ This feeling inside ♪

♪ I'm not one of those
who can easily hide ♪

♪ I don't have much money
but boy if I did ♪

♪ I'd buy a big house
where we both could live... ♪

[Pete] That's Elton John
and "Your Song."

Pete Fornatale,
WNEW-FM in New York.

It is a pleasure
to welcome Elton John

- and Bernie Taupin.
- [young Elton] Good morning.

We're just starting this weekend
on our massive campaign

to capture the hearts
of the American youth, folks.

[Pete] Which will take you
all over--

[young Elton]
All over, mate, yeah.

[Pete] This album literally,
literally came out of nowhere.

[young Elton] Yeah.

Pete] It had tremendous
impact in this country.

[young Elton]
I can't understand it.

I really can't.
Because it wasn't a hit album.

It got to 45 in England,
which is nothing.

I can't believe
it is where it is.

And I'm knocked out,
you know, and--

[Pete] Now it is probably
the most successful...

- [young Elton] Yeah, mate.
- [Pete] ...album of its kind.

[♪ jazz music playing,
Elton John "Amoreena"]

♪ Like the king bee
misses honey ♪

♪ And when it rains
the rain falls down ♪

♪ Washing out the cattle town ♪

♪ And she's far away somewhere
in her eiderdown ♪

♪ And she dreams
of crystal streams ♪

♪ Of days gone by
when we would lean ♪

♪ Laughing, fit to burst
on each other ♪

♪ And when it rains
the rain falls down... ♪

[Elton] I was exposed
to a brand-new world.

The side of me
that had been closed up

for years came out.

And I was just having fun.

I was really having fun.

♪ Lately, I've been thinking
how much I miss my lady ♪

♪ Amoreena's in the cornfield
brightening the daybreak ♪

♪ Living like a lusty flower ♪

♪ Running through
the grass for hours ♪

♪ Rolling through the hay
Oh, like a puppy ♪

♪ Like a puppy child ♪

- [crowd applauding]
- [♪ song concludes]

[Elton] At that time,
frontmen were so fascinating.

There's a part of me that wanted
to be the frontman,

but, uh, I wasn't David Bowie.
I wasn't Mick.

- [crowd applauding]
- [Elton] I wasn't a sex symbol.

[♪ lively piano music playing]

♪ Yeah! ♪

♪ Come on, now ♪

♪ Wanna take a high dive ♪

- [crowd] ♪ High dive ♪
- ♪ High dive ♪

[crowd] ♪ High dive ♪

- ♪ High dive ♪
- [crowd] ♪ High dive ♪

♪ High dive ♪

[Elton] Little Richard
and Jerry Lee Lewis

visualize the piano.

They made the piano
a visual object,

whereas before, it was just--
I call it the nine-foot plank.

- ♪ High dive ♪
- [crowd] ♪ High dive ♪

- ♪ High dive ♪
- [crowd] ♪ High dive ♪

♪ High dive ♪

♪ Wanna take a high dive ♪

♪ Wanna take a high dive ♪

♪ Wanna take a high dive ♪

♪ One, two, three ♪

[Elton] I took Winifred
Atwell's bonhomie,

I took Little Richard's
aggression

and Jerry Lee Lewis's
outrageousness

in my style of playing,
forging myself

into being a personality
like nobody else.

♪ Yeah! ♪

[Cliff] I can't believe it.
Four albums in one year.

[Elton] God knows
how I fitted it in.

But it was just
a fantastic era of creativity.

[♪ energetic music playing]

[Elton] Nigel and Dee and I

were becoming
one of the best live bands

in the world.

There was
a certain rawness to us.

And there was nobody doing
what we were doing.

There was no piano, bass
and drums. We were unique.

And, we were just,
you know, giving it shit.

The acclaim grew
and the audiences grew.

It's manna from heaven
for an artist.

Once you find your groove,

and beginning
to find a little bit of success

and acceptance,

it just gives you
so much confidence.

[Alexis] How did John Reid
come into the frame?

[Elton] Well, I knew him.
He was a plugger for Motown.

He was very young
and very confident

and very funny
and very attractive.

And very good at his job.

[♪ gentle music playing]

[Elton] I got to know him
and a couple of his friends,

and, um, I liked his personality
and I certainly liked the fact

that he liked music.

We'd hang out together,
but we didn't do anything.

We didn't go even
on a date or anything

until I was due
to go to San Francisco

and play
the Troubadour Club there.

And funnily enough,
John Reid was there

at a Motown convention.

And I thought, "Oh."

And that's when it happened.

I was very naive,

I'd never experimented,
and I had never had sex.

It was my first... first love.

[Alexis] Being gay in 1970,

it's still kind of
an underground thing.

[Elton] Oh, yeah.
People were still--

If they were gay,
they were in the closet.

We moved in together
very quickly.

[Alexis] So,
the relationship happened

before the managerial position
was taken?

[Elton] Yeah. John was very
clued in musically.

He was like me.
He had just a love of records.

And I thought, "He'll be good."

Um, he's got experience.
And it was fantastic,

'cause I had someone
who was managing me,

interested in me.
He loved my music. He loved me.

And it seemed like
a match made in heaven.

Which it was.

[♪ music fades]

[birds chirping]

[cell phone ringing]

- [Elton] Aw, it's my boy.
- [cell phone chimes]

- [Zachary] Hi.
- Hi, darling, how did it go?

- [Zachary] Great.
- Did you do well?

[Zachary] Yeah.

- You remember all your lines?
- [Zachary] Yeah.

You're a clever sausage.

So proud of you.

- [Zachary] Thanks.
- [Elton] Were you Jack what?

I was Silver.

You were--
Long John Silver. That's it.

I bet you're having
a peanut butter

- and jelly sandwich, right?
- Honey.

Peanut butter and honey. Okay.

Now you're sweet as honey.
[blows kiss]

[blows kiss]

I love you so, eh?

- I love you so much.
- Aw, I love you, too.

Did Elijah go, too?

- [Zachary] Yeah.
- [Elijah] Yeah.

[Elton] Hello, gorgeous boy.

- [Elijah] Hello.
- [Elton] Hi, gorgeous.

How are you?

