Elton John on how Stevie Wonder completely outplays him: “I’d give anything to have his talent”
It’s impossible to imagine anyone putting in as much work behind the piano as Elton John did.
He might not have been a fan of every single person on the hit parade at any given moment, but he was always willing to take a chance and see where his muse took him whenever he started working with some of the new kids in town. But for a career that included his own classics, Gorillaz, Brandi Carlile, and a goddamn Beatle, John had a special place in his heart for musicians who could wipe the floor with him.
Because it’s not like John was winging it every single time he worked with someone new. He had done his homework on every single artist that he worked with, and even if he was working outside of his comfort zone, he had enough awareness of what he was doing on piano to work with anyone. If he needed to play softly for an Alice in Chains track or go outside the box when working with Queens of the Stone Age, he was going to make sure that he served his purpose in just the right way every single time the red light came on.
What’s even stranger is how many times he knocked it out of the park. Working with pop artists would have been a slam dunk for him, but given how beautiful his piano sounded on the intro to Kanye West’s ‘All of the Lights’ or his stunning performances on Kate Bush’s later records, it wouldn’t be out of the question to think that he could hold his own over a hip-hop instrumental or suddenly find his way around a bluegrass band.
He lived and breathed music every single time he sat down to play, but if he was a student of all of his favourites, the old guard of rock and roll were practically his teachers. There isn’t a single kid from his generation that wasn’t wowed by The Beatles playing ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ or listening to Elvis Presley for the first time, but John couldn’t fathom what Stevie Wonder was doing when he came on TV.
The R&B legend was already a masterful vocalist, but chances are you could put any instrument in his hand and he would be equally fantastic. His harmonica skills were unmatched, his sense of rhythm was greater than anyone else at Motown at the time, but whenever he got behind the piano and locked into any of the grooves on his record, it was enough to make John want to throw in the towel half the time.
But even if he was outclassed every single time Wonder performed, John still found him fascinating whenever he played, saying, “Stevie Wonder can eat me for breakfast as far as musicianship goes, but that doesn’t make me angry or jealous or uptight. I’d give anything to have his talent.” And coming from someone who knew the ins and outs of classical music, that’s a lot more than subtle lip service.
Everything that John played may have been perfectly sophisticated for its time, but what Wonder was doing broke new ground for what could happen in a pop song. No one would have ever thought of the strange jazzy chords that turned up in everything from ‘Sir Duke’ to ‘You are the Sunshine of My Life’, but Wonder could somehow put those chords together like pieces of a puzzle and make one of the most beautiful pop songs that anyone had ever heard.
John might have to admit defeat next to someone like Wonder, but the fact that he was miles better than him is a bit comforting in a way. Even the greatest rock and roll legends have to have someone to look up to, and half the reason why John is still working today is about trying to find that song that could stand alongside Wonder’s classics.
