Elton John reveals new song about mortality brought him to tears: “I just broke down”
Ahead of the release of his new collaborative album with Brandi Carlile on April 4th, Elton John has shared that the heartfelt lyrics to ‘When This Old World Is Done With Me’ reduced him to tears in the studio.
The new album Who Believes in Angels? marks the pair’s first joint album. In addition to the LP, the recording process was also captured on film, marking the first time in his career that John has allowed the cameras behind the scenes while he makes an album.
Now, in a new appearance on the Smartless podcast, John reflected on one particular poignant moment that was caught on film, recalling, “I wrote a song at the end of the album and I just get the lyrics, Bernie Taupin’s lyrics called ‘When This Old World Is Done With Me’. And so I’m writing the verse, like, ‘Oh, this is really pretty.’”
These lyrics unlocked a deep emotion out of John, who added, “And then I get to the chorus and of course it’s about my death. And when you get to my age, which is near 100, you think, ‘How much time have I got left?’”
The ‘Rocket Man’ singer continued: “And you’ve got children, you’ve got a wonderful husband, you just think about mortality. And so when I got to the chorus, I just broke down for 45 minutes and it’s all on film.”
Carlile also shared her recollections of John’s reaction to ‘When This Old World Is Done With Me’, stating on the podcast, “I want everybody to see it because it’s really human, like deeply flawed and embarrassing. And the kind of shit that you do when you forget that there is a camera on is what’s really interesting.”
The singer then stated that “his voice started to shake” once he approached the end of the chorus but John harnessed this emotion to create “a real moment”.
So far, the pair have released the title track and ‘Swing for the Fences’ from Who Believes In Angels? ahead of its release. The duo are also set to perform a special intimate show at London’s Palladium on March 26th which will be broadcast by CBS in America on April 6th, with Paramount+ then taking over the streaming rights.
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