How was your day at school?
Was it good?

[squeals] Stop it, stop it!

- You've just eaten out of that!
- [Elton] Don't, don't.

- How was your day? Was it good?
- [Elijah] Yup.

[Elton] Zachary,
leave him alone.

How was Zachary in his play?

He was cool.
He was really good. [yawns]

[Elton] Oh, great.

Mr. Reckless.
I love that T-shirt.

- Thanks.
- [Elton] Aw.

I miss you.

Yeah, we miss you too.

[Elton] Bless you.
I love you so much.

- All right, love you.
- [Elton] Love you both so much.

- Bye. Love you, Daddy.
- [Elton] Have a great night's sleep.

And well done, okay?

- Thank you. Bye.
- [Elton] Bye.

Bless him.

[Andrew] All right, you got
something to play for us?

[♪ pop music playing,
Elton John "The One"]

[Andrew] Where's the verse?
Here? Okay. Zoom it in.

What's in here?

♪ I saw you dancin'
out the ocean ♪

♪ Runnin' fast along the sand ♪

♪ A spirit born
of earth and water ♪

[Andrew] "A spirit born."

[both speaks indistinctly]

♪ Fire flying from your hands ♪

[Andrew] The "spirit born."

♪ Hold me closer... ♪

Sounds amazing.

[Andrew] That's your original
master vocal.

- Yeah.
- [Andrew] That's your vocal.

I just put them--
I just re-did them--

Yeah. I think they sound great.

- [Andrew] Yeah.
- They sound really unusual.

[Andrew] I just want
to do one thing.

So, the part from
"Don't go breaking my heart..."

- [vocalizes]
- [Elton] Yeah.

[Andrew] It comes on the one
of the second.

A cue should go... [vocalizes]

- Not. [vocalizes]
- [Andrew] Yeah.

You go. [vocalizes]

♪ Lay me down
in sheets of linen ♪

Yeah.

♪ You had a busy day today ♪

That's so they can do
the high and do the low.

♪ Hold me closer ♪

Maybe there's piano here.

♪ Hold me closer ♪

[plays piano]

[Elton] All right,
drop me in there.

[cheers]

[plays piano]

- [Andrew] Perfect.
- [Elton] Yeah?

That was... [bleep] [laughs]

[laughs]

[reporter] Elton John
recently returned

from his second major tour
of the United States,

where at one time
he had four different LPs

in the top 50,
all in the same week, actually.

And that must put him
on a par with The Beatles,

prompting American as well
as British critics to suggest

that Elton John
and his lyric-writing partner,

Bernie Taupin,
could well be the most inventive

and original team of songwriters
since Lennon and McCartney.

[Bernie] The way we write
is much stranger

than the majority
of people write.

We don't write together.
I write what I write first

and I send it to him
and he goes away

and there's a chance
that I won't even hear it

till it's recorded.

That's all lyrics here and I--

You know, I just sit through
and there's one here

that I've sort of done
the other day

called "Tiny Dancer,"

which is about
Bernie's girlfriend.

Uh...

I guess he just was--

Just sort of felt like--
I looked at all the lyrics,

and that was the one
I fancied writing,

mainly because I knew Bernie
would like me to do this one.

You look at it, the words

"Blue Jean Baby, L.A. Lady,
seamstress of the band.

"Pretty-eyed, pirate smile,
you'll marry a music man."

"Ballerina" as soon as he gets
to the word ballerina,

you know,
it's not gonna be fast.

It's got to be sort of gentle
and sort of quite slow.

So, I mean, like, the way
it's written here is a verse

and it's a chorus

or a middle eight and a chorus,
then another verse.

I just sort of ran it through
the two verses together,

then a middle eight,
then a chorus,

and then back to the sort
of verse sort of thing.

It's a very--
It happens very quickly.

It sounds long,
but it's sort of starts off...

♪ Blue jean baby, L.A. lady ♪

♪ Seamstress for the band ♪

♪ Pirate smile ♪

♪ Pretty eyed
You'll marry a music man ♪

♪ Ballerina... ♪

[Elton] As a three-piece,
we'd gone as far as we could.

I wanted to add a guitarist

and I introduced Davey
into the band.

I liked the fact
that he was a folk banjo player.

He never ever had played
electric guitar

till he played on Honky Château.

Just had a feeling
he'd be great.

And he could sing.

We went off to the château,
which was the first time

that we'd ever gone away
and recorded,

and the whole scenario changed.

[♪ soft music playing,
Elton John "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters"]

♪ Now I know ♪

♪ Spanish Harlem are not just
pretty words to say... ♪

[Elton] The equipment
was in the studio,

but we also set up
an electric piano,

drum kit, bass guitar,
guitar amplifier,

and mics in the breakfast room,

'cause I used to get up early
and while I'm having breakfast

just stroll over to the piano
and look at the lyrics

and start writing the songs.

The band would drift down,

have their breakfast
and join in.

♪ Until you've seen this trash-can
dream come true... ♪

[Elton] The original band
with Nigel and Dee,

they instinctively knew
where I was gonna go.

When Davey came,
it didn't make any difference.

They were in tune
to exactly what I was doing

and they were very, very quick.

♪ There's people out there
like you... ♪

[Elton] You hear things like
"Rocket Man" coming into being

and "Honky Cat,"
"Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters."

They formed a shape
before we went into the studio.

♪ While Mona Lisas
and mad hatters ♪

♪ Sons of bankers
sons of lawyers ♪

♪ Turn around and say
good morning to the night ♪

[Elton] I was spreading my wings
and it just was the right fit.

♪ For unless they see the sky ♪

♪ But they can't
and that is why ♪

♪ They know not if it's dark outside
or light... ♪

[Elton] It was an era

that produced
a lot of magic for me.

But it also
was a pretty horrible time.

I was afraid of John.

He had violence in him.

A few drinks too many.
If you crossed him,

he'd punch you
or he'd break a glass

and put it in your face.

I can see a lot
of my father's behavior.

I was a young,
first-time-in-love person.

I still wanted to be together.

[♪ soft music playing,
Elton John "Rocket Man"]

♪ She packed my bags
last night, pre-flight... ♪

[young Elton] We just made
a new album in France,

so we're gonna play you
eight new songs

that you've never,
ever heard before.

