{"id":3948,"date":"2021-11-01T01:00:36","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T06:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/read.streamapse.com\/?p=3948"},"modified":"2025-05-17T17:55:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T22:55:05","slug":"elton-john-oh-my-god-im-a-session-musician-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=3948","title":{"rendered":"Elton John – Oh My God, I\u2019m A Session Musician Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many of us during the COVID pandemic, Elton John got to know a few of his neighbors very well. Unlike most of us, his neighbors are also famous musicians, and these serendipitous encounters have led to some of the highest-profile collaborations of his career. A chance meeting with Charlie Puth\u2014\u201che lived three doors away from me\u201d\u2014was the first in a series of impromptu lockdown sessions launched via email and Zoom calls. After a few scattered tracks had come together, Elton had an epiphany. \u201cI suddenly thought, \u2018Oh my god, I\u2019m a session musician again,\u2019\u201d he tells Apple Music, recalling his early days as a not-yet-famous piano player. \u201cAnd it was just like, \u2018You know what, I love this.\u2019 To play on other people\u2019s records, to hear different music and be able to fit in with someone else\u2019s thoughts is an incredibly inspiring and moving thing to do.\u201d And because it\u2019s Elton\u2014the host of Apple Music Radio\u2019s Rocket Hour, where timeless classics mingle with the latest hits from upcoming artists\u2014there\u2019s a mix of old and new. Lil Nas X, Young Thug, and Nicki Minaj are here, as are the late Glen Campbell, Eddie Vedder, and Stevies Wonder and Nicks. \u201cThey\u2019ve all taught me something at 74 years of age,\u201d he says. \u201cI think if that can happen in your life and you listen and learn something from these people, it\u2019s a bonus.\u201d As a further bonus, Sir Elton takes us track by track through each collaboration on the album.<\/p>\n

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Stream The Lockdown Sessions<\/strong><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cCold Heart\u201d (PNAU Remix) with Dua Lipa
\n\u201cShe was the most professional, brilliant, well\u2010rehearsed, humble, fabulous, glamorous, beautiful person. I just took to her immediately. Future Nostalgia is one of my favorite albums of the year. She has a certain energy that kind of reflected and inspired me, too. But it was her professionalism and her humility that really struck me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways Love You\u201d with Young Thug and Nicki Minaj
\n\u201cHe came over; I went, \u2018What do I call you? Thug? Young Thug? Mr. Thug?\u2019 He said, \u2018No, just call me Jeffery.\u2019 He was very humble and very sweet and asked my advice: \u2018What do you think I should do as I go on?\u2019 I said, \u2018Did you sing in the gospel choir?\u2019 \u2018Yes.\u2019 I said, \u2018Then sing a little bit more\u2014use more melody as well as rapping, because you do that brilliantly.\u2019 He came into the studio and he just freestyled it all the way. What he did on the track was amazing, and then we thought we’re going to have to have a female to answer it. Eventually we got hold of Nicki. I never knew Nicki could sing. I\u2019d just heard her rap. She sang beautifully. She really captured the meaning of the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLearn to Fly\u201d with Surfaces
\n\u201cThey had a hit in America at that particular time and they wanted me to play and maybe do some vocals on their next single. I went up to the studio, and I did my first ever Zoom recording. I put a piano and I did voice on it. And so really that was the first Lockdown track I did. When I go into those situations, I say, \u2018Listen, I\u2019m playing on your record. If you don\u2019t like anything, tell me. It\u2019s not going to hurt my feelings.\u2019 They were very, very forthright like that. I put the piano on, then I did the harmonies and the vocals. I love decisive people, so it made it very easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter All\u201d with Charlie Puth
\n\u201cCharlie Puth and I were in the studio\u2014just the two of us. He\u2019s got a little home studio with all his keyboards and his synths, his Pro Tools. I went up there, played electric piano, and actually wrote the song all the way through. This and the Stevie Wonder song are very unusual for me because I wrote them all the way through without a lyric and the melody. Charlie wrote some words, and I did a vocal, he did a vocal, and that came from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChosen Family\u201d with Rina Sawayama
\n\u201cRina\u2019s album was one of the most amazing records I heard that year. The most frustrating thing for people like her is that they couldn\u2019t tour, because she\u2019s such a visual artist, and you can imagine what the song was going to be like. She was stuck in COVID and we became email friends, and I fell in love with her. I just absolutely adore her. \u2018Chosen Family\u2019 is such a beautifully written track, and it\u2019s so important now to bring people together in the divided world that we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pink Phantom\u201d with Gorillaz feat. 6LACK
\n\u201cI just love the fact that Damon [Albarn] works with so many different people, and he\u2019s not afraid to take a chance. They\u2019re not in it for the glamorization and the glory, they\u2019re in it because they\u2019re working with people they like. And they might not be the biggest\u2010selling records in the world, but that doesn\u2019t matter to them. Damon used to think I had a pink Phantom, but I didn\u2019t. If I was going to have a Phantom, then it probably would have been pink. I haven\u2019t really had anybody rapping on my records before. To hear 6LACK rapping and Damon weaving me in and out of this dreamlike track was hypnotic and fascinating for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sin\u201d (global reach mix) with Years & Years
\n\u201cOlly [Alexander] did a version of \u2018It\u2019s a sin\u2019 acoustically. It\u2019s a beautiful song. The lyrics say everything about being gay. It\u2019s a genius lyric by Neil Tennant and a genius record. It\u2019s a tribute to the Pet Shop Boys, and how their music has influenced me, has given me so much pleasure. And it showed the brilliance of both of them creating music and lyrics that sum up being gay. I\u2019ve never written those kinds of songs. It\u2019s me paying tribute to two people who have given me so much pleasure all my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing Else Matters\u201d with Miley Cyrus feat. WATT, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo & Chad Smith
