The “most beautiful song” Elton John performed on
There’s no way of keeping track of the fantastic track record that Elton John has had over the years.
A lot of his great songs might have only been able to be born with the help of Bernie Taupin, but if his lyric partner was the one bringing the depth to his work, John was always giving the tunes their beating heart whenever he broke out the real tearjerkers like ‘Candle in the Wind’ or ‘Tiny Dancer’. But sometimes you don’t realise what true beauty looks like until you’ve come face to face with one of the all-time masters of songwriting.
Then again, John is one of the few who could claim to have worked with the best in the world. Ray Charles was a guiding light for him for years before he got the chance to work with him, and even though he learned quickly that Bob Dylan was absolute shit at charades, he was humbled to learn that the folk icon even liked his music. But even Dylan had to admit that the best music came from the true legends of American culture, like Glen Campbell.
Sure, John had been a massive fan of the session musician scene and artists like Leon Russell, but Campbell was the complete package every single time he walked into the studio. No one was going to get the gig subbing in for members of the Beach Boys by being a slouch, and when you look at the way that he plays that bass solo on ‘Wichita Lineman’, he was as aware of what the song needed on any instrument whenever he sang some of his classics back in the day.
But sometimes you don’t truly understand an artist until you’re right there in the room with them, and John remembered being absolutely staggered when working with Campbell during his Lockdown Sessions album. The industry giant was already going through his personal battle with Alzheimer’s disease, and when you listen to the lyrics of a song like ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’, the whole thing is enough to stab you in the heart.
The song was already perfect the way it was, but John felt that he got to have a far closer relationship to the song when asked to sing it with Campbell, saying, “This track came about because I once said in an interview that the original version was one of the most beautiful songs I’d ever heard as it’s about his battle with Alzheimer’s. Glen Campbell’s people got in touch and said they were doing a remake of his last album and asked if I would be interested in duetting with him on this track.”
And while John was a much different singer than he was when he first heard Campbell back in the 1970s, I don’t think that the youthful voice would have worked in this instance. There are many times where John could take on a character and sing lyrics that he might not have agreed with, but when dealing with a song all about growing old and starting to lose grip on your own mind, it makes sense to have someone who has lived through enough rock and roll history for anyone else’s lifetime.
John has had plenty of songs of his that have been hard to get through, but this is one of the few songs that hits particularly hard if you know anyone who’s been going through the same problem. ‘Empty Garden’ and the reworking of ‘Candle in the Wind’ are always going to hold a special place in his heart, but even if this one is less specific, anyone who has ever gone through losing a loved one slowly to Alzheimer’s, when they sing about their other halves being the last people that they will ever love.
The tune is far from being one of John’s greatest tracks, but the fact that he was able to work with Campbell once before his passing was all that he needed. He had spent years trying to make the best music that he could, and while he did get to be present for other geniuses like Brian Wilson, there was no other artist who seemed to be as subtly brilliant whenever they performed as Campbell was.