This is called "Rocket Man,"

and it'll be released
as a single, I hope,

on March 3rd.

♪ I miss the Earth so much
I miss my wife ♪

♪ It's lonely out in space ♪

♪ On such a timeless flight ♪

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

♪ 'Til touchdown brings me
'round again to find ♪

♪ I'm not the man
they think I am at home ♪

♪ Oh, no, no, no ♪

♪ I'm a rocket man ♪

♪ Rocket man ♪

♪ Burning out his fuse
up here alone... ♪

[Alexis] After "Rocket Man"
is a big single,

you get Beatlemania,

- you get screaming fans.
- [Elton] Yeah.

I never thought of myself
as a pop artist,

and that was the first pop hit.
After "Your Song,"

that was really
the first hit I had.

♪ I'm a rocket man ♪

♪ Rocket man ♪

♪ Burning out his fuse
up here alone... ♪

[Elton] I stumbled
on commerciality really

when I added David to the band.

I'd never set out to write
commercial songs,

but it just made it easier,

because I was writing
for a guitarist, as well.

And suddenly, I become
this big singles artist

who had hit after hit
after hit after hit.

[♪ pop music playing, Elton John
"I'm Gonna Be a Teenage Idol"]

♪ And root toot shoot
myself to fame ♪

♪ Every kid alive
gonna know my name ♪

♪ An overnight phenomenon
like there's never been ♪

[all cheering]

♪ A motivated supersonic
king of the scene ♪

♪ I'll be a teenage idol
Just give me a break... ♪

[young Elton] The clothes thing,

it's a reaction
against everything

that I wasn't allowed to do
when I was a child.

"You cannot wear this.
You cannot do this.

"You cannot--
You can't wear those glasses."

There are no rules in life.

I'm everything that

a rock-'n'-roll star
isn't supposed to be.

I'm not the best-looking person
in the world, et cetera.

And so, I think a lot of people
identify with me as sort of,

"Well, if he can do it,
then I might be able to."

[chuckling]

I always believed that
if you have got enough ambition,

no matter what you look like,
no matter what you sound like,

you can make it anyway.

And I am ambitious.

[announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
Elton John.

[crowd cheering]

[♪ lively music playing,
Elton John "Crocodile Rock"]

[crowd cheering]

♪ I remember
when rock was young ♪

♪ Me and Susie had so much fun ♪

♪ Holding hands
and skimming stones ♪

♪ Had an old gold Chevy
and a place of my own ♪

♪ But the biggest kick
I ever got ♪

♪ Was doing a thing
called the Crocodile Rock ♪

♪ While the other kids
were rocking 'round the clock ♪

♪ We were hopping and bopping
to the Crocodile Rock... ♪

[Elton] I love performing,

I've just felt different
to when I was off stage.

It's electric, fulfilling,

an out-of-body experience
really.

♪ Oh, lawdy mama
Those Friday nights ♪

♪ When Susie wore
her dresses tight... ♪

[Elton] You just feel free
as a bird,

and you can do
anything you want.

It's just kind of addictive.

♪ La, la-la-la-la-la ♪

♪ La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la ♪

♪ But the years went by
and the rock just died ♪

♪ Susie went and left us
for some foreign guy... ♪

[Alexis] At this time,
you are a star,

unequivocally successful.

Was your dad pleased for you?

[Elton] My dad never saw me.

[Alexis]
He never saw you live at all?

[Elton] No.

[Alexis] It's really sad.

[Elton] Yeah. I wish it had been
much different.

God, I wish
it had been different.

♪ When your feet
just can't keep still ♪

♪ I never knew me a better time
and I guess I never will ♪

♪ Oh, lawdy mama
Those Friday nights ♪

♪ When Susie
wore her dresses tight... ♪

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[♪ music fades]

Huh? Well, I don't think so.

- Yeah.
- [crew member 1] Yeah?

- Um, sneakers.
- [crew member 1] Okay.

[Elton] I have never
in my whole career,

in my whole career,

done shows
that have been so good.

I mean, astonishingly good.
Um, I'm not bullshitting.

You guys are amazing.
Everything you play every night,

it's the standard
of professionalism

and dedication
and playing is off the charts.

You guys are just
absolutely phenomenal.

I wanted to go out on a high,

and it's not a high,
it's even better than a high.

[crew member 2] Yay!

[Elton] You should be proud
of yourself. I'm so proud.

I'm privileged to play
with you guys.

- [band member 1] Thank you, Elton. We are.
- Yeah.

[♪ upbeat music playing,
Elton John "Candle in the Wind"]

♪ Goodbye, Norma Jeane ♪

♪ Though
I never knew you at all ♪

♪ You had the grace
to hold yourself ♪

♪ While those
around you crawled ♪

♪ Goodbye, Norma Jeane ♪

♪ From the young man
in the twenty-second row ♪

♪ Who sees you as
something more than sexual ♪

♪ More than just
our Marilyn Monroe ♪

♪ And it seems to me
you lived your life ♪

♪ Like a candle in the wind ♪

♪ Never knowing
who to cling to... ♪

[Alexis] Were you aware
when you wrote things,

like "Candle in the Wind,"
that this is one for the ages?

[Elton]
That really is happenstance.

[Alexis] It is quite a somber album,
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,

for all it's held up
as your great pop moment.

It's...

[Elton] Relationships
collapsing.

- [Alexis] Yeah.
- When I wrote those songs,

I was miserably unhappy.

That kind of came
through in the songwriting

and it was very,
very moving for me

and it was very, very cathartic.

[Alexis] What do you think
influenced your writing?

[Elton] It was the same time
John Reid broke my heart.

[♪ soft music playing]

[Elton] My relationship with him
wasn't all it was meant to be.

I was very naive.
I didn't know that.

He was having sex outside...

- [Alexis sighs]
- ...the relationship.

When I found out about it,
I was crushed.

He was very, you know,
very rough.

I had a party at the house
and we had a fight

and he's smacked me in the face
and made my nose bleed,

cut my face.

I loved John very much.

But, you know, I'd say, "I can't
go through this anymore."

