Oh, this song....what a GREAT song!  So, it came out in 2001 on what I feel is the greatest album Elton John has recorded post 1990, "Songs from the West Coast".  The writing and production had a fresh sound, and 3 amazing singles were released, including this one.  By vintage Elton John standards, this was hardly commercially successful...but by the standards of what most 54 year old artists can achieve with their releases, it was very successful.  The song cracked the top 30 in his native UK, peaking at #24, and while it didn't make the top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100, it did climb all the way to #10 on the US Adult Contemporary charts, ensuring a respectable amount of airplay on radio stations around the country at the time. It also had an awesome video with Justin Timberlake playing the role of Elton.

The lyrics, as always by the great Bernie Taupin, are about Elton transitioning into a "legacy act", past his prime years....still able to sell out shows, but with high demand for the old "hits" and very little interest in the new material.

Here's my favorite thing about Elton though....he just never stopped making new music.  He didn't force it down his audience's throats at shows...he understood the assignment he'd been given by the folks who paid $150 to see him....show up and play the 25 hits that made your career.  But, he didn't care whether anyone loved his new material or bought it in large numbers....he kept making it because he's an artist, and artists MAKE ART.  I adore this about him, and I've hardly been a big consumer of his newer music.  

I just really appreciate the ethos behind it...and it's something I really want to emulate as I get older.  My creativity isn't tethered to whether other people love it....I create because I'm a creator.  Some of it will hit, and some of it won't, but it's the creaTING, not the creaTION that actually matters.  It's going through the process...making something.  That's where the juice of my life really is.  I'll always find a way to generate revenue when I need it....but a life void of creating?  That's not acceptable to me.  Thanks Elton, for being my example and avatar on a lifetime of joyous and satisfying creating!

Enjoy my cover of this song from a livestream show I did on July 19, 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and then check out two amazing performances by Elton himself.  The first is at one of his iconic "solo" shows with just himself and a piano at the breathtaking ancient Amphitheatre of Ephesus in Turkey in 2001.  The second is from 2002 at the Royal Opera House in London backed by his touring band and the student orchestra from his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music.

If you'd like to explore my piano method more deeply, my best students use my video courses and join me for conversation and twice monthly Q&A Livestreams in my private community...you can find it all HERE. Thanks.

 

If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube

If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube

If the video doesn't show above, use THIS LINK to see it on YouTube