The “impossible” George Michael song Elton John couldn’t live without
The lifelong friendship and admiration Elton John expressed for his contemporary might have never come to be without the cultural earthquake that was ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’. Although the Wham! hit made history, it’s admittedly an unexpected choice for the master of subtlety and elegance that is Sir Elton John.
The Harrow-born songwriter was the first to admit the unpredictability of the choice. During a 1986 interview with BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs, John told Michael Parkinson what records he’d choose to bring with him on a desert island: “I tried to choose records for the people involved or because they had some special effect on my memory or my life. I’ve chosen a record by Wham! and people are going to say ‘Oh My God!’” Parkinson jumped in to concur: “Well, that’s my reaction first of all!”
“I just happen to love this record ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ because it sounds like an old Motown record,” John chose, against all odds. The song’s serendipitous inclusion of references to a bygone era creates a nostalgic feel, with references to old school ‘jitterbug’ dance. The atmosphere is lighthearted, the hook is catchy, the sound is upbeat – it’s the best example of any Motown reincarnation.
Michael told Rolling Stone that he wanted the song to be “a really energetic pop record that had all the best elements of ’50s and ’60s records”. Musicians were queuing up around the block to make Motown homages in the early ’80s, but few of them were quite as engaging as ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, with its inviting beat and relentless feel-good lyrics.
“I’ve been in the studio time and time again trying to recreate that Motown sound, and it’s impossible,” John told Parkinson. “George Michael will be around for a long, long time.”
The moment George Michael passed away in 2016 was “one of the saddest moments of my career,” John said while dedicating ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’ to his old friend at a concert in Caesars Palace on December 28th, two days after his death.
Adding, “For those of you who don’t know his music, go and listen to it. It stands up so brilliantly. What a singer. What a songwriter. But more than anything, as a human being, he was one of the kindest, sweetest, most generous people I’ve ever met.” His words of devotion in Vegas echoed a friendship that started in 1974, before John even knew who George was.
An admitted fan of his work, the first ever album little Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou ever bought was actually Elton’s Caribou, the album which ironically released Elton’s original ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’. George studied his admired Elton’s songs and vocal performances as a young North Londoner, which had a huge influence on his later style.
Bright, dizzy, explosive, but with an artificial component that feels slightly mechanical, the song brought to life a note that Michael’s bandmate had written to his parents to “wake me up before they go go”. Michael, who produced it himself, admitted that the drummer had been late to the session, meaning that the recorded song had a drum machine backing instead.
Faults aside, it’s easy to see why the chart topper won Elton John’s heart while becoming a massive commercial success. It also accompanied endless blockbusters, from making Stranger Things un-creepy to the instantly feel-good Zoolander.