And then when that fell apart,
I kind of fell apart.

John left an emptiness
within me.

[Alexis] Yeah.

[Elton] I thought being alone
was a sense of failure.

Why isn't someone with me?
You're not good enough.

I chased relationships,
I chased love.

Always looking for love
all the time.

[host]
And what's your next ambition?

Funny that it may seem,

I don't really have
any ambitions left anymore.

Not a concrete ambition.

And my one concrete ambition
was always to make it.

I don't really have
one set ambition now.

I'm sustaining my level
of popularity.

But that-- Again, that's sort of
a secondary importance.

I really don't know.
I've sort of...

I haven't got any.
It sounds really strange,

but I just do not have
any ambitions now.

I'm sort of plodding on
at the moment.

[♪ soft music playing,
Elton John "I've Seen That Movie Too"]

♪ I can see by your eyes
you must be lying ♪

♪ When you think
I don't have a clue ♪

♪ Baby, you're crazy ♪

♪ If you think
that you can fool me ♪

♪ Because I've seen
that movie too ♪

♪ The one where the players
are acting surprised ♪

♪ Saying love's
just a four-letter word... ♪

[Elton] After Yellow Brick Road,
we made Caribou,

the first record
we ever made in America.

And that was the first time

we'd been to Colorado
on the road.

[Alexis] Ray Cooper comes
into the picture.

[Elton] Yeah.
He was at that session.

He was a percussion player

who could also play
xylophone and keyboards

and just do something daring.

[Alexis] It’s also during
the sessions of Caribou

that you take coke
for the first time.

- [Elton] Yes.
- [Alexis] So who was doing it?

- The rest of the band was doing it?
- [Elton] John Reid.

- [Alexis] John Reid was doing it.
- [Elton] Yeah.

[Alexis] He obviously remains
in your life

as your manager.

[Elton] Unfortunately,
I broke up with him

and stayed with him in business,

because I was frightened
of confrontation.

But he was a ballsy,
fiery manager.

At that time,

my career was more important
than anything.

I walked in the room,

there was like little
white lines and a straw.

And I said, "What's that?"
And they said, "It's cocaine."

I said, "What does that do?"

He said,
"It just makes you feel good."

- I didn't know what it was.
- [Alexis chuckles]

"Well, I'll try some of that."

[Alexis] Did you like it
straightaway?

[Elton] Not really,
because it made me feel sick.

So, I thought,
"I don't like this."

But it didn't stop me going back
for another line.

Yeah. So,
that was the first time.

Cocaine opened me up,
and I became social.

It gave me confidence.

I suddenly found I could talk.

I wasn't intimidated to be
in a room full of strangers.

I quite liked that, 'cause
I always found it difficult

to, you know, to sit down
and open up.

I never thought
it was a hard drug.

I thought, "I'm not an addict.

"I'm okay on cocaine
or smoking a joint.

"That's fine. I'm in control."

[Alexis]
This is a widely held fact

that if you make records
on cocaine,

it makes them worse.

[Elton] Oh, absolutely.
It affects everything.

You cannot think in a sane
and proper way.

I was exhausted.
I was exhausted creatively

and exhausted from touring

and exhausted-- No, I used
to stay up every night.

And then,
when the album came out,

people didn't like it.

[♪ somber music playing,
Elton John "Ticking"]

♪ Remember Mama said
Ticking, ticking ♪

♪ Grow up straight
and true blue ♪

♪ Run along to bed ♪

♪ Hear it, hear it
Ticking, ticking ♪

I haven't got any illusions

that I'm gonna stay
at the top forever.

[interviewer] How long
do you think you've got?

I don't know. Every year
I think, "This is it," you know?

Uh, so I-- You can't predict it.

That's what's so much fun
about this business.

You just can't predict.

[♪ soft music playing]

My debauchery came.

I was desperately
wanting happiness...

and going completely
the wrong way about it.

I've had quite a lot
of lonely periods in my life.

You know... [stutters]
...the bubble thing.

[Alexis] Right.

[Elton] Marilyn Monroe,
Elvis Presley,

there's a danger
that people live in that bubble

and they become
sequestered away.

I'd like nothing more than
to shut my bedroom door

and then go and do
a two, three-day binge...

on my own in my hotel suite,

just watching porno,
smoking dope, whiskey.

Running away
was what I did in my childhood.

I've shut the door.

- I've been running away...
- [Alexis] Yeah.

...ever since
I was four or five years old,

shutting the door
when my parents were rowing.

[Alexis] Cocaine doesn't help.

[Elton] This is
the most special place.

It's the best gig in the world,

because of the history
involved in everything

that's gone on here, you know?
It's just an exciting place.

All the wonderful artists

that have played here
over the years.

It's a piece of magic
and they don't--

There's not many venues
that are magical like this.

Not-- I can't think of any,
actually,

after Madison Square Garden.

It's just, you know,
when they say,

"Where do you like to play?"

it's a no-brainer.
Madison Square Garden.

It's always been special.

John Lennon came onstage here
Thanksgiving,

and, um, you know,

you don't forget things
like that.

- [crew member 1] Rolling?
- [crew member 2] Still rolling.

[crew member 3] Speed.

[crew member 1] Okay,
here we go. Stand by.

[♪ royal music playing]

[narrator] Ladies and gentlemen,
Her Royal Highness the Queen.

- Good evening.
- [crew members laughing]

I've been asked to do
this commercial.

It relates
to a gramophone record...

[crew members laughing]

...called Mind Games
by John Lennon.

[Alexis] You knew
John Lennon through Tony?

[Elton] Yes.
I met him through Tony.

- [Alexis] Okay.
- [Elton] I met him on the set.

where John was doing a video

and Tony was actually dressed up
as the Queen of England.

[crew member 4]
Fred Astaire and ginger beer.

- [laughs]
- [indistinct chatter]

[Elton] I was obviously

very intimidated
and very excited.

Tony had told me
that he was really nice

and good fun and everything,

and it was like I'd met someone
I'd known all my life.

We started to hang out together.

We went out a lot,
had a lot of fun.

This man was in The Beatles,

and he still wants
to make music.

He still wants
to be politically involved.