\n\u201cMiley is a fairly new artist in a way, because she\u2019s kind of making different music from when she started, you know, \u2018Wrecking Ball.\u2019 I was so impressed with her voice on \u2018Nothing Else Matters.\u2019 I\u2019ve always loved Metallica and I always loved that song. It\u2019s the same kind of version, except there\u2019s a piano at the beginning and the end\u2026and there\u2019s Yo\u2010Yo Ma.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOrbit\u201d with SG Lewis
\n\u201cSam Lewis is someone I\u2019ve been looking at for a long time. He\u2019s a young British producer; I\u2019ve interviewed him on Rocket Hour and played his tracks. I went to the studio in London with his lyricist and wrote a song called \u2018Orbit.\u2019 He sent me a track which I didn\u2019t like because it was too Eltonish. I wanted balls. I wanted to dance. I said, \u2018Sam, go ahead and destroy what I’ve done. Just keep the bits you like. The reason I wanted to work with you is that I wanted you in it.\u2019 What he finished up with I love, because it’s a bit Depeche Mode, a bit New Order. It\u2019s totally what I wanted. I didn\u2019t want it to sound like Elton John doing a dance record with an Elton John song, which was too formulaic. Dance records aren\u2019t formulaic, with bits and snatches of melodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSimple Things\u201d with Brandi Carlile
\n\u201cShe wrote me a letter 18 years ago asking me to play on her album, the most beautiful letter saying how much I\u2019d meant to her as an artist. She came to Vegas and I played on her record. And we\u2019ve become friends ever since. For her to sing on \u2018Simple Things,\u2019 it\u2019s like a dream come true, a bucket list moment. I watched her grow and become the artist she is. She\u2019s exactly the same as me, she wants to help young people. It\u2019s one of my favorite songs. It\u2019s a sort of song I would have written with Bernie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeauty in the Bones\u201d with Jimmie Allen
\n\u201cThis came about because of my friend Bruce Roberts, who\u2019s been having a lot of bad health. Bruce is a songwriter who I\u2019ve known for years, and he played me this track. I liked the song, a different kind of song to all the rest, a different kind of genre. I wanted to support Jimmie because he\u2019s a young rising star. He\u2019s unknown over here, he\u2019s just starting out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of Me\u201d with Lil Nas X
\n\u201cAll the people I work with knew what they wanted, and so did Lil Nas X and Giles Martin. They were decisive people. I\u2019d say, \u2018Is that too much?\u2019 He said, \u2018Yes, a bit too much, calm it down a bit.\u2019 And I think they used the bare bones of the piano I did, because I did some other funky stuff. And maybe it shifted the track from what they wanted it to be and made it a bit too Elton. And I also sang a little on the Lil Nas X track, but they didn\u2019t use that either. And that’s fair enough. It\u2019s their record. I give them as much as they want, and they can just take it away and just use what they want. You have to accept that you\u2019re playing on someone else\u2019s record.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cE-Ticket\u201d with Eddie Vedder
\n\u201cI got to know Eddie Vedder because he comes to a lot of shows, especially in Hawaii, where he has a place. He gave me a beautiful ukulele. I\u2019ve always loved him, and I love what he stands for. Eddie left a note for me in the studio saying it would be one of his bucket list items if I would ever write a song to one of his lyrics. So I wrote two\u2014one for him and one for me. How lovely to be able to do something for someone who’s as joyous as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFinish Line\u201d with Stevie Wonder
\n\u201cI put the electric piano down. He came and played acoustic piano and then did the harmonica solo. Then we put the Kanye West choir on, which really made the difference. And then Stevie put his vocal on. I haven\u2019t heard Stevie sound so young since he was about 19, just before he did Talking Book; it\u2019s an \u2018Uptight\u2019 Stevie. I\u2019m the Ernie Wise to him on that record, because I\u2019m just the straight man. You just listen to what he does vocally and instrumentally, and you think, \u2018Oh, my god, this is a true genius.\u2019 I\u2019m obviously a huge fan of his, and he\u2019s still younger than me, which I loathe. On this track that we did, he produced something very special that Stevie Wonder fans haven\u2019t heard for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStolen Car\u201d with Stevie Nicks
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t know Stevie that well. When I say bucket list of vocalists, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie would be two of my choices. It\u2019s just a dream come true. She has a style of her own; I never get fed up listening to her. When people like Stevie Wonder, Eddie Vedder, Stevie Nicks, and Brandi Carlile say yes to you straight away, it really makes you feel special. On this record, we sound like an old married couple in a car like Thelma and Louise going to Big Bear and having an argument, pulling over by the side of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m Not Gonna Miss You\u201d with Glen Campbell
\n\u201cI got a phone call from Glen Campbell\u2019s people saying the last song he wrote was called \u2018I\u2019m Not Gonna Miss You.\u2019 And when that came out, I said in an interview that I thought it was one of the most beautiful songs that I ever heard because it was very short and sweet, but it was about his battle with Alzheimer\u2019s. They said they were doing a remake of the album with people duetting with him. \u2018Would you sing that song?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yes, absolutely, I\u2019d love to sing that with him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many of us during the COVID pandemic, Elton John got to know a few of his neighbors very well. Unlike most of us, his neighbors are also famous musicians, and these serendipitous encounters have led to some of the highest-profile collaborations of his career. A chance meeting with Charlie Puth\u2014\u201che lived three doors away […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,30],"tags":[673,674,215,509],"class_list":["post-3948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conversations","category-streamapse-reports","tag-again","tag-elton","tag-musician","tag-session"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6134,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions\/6134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}