He still has a purpose
in his life.

And I love people like that.

I love people who think
about tomorrow

rather than yesterday.

♪ Life is the real one... ♪

[Elton] We just hung out
and just had a great time.

We just laughed and laughed
and laughed,

and we did a lot of drugs.

[Alexis]
I heard a fantastic story

that you and him were
in a hotel room

in New York somewhere.

[Elton] Yes. It was like 2:00
in the morning.

- Mountains of coke coming out.
- [Alexis chuckling]

[Elton] I thought,
"Is that the police?"

And so, being so paranoid,
it took me about five minutes

to walk across to the peephole.

- And I saw it was Andy Warhol.
- [Alexis chuckling]

I went to John.
[whispering] "Andy!"

And John went, "No way."

- [doorbell ringing]
- [Alexis laughs]

[Elton] So, he kept ringing
the bell and we just...

[Alexis] You hid
from Andy Warhol?

[Elton] He carried
the camera everywhere,

the Polaroid.
Like, "No, thanks."

[Alexis laughs]

[♪ upbeat music playing,
Elton John "Grey Seal"]

[Elton] That was the fun part
of the cocaine.

♪ If anyone can cry
then so can I ♪

♪ I read books
and draw life... ♪

You did spend quite a lot of time
in LA last year, didn't you?

Yeah, yeah. I was sort of,
you know, avoiding reality.

[interviewer] You seem
o have really enjoyed

the things you did with Elton.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [interviewer] Yeah.

Well, Elton and I
are very close.

♪ Whatever gets you
thru the night ♪

[young Elton] He played me
some rough cassettes

of Walls and Bridges, you know,
just the rough tracks.

We immediately flashed
on Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.

So, he asked me to--
Would I come down to the studio

and do some backing vocals?
So I said, "Yeah."

I-- We listened to the track
back on the big speakers

and I said, "Could do with a bit
of piano on it, actually."

So he said,
"All right. Go ahead."

And then he said,

"Well, why don't you, you know,
let's sing it as a duet."

[♪ rock music playing, John Lennon
"Whatever Gets You Thru the Night"]

♪ Come on listen to me ♪

♪ I won't do you no harm... ♪

[Elton] I was very nervous.

But for me,
it was a dream come true.

I could have died
and gone to heaven.

You know, I cycled to Hatch End
to get The Beatles album

and here I am,
playing on his record,

um, and having the greatest time

and having the best fun
with him.

And I said, "Listen." I said,
"This is a number-one record."

And he went, "No, no."

And I said, "Listen,
if it gets to number one,

"you've got to come on stage
with me."

And he never thought
in a million years

it would get to number one.

And then,
when it got to number one,

he didn't just try
and shirk out of it.

And he certainly
hadn't played onstage

- in New York since Shea Stadium.
- [Alexis] Yeah.

[Tony] We went up to Boston
to see Elton in concert

so that John could get an idea
of what it was like.

And he hadn't been to a show
in a long, long time

and didn't realize how much more
sophisticated it had got.

[♪ rock song playing,
Elton John "The Bitch Is Back"]

♪ The bitch, the bitch, oh
The bitch is back ♪

[Tony] And especially Elton was
state-of-the-art at that time.

You know, his sound system,

his touring entourage
was very lavish, you know?

And John had come
from the four amps. [chuckles]

And, you know,
The Beatles' last show

had been 1966,
in Candlestick Park.

[Elton] I think he sat there
with his mouth open

at my outfits
and what was going on.

He was like, "Oh, this is what
it's like now, is it?"

- [crowd cheering]
- [♪ song fades]

[Tony] People knew something
was in the air.

There was a definite buzz,

there was gonna
be something special.

John and Yoko had been split up
for a couple of years,

and Yoko called me

and says she would like to come
to the show.

But she said,
"John mustn't know I'm there."

So, I got her a seat
11 rows back,

'cause John's so shortsighted
he couldn't see her.

We're backstage, getting ready
and two gardenias arrive.

John said,
"I bet they're from Yoko.

"You know, I couldn't do it
if I knew she was here."

We said nothing.

[Elton] He was terrified.

I mean, I can absolutely
tell you he was terrified.

And I can tell you
that he was physically sick

before the show,

absolutely physically sick.

[♪ rock music playing]

[Elton] Thank you,
New York City!

- [crowd cheering, applauding]
- [Elton] Thank you!

Seeing it's Thanksgiving,

we thought we'd make tonight
a little bit

of a joyous occasion,

by inviting someone up
with us onto the stage.

[crowd cheering]

[young Elton] And...

I'm sure he will be no stranger
to anybody in the audience

when I say
it's our great privilege

to see and hear Mr. John Lennon.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

[Elton] The reception
that he got,

I've never heard a noise,
a roar like it.

[Tony] No, I think everybody
was just knocked sideways

by the volume of the ovation.

And John turned around
and looked at the band

as though to say,
"What the... [bleep] ...that?"

[Elton] And a lot of us cried
and, you know,

there were tears running down
our faces.

- [crowd cheering]
- [John] Here we go, then.

A-one, two--
A-one, two, three, four.

[♪ jazz music playing, John Lennon
"Whatever Gets You Thru the Night"]

♪ Whatever gets you
thru the night ♪

♪ It's all right
It's all right ♪

♪ It's your money or your life ♪

♪ It's all right
It's all right ♪

♪ Don't need a sword
to cut thru flower ♪

♪ Oh no, oh no ♪

♪ Whatever gets
you thru your life ♪

♪ It's all right
It's all right ♪

♪ Do it wrong or do it right ♪

♪ It's all right
It's all right ♪

♪ Don't need a watch
to waste your time ♪

♪ Oh no, oh no ♪

♪ Hold me, darlin'
Come on listen to me ♪

♪ I won't do you no harm ♪

♪ Trust me, darlin'
Come on, listen to me ♪

♪ Come on, listen to me
Come on, listen, listen ♪

- [crowd cheering]
- [♪ song fades]

[John] I'd like to thank Elton
and the boys

for having me on tonight.

We're trying to think
of a number

to finish off with
so that I can get out of here

- and be sick.
- [young Elton chuckles]

[John] And we thought
we'd do another

a number of an older,
strange fiancé of mine

called Paul.
This is one I never sang.

It's an old Beatle number,
and we just about know it.

Here we are.

[rock music playing, John Lennon
"I Saw Her Standing There"]

♪ Well, she was just seventeen
You know what I mean... ♪

[Tony] When John came offstage,
he got in the back of the limo

and he looked at me
and he said,

"That was... [bleep] ...great!"
[chuckles]

We went back
to the Sherry-Netherland

and Elton
was in the bathroom crying.

And John said to me,
"Where's Elton? Where's Elton?"

I said, "He's in the bathroom,
John. He's crying."

[laughs] So, John said,
"What's he crying about?"

I said, "Because of the--
What has happened."

"He's so over the moon about it,
he's c-- he's in tears."

So, John said, "Oh, my God."
He said, "Should I go in?"

And I said, "Yeah."

They ended up sitting
in the bloody lavatory

at the hotel together.

We were all enjoying
it as a very joyous event,

not as John's swan song,
which it turned out to be.

But none of us realized that
that was gonna be

the last show
that he would ever do.

[♪ soft music playing]

[Elton] I was probably
the catalyst of Yoko and John

getting back together again.

If I hadn't played on
"Whatever Gets You Thru the Night,"

if I hadn't told him
he had to do the show,

maybe he would never
have met Yoko again.

Of course,
they did get back together.

And they had Sean.

- [Alexis] And you’re his godfather?
- [Elton] Yeah.

- He became in love again.
- [Alexis] Oh.

[Elton] And so, his wildness,

it kinda stopped the drugs.
Stopped the craziness.

Which was great,
I was very happy for him.

- Didn't stop my craziness.
- [Alexis] Were you-- [laughs]

[♪ lively music playing.
Elton John "Levon"]

♪ Levon sells
cartoon balloons in town ♪

♪ His family business thrives ♪

♪ Jesus blows up
balloons all day ♪

♪ Sits on the porch swing
watching them fly ♪

♪ And Jesus
He wants to go to Venus ♪

♪ Leave Levon far behind ♪

♪ Take a balloon
and go sailing ♪

♪ While Levon
Levon slowly dies ♪

♪ He was born a pauper
to a pawn on a Christmas Day ♪

♪ When the New York Times said
"God is dead" ♪

♪ And the war's begun ♪

♪ Oh, Alvin Tostig
has a son today ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ And he shall be a good man ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ In tradition
with the family plan ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ And he shall be a good man ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ And he shall be a good man ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ In tradition
with the family plan ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ And he shall be a good man ♪

♪ And he shall be Levon ♪

♪ He shall be Levon, yeah ♪

- [♪ song fades]
- [♪ soft piano music playing]

What key is
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" in?

- F? D?
- [manager] D.

[indistinct chatter]

I can't remember it.
Too long ago, 1976.

- [musician] That's a while back.
- Don't remember back that far.

Can't even remember what I had
for breakfast this morning.

[laughter]

♪ I've got dementia ♪

I think I've got dementia.
I can't remember.

[all laugh]

[Elton] Is Dua here or not?

- Here she comes. Hey, baby.
- [manager] There she is. Hello!

[Elton laughs]

I am so excited to be here.

- [Elton] Hello, lovely.
- Hello, hello, hello.

[Elton] Hi, gorgeous.
I haven’t seen you...

- In so long.
- [Elton] Been so long.

[♪ upbeat music playing,
Dua Lipa "Cold Heart"]

♪ Think it's gonna be
a long, long time ♪

♪ Till touchdown brings me
'round again to find ♪

♪ I'm not the man they think
I am at home ♪

♪ Oh no, no, no ♪

♪ And this is what
I should have said ♪

♪ Cold heart ♪

♪ Well, I thought it, but... ♪

- [Elton] This is it.
- [Zachary] Tiny.

I thought it was bigger
than this. [laughs]

[Alexis] Do you remember it
as being bigger?

Everything from the past
is always bigger in your memory.

- And this is tiny.
- [Alexis laughs]

I mean, it's absolutely tiny,

but it's got great atmosphere.
I mean, look at the floor space.

I was this close to Leon Russell
and people like that...

when I'm playing here,
so I could see them perfectly.

Look at it.
It's got something about it.

It's got an atmosphere
and an aura about.

[young Elton]
That's the new cover, folks.

Took me six years
to crochet that.

[crowd laughs]

[interviewer] What can we expect
on that album?

- [young Elton] Filth.
- [crowd laughs]

No. Seriously,
it's a story-type album.

It's the first story album

that Bernie
and I have ever written.

It's basically about us two.

All the experiences
that we had trying to make it

before we made
the Empty Sky album,

like, the disappointments
about the songs being refused

and all the people trying
to sign you up for life

and things like that.

[Elton] Captain Fantastic
was the first album

to enter the Billboard charts
at number one ever,

so it shows you where
we'd come to in our career.

[reporter] We've just arrived
in Los Angeles

with Elton John's mother
and stepfather

and their next-door neighbors

and several of Elton's
aunts and uncles

to see Elton perform live
at the huge Dodger Stadium.

[Alexis] And why did you want
all these people?

[Elton] L.A. was the place
I'd made it in America.

So, it seemed
a natural homecoming.

I wanted them to feel proud.

And so, yeah,
I wanted people to see it.

[crowd chanting] We want Elton!
We want Elton!

[crowd cheering, chanting]

I now want to present
a proclamation

which declares
this week Elton John Week.

[crowd cheering]

[Mike] At that time,

there was the excitement
of these big events,

but there was
a lot of emotional stuff

going on with Elton
behind the scenes...

and cocaine was a big part
of what was going on.

And I could see the...
the downward spiral

that he was going through,
physically and mentally.

[Alexis] How would you define
the state you were in?

[Elton] I was either
really fun or very miserable.

[Alexis]
Why were you so unhappy?

[Elton]
My career was killing me.

All I lived for
was my chart position and...

sex and cocaine.

I mean,
I felt there must be something

more to my life than this.

But I was
the worst kind of person

to take drugs,
because I couldn't have a line

- and then put it away.
- [Alexis] Right.

[Elton] I'd just have to finish it off,
and then I'd want more.

When you drink that much
and you do that amount of drugs,

it's like I was dead
and looking at it from up

in heaven thinking,

"Who the... [bleep] ...are you?
What have you become?"

I just wanted someone
to put their arm around me.

I was nervous about my family
seeing what kind of state I was in.

The day before the show,
we were having lunch

at my house in Beverly Hills...

I took a bunch
of sleeping tablets.

I took them, came up
to the swimming pool, said,

"I'm gonna--
I've taken a bunch of tablets.

"I'm gonna kill my--
I'm gonna drown."

[♪ soft rock music playing]

[Mike] I was outside,
sitting with his mum

and his stepdad and his nan,
and we pulled him out.

I called the doctor.

I believe the doctor
pumped his stomach

and put him to bed.

And I just sat
by his bed all night

as he went in and out
of consciousness.

And then, in the morning,
he came to.

[♪ soft piano music playing]

[Alexis]
How did your parents take it?

[Elton] My mother
and my stepfather

and my grandmother
were worried about me.

[Alexis] Were you then in bed
for a couple of days

- after that or--
- [Elton] No.

[Alexis] So,
you were right as rain?

[Elton] Well, I had the show
to do, so I had to be as right as rain.

[Alexis] There was never any question
of canceling the show?

[Elton] No.

I've never taken my personal life
on stage with me.

- [Alexis] Okay.
- For those two hours

or two-and-a-half hours,
it's an escape from turmoil.

And that comes all the way back

and the only time I felt
really included sometimes,

was when I was playing the piano
in front of people.

[crowd cheering]

[♪ rock music playing,
Elton John "Pinball Wizard"]

♪ Ever since I was a young boy
I played the silver ball ♪

♪ From Soho down to Brighton
I must've played them all ♪

♪ But I ain't seen nothin'
like him in any amusement hall ♪

♪ That deaf, dumb, and blind kid
sure plays a mean pinball ♪

♪ He stands like a statue
becomes part of the machine ♪

♪ Feeling all the bumpers
always playing clean ♪

♪ He plays by intuition
the digit counters fall ♪

♪ That deaf, dumb, and blind kid
sure plays a mean pinball ♪

♪ He's a pinball wizard
He scores a trillion more ♪

♪ A pinball wizard
The world's new pinball lord ♪

♪ He's scoring more ♪

♪ He's scoring more ♪

♪ All right! ♪

[vocalizing]

Thank you! "Pinball Wizard!"

[crowd cheering]

Thank you, Los Angeles!
Thank you, the Dodgers!

[♪ instrumental music playing]

[Elton] I was communicating
and having great success

in front of all these thousands
and thousands of people,

and I was very good at it.
That's what kept me going.

I mean, that love of the music.

But that wasn't how you cope
with normal life.

That's fantasy land.

And I had all the success,
I had all of the trappings,

and I loved that and everything,
but they really--

They didn't make me happy.

And I knew that I could not stay
so unhappy and so miserable.

[Cliff] 18 August 1976.

Speaking with Elton John.

You've announced no touring.

You're gonna stay with that if you can.

[young Elton] For the time.

I'm not saying I'm retiring.

I just know it's time
to do something else now.

[Cliff] This is a very
important time in your life.

A lot of changes going on.

[young Elton] Yeah. I mean,
I feel very strange

at this particular moment.

[Cliff] You've had five years
at the top.

You're in a rank of stardom
that's almost incomparable.

You've got everything
a person could have.

But what about old Elton,
when he, uh,

goes home at night?
Do you have love and affection?

[young Elton] Not really.

I do have a certain amount
of sex and that's it.

I would desperately like
to be loved,

but that isn't part of my life
that's come together yet.

[Cliff] Can you be relaxed
at all about the kind of person

you'd really like
to fall in love with?

[young Elton] I'm a bit of a coward
when it comes to that.

I tend to get scared.

As soon as somebody tries
to get to know me deeply,

I sort of clam up and turn off.
I just won't let people near me.

I just hurt so much as a kid,
I don't want it to happen again.

- [Cliff] Can we get personal?
- [young Elton] Hmm, a little bit.

[Cliff] Shall we turn that off?

- [young Elton] Keep going.
- [Cliff] Yeah, ok.

Do you see any time when you can be

totally honest and upfront about yourself,

sexually?

[young Elton] I've never talked
about this before.

[Cliff chuckles]

[young Elton]
But I'm not gonna turn it off.

I haven't met anybody

that I would really like
to settle down of either sex.

[Cliff] Do you think
it would be devastating

for your music
or your sales that is--

If you were to take
the bisexual posture?

[young Elton] I think I've got
to the point in my life

where I have to do
what is honest.

Basically, I would like
to get married eventually

and have kids,
'cause I love kids.

I have to have a personal life

and I have to have
some peace of mind

and someone to share it with.

I've had no one
to share this with.

And it's a little--
It can get to you.

I'm getting tired
of being on my own.

[♪ somber music playing,
Elton John "All the Nasties"]

♪ If it came to pass
that they should ask ♪

♪ What could I tell them? ♪

♪ Would they criticize
behind my back? ♪

♪ Maybe I should let them ♪

♪ Oh, if only then
and only then ♪

♪ They would understand ♪

♪ They'd turn
a full-blooded city boy ♪

♪ Into a full-blooded
city man... ♪

[Alexis] Was there any reaction
to it within the music business?

[Elton] People around me
were nervous,

the record company in America.

There was a knee-jerk reaction
amongst some radio stations

in America who burnt my records
and stuff like that.

There's no hiding the truth,
it did hurt my career.

[Alexis]
Was it a liberating thing?

- Was it a--
- [Elton] Oh, totally.

To finally be able to be
who I was.

You've no idea.

It took me years and years
to be honest.

And then it took me
from that time

to when I got sober
when I was 43

to get as honest
as I possibly could.

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

[Elton] It's not until
I got sober in 1990

that everything changed.

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul... ♪

[Elton] It did take me 43 years
to learn how to function

as a human being,
rather than as a rock star.

♪ ...Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

♪ Oh, my soul ♪

[crowd cheering]

[♪ soft music playing, Elton John
"Someone Saved My Life Tonight"]

♪ When I think
of those East End lights ♪

♪ Muggy nights
the curtains drawn ♪

♪ In the little room
downstairs ♪

♪ Prima donna Lord you really
should have been there ♪

♪ Sittin' like a princess
perched in her electric chair ♪

♪ And it's one more beer
And I don't hear you anymore ♪

♪ We've all gone crazy lately ♪

♪ My friend's out there rolling
'round the basement floor ♪

♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪

♪ And someone saved
my life tonight ♪

- ♪ Sugar bear ♪
- ♪ Sugar bear ♪

♪ You almost had
your hooks in me ♪

♪ Didn't you dear ♪

♪ You nearly had me
roped and tied ♪

♪ Altar bound hypnotized
Sweet freedom ♪

♪ Whispered in my ear
You're a butterfly ♪

♪ And butterflies
are free to fly ♪

♪ Fly away ♪

♪ High away ♪

♪ Bye bye ♪

♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪

[♪ song fades]

This is a very special night
for me,

a very emotional night for me.
And-- [clears throat]

[crowd cheering]

It's been a long journey. And...

- [laughs, clicks tongue]
- [crowd cheering]

I first came here,
to America, in 1970,

to the City of Angels,

- Los Angeles.
- [crowd cheering]

And I played a club called
the Troubadour Club,

which thankfully is still there.

It's been 50 years of touring
in the United States

across all 50 states.

So, thank you for all the years

of love and generosity
and loyalty.

[♪ rock music playing,
Elton John "I'm Still Standing"]

♪ You just fade away ♪

♪ Don't you know
I'm still standin' ♪

♪ Better than I ever did? ♪

♪ Lookin' like a true survivor
Feelin' like a little kid ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
after all this time ♪

♪ Pickin' up the pieces
of my life ♪

♪ Without you on my mind ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Once I never
coulda hoped to win ♪

♪ You're startin' down the road
leavin' me again ♪

♪ The threats you made
were meant to cut me down ♪

♪ And if our love
was just a circus ♪

♪ You'd be a clown by now ♪

♪ You know I'm still standin'
better than I ever did ♪

♪ Lookin' like a true survivor ♪

♪ Feelin' like a little kid ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
after all this time ♪

♪ Pickin' up the pieces
of my life ♪

♪ Without you on my mind ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ I'm still standin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

- [♪ song concludes]
- [crowd cheering]

[crowd cheering, whistling]

[cheering, whistling continues]

[♪ soft music playing,
Elton John "Your Song"]

♪ It's a little bit funny ♪

♪ This feelin' inside ♪

♪ I'm not one of those
who can easily hide ♪

♪ I don't have much money
But boy if I did ♪

♪ I'd buy a big house
where we both could live ♪

♪ If I was a sculptor ♪

♪ But then again, no or a man ♪

♪ Who makes potions
in a travelin' show ♪

♪ I know it's not much
But it's the best I can do ♪

♪ My gift is my song
And this one's for you ♪

♪ 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 ♪

[Elton] I would like
to introduce somebody who,

if it wasn't for him,

I wouldn't be sitting here
right now.

- Come on, Mr. Bernie Taupin.
- [crowd cheering]

♪ I sat on the roof ♪

♪ And kicked off the moss ♪

♪ Well, a few of the verses ♪

♪ Well
They've got me quite cross ♪

♪ But the sun's
been quite kind ♪

Bernie Taupin!

♪ While I wrote this song... ♪

And as you know,
I am stopping touring,

and this would mean
my last concert in America.

It's 'cause I wanna spend time
with my family.

So, I wanna bring them out
and show you why I am retiring.

David, Zachary, and Elijah.

[crowd cheering]

♪ Anyway the thing is
What I really mean ♪

♪ Yours are the sweetest eyes
I've ever seen ♪

♪ 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 ♪

♪ 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 ♪

[♪ song concludes]

[crowd cheering, applauding]

[♪ soft piano music playing, Elton John
and Brandi Carlile "Never Too Late"]

♪ It's never too late ♪

♪ For a wide-open slate ♪

♪ A kiss from a stranger
A thousand first dates ♪

♪ You're a diamond, baby ♪

♪ To hell with heaven's gate ♪

♪ There's not a moment
too soon ♪

♪ If it's never too
never too late ♪

♪ Well, it's never too late
To go shoot out the moon ♪

♪ We'll go dancing in graveyards
You can keep your balloons ♪

♪ Be a runaway bride
Trading gifts is the groom ♪

♪ If it's never too late
For a moment too soon ♪

♪ Time, don't bore me
With the same old tired story ♪

♪ What's new in the news? ♪

♪ Who's hot?
Where's the glory? ♪

♪ How we dwell in the past ♪

♪ For laughing at time ♪

♪ Don't the years make jokes
of all of us? ♪

♪ Let the whole ♪

♪ Let the whole century slide ♪

♪ There's a last time
for everything ♪

♪ But we won't ever know ♪

♪ It's a slow dance
on a carousel ♪

♪ A walk in the snow ♪

♪ Don't let it cross your mind ♪

♪ Keep a smile upon your lips ♪

♪ Let's spin 'round the sun
like the veil never slips ♪

♪ Time, don't bore me ♪

♪ With the same old
tired story ♪

♪ What's new in the news? ♪

♪ Who's hot?
Where's the glory? ♪

♪ How we dwell in the past ♪

♪ For laughing at time ♪

♪ Don't the years make jokes
of all of us? ♪

- ♪ Let the whole ♪
- ♪ Let the whole ♪

- ♪ Century slide ♪
- ♪ Century slide ♪

♪ Slide ♪

♪ Oh, it's never too late
For a wide-open slate ♪

♪ A kiss from a stranger ♪

♪ A thousand first dates ♪

♪ You're a diamond, baby ♪

♪ To hell with heaven's gate ♪

♪ There's not a moment
too soon ♪

♪ If it's never too
never too late ♪

♪ Oh, no ♪

♪ There's not a moment
too soon ♪

♪ If it's never too
never too late ♪

♪ There's not a moment too soon
If it's never too late ♪

[♪ song fades]

[♪ soft music playing]

[♪ music fades]